Puzzles 101: A Puzzlemasters Challenge

By Nobuyuki Yoshigahara

This latest collection of puzzles from the internationally acclaimed puzzlemaster Nob Yoshigahara covers a wide variety of puzzles from physical to visual, conceptual to mathematical. Solutions are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156881206X
• ISBN13: 9781568812069
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: A K PETERS
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

You can see why the author is so highly regarded as a puzzle maker

Nob Yoshigahara is an internationally known puzzle master and from the 101 puzzles in this book, it is easy to see why he is so highly regarded. Most of the staple genres appear somewhere in the book. Some of those forms are: *) What is the next number in the sequence? *) Given a figure made from objects, move a small number to create a different figure. *) Given a figure, cut it into pieces and rearrange them into another figure. *) Place numbers into positions in a figure so that arithmetic combinations match a specific pattern. *) Rearrange numbers so that a pattern forms. Solutions to all of the puzzles are in a separate section after the puzzles and this will reduce your aggravation, although you should try very hard before you peek at the solution. I found approximately 20 of the puzzles to be solvable within a minute or two. If you approach them the right way, the solution is obvious. I was able to solve another 20 after several minutes, generally after thinking for a while, putting it away and then coming back to it. Of the remaining sixty, there are about 20 that I don't think I would have ever solved, although the solution in the back of the book was easy to follow. Many of these were dissection problems, which I always seem to have trouble with. For some of the problems, I don't see how you could solve them without making the appropriate manipulatives, and the author hints when that is the case. Fortunately, they are all quite simple, a few coins or pieces of paper generally suffice. If you like to stimulate your brain cells by solving puzzles, then this book is one you must examine.

A good collection of addictive puzzlets

Nob is a revered Japanese puzzlist so the publisher (AK Peters) ought to be commended for giving us the first English translation of his many excellent puzzle books - this was long overdue.As far as content is concerned, this book has mostly penny & matches and cut-up & reassemble type puzzles - so in a sense,it is a variation on an already known theme.However, most of the puzzles have a fresh twist which makes them thoroughly engaging -- but quite a few are blood-letting head scratchers!The book is well illustrated and has a nice introduction by Nob.Let's hope for more of Nob's puzzle books from AK Peters!