How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle

by William Poundstone

Book Overview

For years, Microsoft and other high-tech companies have been posing riddles and logic puzzles like these in their notoriously grueling job interviews. Now "puzzle interviews" have become a hot new... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316919160
• ISBN13: 9780316919166
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

It's not about finding a job, but having an open mind.

Too simple to think of this as getting a job at Microsoft of job interviews in general. It's about having an open mind. Clearly the "problems" can distinguish between those who say "I can't do it" and give up and those who find every problem, even the impossible, an opportunity to succeed, and are not crushed be failure. And the problems are fun.

Good for interview backup

This was a pretty fun read. The book goes over the origins of brainteaser/puzzle interviews, how they are/should be used, and has a lot of well explained examples. For my purposes of going over brainteasers that I might run into in investment banking interviews, the book was pretty handy because the few brainteasers I did get, I had read about before. If you are trying to do the same thing for other types of interviews (with trading companies or something more quantitative) then the book isn't as good in those areas, because the questions are more probability/stat based. Overall, very enjoyable and well-written.

The answer key to your next interview

For anyone looking for an entry level position at a financial or technology firm, this is a must read. Insane logic puzzles and brainteasers are the new craze in interviewing, and the ideas are spreading to more and more companies. Whether such silly interview questions are a good measure of a candidate's intelligence is debatable. But one thing for certain is that interview brainteasers are here to stay. Mt Fuji covers all angles of the interview brainteaser, from its history and origins to how they should be handled in an interview. The first segment of the book about the history of interviewing and puzzles is an interesting read and gives you insight into why their creators first put them to practice. As both an interview and interviewee, the history may help you understand their application, but overall this segment is not very practical for a tough interview. The meat of this book comes near the middle, where it gives a list of popular logic puzzles actually used by some companies (solutions to all puzzles mentioned throughout the book are in the appendix). If you have the time, they are fun to work out. After this page of puzzles, the author describes how employers applied them in interviews and gives general guidelines for defeating similar questions. The final chapter before the appendix is directed towards potential interviewers. It explains how some companies have gone overboard and improperly used brainteasers to evaluate job candidates. For interviewees, it makes you feel better if you had a bad interview because of unfair use of brainteasers. Mt Fuji is an excellent read for any young person currently seeking a job, and any employer who would like to incorporate brainteaser questions into the interview process. The puzzles and history are geared towards technology firms like Microsoft, but these brainteasers are also very common with Wall Street firms. Not only is this read informative, but will be fun if you enjoy thinking out of the box.

GET THE EBOOK, BUT GET IT!

Whether you're preparing for those pesky "brain teaser" interviews or not (as the purported intent of this book is) this compilation of jerk-your-gray-matter trivia is mindbogglingly, exhileratingly addictive! Which is quite a boon, now that Reader's Digest no more publishes such interesting stash. We first get a brief trace of the the rise and controversial fall of employer-mandated IQ tests, the peculiar obsessions of Bill Gates (who plays jigsaw puzzles as a competitive sport), the sadistic mind games of Wall Street (which reportedly led one job seeker to smash a forty-third-story window), and the bizarre excesses of today's hiring managers (who may start off your interview with a box of Legos or a game of virtual Russian roulette).Then comes the barrage of killer questions: Why are beer cans tapered on the ends? How many piano tuners are there in the world? Why does a mirror reverse right and left instead of up and down? If you are like me, you'll read this book end to end. Makes for a great subway read, especially if you are tired of bromides such as "Why are manhole covers round?". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: ProntoPurchase material.

If you are looking for answers, you are missing the point!

As a Lead Software Architect, I have to interview candidates to join my technical team. This book seemed interesting from many different perspectives. William Poundstone is an author I have admired for many years, from his book on Philosophy - Labyrinths of Reason, to his biography of John Von Neuman in "Prisoner's Dilemma". So when I saw that he had written a book about Microsoft and their fabled interview technique, my interest was piqued.I actually got a lot more out of the book than I was expecting. If you are looking to read this book to get the answers to some challenging puzzle-type interview questions, than you are probably going to be a little disappointed, since the people interviewing you are going to be aware of this book and hence won't be asking you the same questions as covered in the book. But if you are looking to learn techniques that will help you perform better on puzzle type questions, then you can gain a lot from this book. Poundstone covers a lot of ground; he tackles the history of interviewing for high tech companies, touching on the different types of high-pressure interviews that are employed in financials services as well as top notch software and consulting companies. He goes into the details of the fabled Microsoft interview as an example of some of toughest interview questions and the most high-pressure tactics. Challenging puzzles, and techniques to help you solve them are covered, but don't expect just to learn some answers to tough questions, be prepared to learn techniques to help you solve challenging puzzles. He does give people a peek behind the puzzle genre curtain, and explains the different types of puzzles and how to tackle them. Unless you are a puzzle buff, you are definitely going to be at disadvantage when it comes to these types of questions. The puzzles that use the concept of "truly logical beings" is probably the most baffling to most people. The type of puzzles that involve a structured answer to a very open ended question are also covered i.e. how would you move Mount Fuji, the insight that you don't need to know the details of Mount Fuji or have to know some trick to answer this question is an eye opener to most. The type of puzzle that involves a breakthrough of assumptions, and uses all the information provided to you, and nothing else is required will also give people some insight. Poundstone does cover a lot of ground in looking into Breakthrough thinking (if you are looking for a book that goes into more detail, Poundstone's bibliography includes a great book - "Eureka Effect" or "Archimedes in the Bathtub" - the same book; just different titles for the hardback and paperback; by David Perkins).This is a fascinating book, which will give interviewers insights into what kind of questions to ask, and why. It will also give prospective interviewees some of the background to the puzzle genre and help them tackle these puzzles on a equal footing with puzzle buffs. As stated in the subtitle, "Mi