Puzzles and Games

Alice in Puzzle-Land
by Raymond Smullyan
Grade: A+

Date reviewed: 8/13/04

Raymond Smullyan is one of the best writers of logic puzzles, and this is perhaps his best book. It is suitable for young readers - there are puzzles in Chapters 4 and 12 specifically for people who have not learned (or do not remember) algebra - but it also contains many puzzles challenging to an adult reader. And throughout, there is surreal humor worthy of Lewis Carroll himself.

Most of the book focuses on variations of "liars and truthtellers" puzzles. Alice has to determine who stole the tarts, who is mad, who is the spy, and whether Tweedledum or Tweedledee has a black card. Things really get interesting in Chapter 5, when Alice is presented with some meta-puzzles. These are puzzles that leave out a crucial piece of information, but tell you that if you had that information, you'd be able to solve the puzzle. Oddly enough, once you know that the puzzle would be solvable, you can actually determine the solution!

There is a chapter on paradoxes (and classic puzzles generally thought to be paradoxes but aren't) and a chapter on "looking-glass logic", in which Alice is presented with a series of conditions, and asked to deduce the logical conclusion.

Smullyan stays true to his Carrollian inspiration throughout the book. We meet all the classic characters from the Queen of Hearts to the White Knight, who all devise new ways to confuse and torment poor Alice. This book gets high marks for originality, entertainment, and for presenting some intriguing and highly challenging puzzles.