The Mammoth Book of Brain Teasers

We're a huge puzzle/word-game/perplexes/brain-teaser family. So, perhaps that makes me/this review bias. But truly - these are excellent teasers. Not only are they not-usual, and not ones you hear everyday. But they're also ones you truly have to think about. They're not easily solved. Some are easier than others, obviously. But they have a higher-level of thought-provocation.This is enjoyable for the whole family. There are a variety of teasers - ones you can write/draw, ones to act out, ones you can turn into a 'science experiment', and you can always relate it to children/classrooms through any of those ways. And, truly, because of the fact that they're not the ones you hear all the time (or even some of the time), it's something that can/will easily stick, and something we can all look forward to telling somebody else.Definitely a good buy. Well-worth it.

This was a well liked gift. Thanks!

I've gone thru the first 50 questions and there are several errors. Some are massive, like #49 says the answer is a. 511 in the solutions, but in the question it is a. 51 !Others are problems with syntax or sloppy errors between singular and plural.Despite this, i'm finding the book enjoyable, and worth the money... just be warned.

This full of brain teasers for all ages. Great teacher and student questions for the day.

Many of the questions do not have enough information for proper solving. In one question, you are asked to imagine an elevator accelerating upward. Getting the correct answer relies on your elevator accelerating "upward" in space far from gravity sources (probably not what you imagined unless you were already familiar with Einstein's thought experiment).Other problems are simple arithmetic which I could easily solve if they were stated clearly, but I had a difficult time determining what the question meant even after reading the answer. I have a graduate math degree. If a text description of arithmetic operations confuses me, the author shares some blame.I quickly got bored with the question "How many cubes are in the configuration below?" and I've found 3 problems about people retrieving hats from rivers ("Bob drops his hat in the river, continues rowing upstream for __ minutes and then turns around and rows at the same rate and catches up to his hat after ___ more minutes...").I am also not impressed by changing the context and pretending that it makes a new question: "Al and Bob are painting a house/digging a trench/filling a swimming pool. If Al could do it alone in ___ hours and Bob could do it alone in ___ hours, how long will it take them to do it together?"Some questions (not too many) are trivia and do not reflect your intelligence: "What does lysophobia mean?" and "During what month is Earth closest to the sun?" Hardly brain teasers. Maybe this is why the cover only advertises "over 400 puzzles" when there are 518 clearly numbered questions. Many do not qualify.Some answers in the book are just wrong. "25*25*5000" is not the same as "25^5000". Five points in space can be used to construct planes intersecting at 25 distinct lines, not 8.The primary measure of quality of a book should always be its content, but it is worth noting that physical material is not good. The pages are that type of rough, dark paper found in novels at gas stations, and the glue binding cracked on the first opening.There are many perfectly good questions in the book as well, but I wouldn't describe any of them as clever. The book is not expensive, so maybe it's worth having as below-average toilet reading material.

Another superb collection of mind-bending puzzles from America's own puzzle-laureate. Terry Stickel's "Mammoth Book" is a mammoth hit for anybody who thrives on inventive, creative challenges. Like the slogan goes, "you've tried the rest, now try the best!" Stickels and his books are the real deal. And you can take that from me. I'm in the same business and am proud to call Terry a friend as well as a colleague.  Crossdown Triple Pack: Crossdown Game, Enigmacross Game, and Quiptics

I have always enjoyed brain teaser books from Terry Stickels, and this will satisfy all puzzlers. It contains a great variety of puzzles, with the mathematical ones as the most challenging. However, I did find alot of mistakes and misprints.

Just as we start to emerge from the mid-western winter doldrums, Terry Stickels provides a much need challenge to occupy us on a rainy day. The puzzle master has done it again, once more coming up with impossible brain riddles. I have enjoyed Mr. Stickel's work for many years and was not disappointed in his latest effort. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to blow the cobs from their cranium.

Expected it to be in used condition. However, many of the pages had been written on, which defeats the purpose of the puzzle book! Not impressed with the quality of this at all. The book itself however is great.

good