BrainStrains: Clever Logic Puzzles
by Norman D. Willis
Grade: B+

Date reviewed: 8/13/04

This book has a little something for everybody. And unfortunately, I do mean little: there are only 27 puzzles in the entire 91-page book.

But the puzzles that are in it are highly entertaining. There are the dragons of Lidd, which are complicated versions of "liar/truthteller" puzzles. Gray rational dragons and red predator dragons tell the truth; red rational dragons, grey predator dragons, and all blue dragons (rational or not) lie. Of course the citizens of Lidd are color-blind, so only logic can tell you which dragon is which.

Then there are math problems where all digits have been replaced by letters, for those who like that sort of thing, followed by a couple different varieties of "liar/truthteller" puzzles. The last problems are of a completely different nature. Here they are called "Nonsense Puzzles;" Lewis Carroll called them sorites. The task is to make a logical inference from a series of nonsensical statements (i.e., "Gorillas are the only animals that enjoy ballet"). Not many books contain these kind of puzzles, so they were a pleasure to find, but it was disappointing that were only two of them.

All in all, this book was a great sampler of different kinds of logic puzzles; just be forewarned that it will leave you hungry for more.