Reddit mentions: The best puzzles books

A bit late but might as well reply

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1. Look in the file archive of this group https://www.facebook.com/groups/309473799153072/?ref=bookmarks lots of great original sudoku puzzles are poster there. - Great thing about this website is that it shows the authors website so you get way more sources.
   
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2. The World Puzzle Federation Grand Prix Puzzles go back a few years - the sudoku is a great source for original variants https://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/sudoku-gp
   
   Example: https://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Sudoku%20Round1.pdf
   
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3. Gareth Moores website https://www.puzzlemix.com/puzzles.php is a great source for the "Standard" variants.
   
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4. Richards Puzzles on logic masters website is a great series: https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Benutzer/eingestellt.php?name=Richard
   
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5. [Edit] Adding this http://sudokucup.com/content/daily-league (forgot about this website - needs registration)
   
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6. Physical books I highly recommend DJAPE puzzles and Gareths Moors (Mammoth Book of New Sudoku)
   
   - https://www.amazon.ca/Puzzles-Dr-Djape-300-puzzles/dp/1979609950/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=djape&qid=1558058506&s=gateway&sr=8-2
   
   - https://www.amazon.ca/Mammoth-Book-New-Sudoku/dp/0762449365/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=mammoth+book+of+new+sudoku&qid=1558058540&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
   
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7. Youtube: "Cracking the Cryptic" - Youtube channel which solves a variety of sudoku puzzles (Note: Am Patreon)
   
   \^ They really like Sandwich Sudoku (outside clues), but it looks like they are exploring more variants recently.
   
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   Hope that helps - I need to save this as a common answer.
   
   Adding https://krazydad.com/ to the list

Okay, let's start with logic puzzles. Ironically, the one person who has arguably done the most to improve the crossword puzzle has done the most to damage the logic puzzle: Will Shortz. If you see a logic puzzle book with Shortz's name on it, you can be guaranteed that the puzzles in that book are computer generated.

There are surprisingly few sources of good, handmade logic puzzles, but you can definitely tell the difference between a logical solving path that has been created by hand, and one that a computer churned out.

I'd say the best logic puzzle books are by Thomas Snyder, Sudoku and World Puzzle Champion. You can find a list of his published books here. Snyder has recently gone to self-publishing. He has a really great website at GrandMaster Puzzles which offers a new puzzle six days a week made by one of the top constructors in the world. The site also offers several minibooks for about $4 each and plan on releasing these minibooks regularly for the foreseeable future.

Another good bet is anything by the publisher Nikoli. They are a regular Japanese publisher, but they've released several books of puzzles like this one. Again, they're handmade and clever. I wouldn't say that they're exactly pushing the envelope like Snyder and his ilk are, but I am happy to have bought all of the available US Nikoli books. They're all fun solves.

I play chess. My USCF rating is currently 2123... And I thought the sphere chess looked absolutely retarded at first too.

>Nah, I feel you should start from openings.

You shouldn't. Opening theory is quite dense and heavily influenced by computer analysis. You benefit more from trying to understand what you are trying to achieve, rather than trying to simply memorize some openings.

Logical Chess: Move by Move is a great book for anyone that has mastered the basics but is looking to learn more. You will pick up some opening knowledge along the way, learn how openings give rise to specific kinds of middle-games. And you will come across some endgames (although endgame basics are absent).

If you wish to seriously improve there are 3 parts:

• Understanding the reasons behind moves in the opening of a game - decisions regarding pawn structure are especially significant as these will determine the nature of the battle to come in the middle-game. For this - annotates games (like those in Logical Chess) are beneficial. Specific opening books are also useful but only after you've got a feel for what kind of middle-games you like (because then you know what kinds of openings to pick!). Other game collections (there are tons of great ones): Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games and for the more advanced Zurich 1953
  
• Tactics. Chess, like other things, has a large component of pattern recognition. Solving tactical problems from workbooks (there are hundreds of these, so I will recommend 2: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
  
• Endgames. Endgames are the most math-like in terms of study. You learn basic endgames (K+P vs lone K, K+R+P vs K+R, etc...). Once you have the basics, you can 'solve' more complicated positions by trading down (reducing them) to basic endings. Know nothing about endings? Here is one place to start: Pandolfini's Endgame Course. Dvoretsky's endgame books are also excellent.
  
  
  There is quite a lot of chess literature. If you enjoy chess and wish to study and improve there are plenty of ways to do that. If competing in tournaments interests you check out the United States Chess Federation if you are in the states. If you are abroad, check out FIDE. And of course there are online options such as chess.com, the Internet Chess Club, etc...
  
  Sorry... bit of an enthusiast :)
  

I just started high school, and only recently discovered the beauty in math. I'm half-studying for the AMC 12 test tomorrow and half being distracted by reddit, but I want to say that it is never too late to discover how truly amazing math is. I understand this may sound annoying or stupid coming from someone who is exactly a third of your age, but I picked up a book called How To Cut A Cake by Ian Stewart this summer. Before this, I was just an ordinary kid who I guess liked math puzzles, and thought it was pretty fun when a teacher gives a cool problem, but I never really knew that I actually really liked math. Now I'm not telling you to read this, but this book really reminded me that math isn't something you just do in school, but rather a universal language spoken by everyone in this world, and used almost every moment of your life. This book helped me want to find opportunities to find math in stuff normal people won't. This was sort of my moment of realization. I don't know if this book will help you achieve that realization, but I believe it is definitely a good read for anyone. TL;DR rather than taking an old-school "sit down, study, and read" type of approach, I feel that it is a much better and more efficient learning experience to realize that math really is fun, and try to find opportunities to do math where normal people would simply ignore. This isn't something I can explain in words off the bat, but you will definitely, 100% know what I mean when you realize that you're actually doing math in the most unexpected situation.

Ok, cutting and pasting my own post from early in the year. (Sorry about the formatting.) I originally composed this for a friend who claimed he was ready to work on chess for 20 hours/week. I don't think he's kept it up.

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Here's what I recently emailed someone in the same situation as you - well, his goal was year-end.

If you STUDY chess for 15-20 hours/week for a year, you should be 2000 strength by the end of the year, and 2200 (I expect - much better than me) by the end of next year. Studying is the same as for math and music - it does not include leisure time like playing blitz.

You can break down your chess study into five buckets:
Tactics (start now and continue forever)
Endings (start in April and continue)
Playing/competing (start in February / start reading in July)
Strategy/middlegame planning (start in August and continue)
Openings (start in November and continue)

I think you need to begin them in that order - overlapping, of course.

[1] Tactics - do these books in order. DO the problems, however long it takes - don't look up an answer until you have a solid solution. If the books offer clues on the page (e.g. this page is all pins and skewers), go through and black them out with a marker in advance.

• http://amzn.com/0879801107 [1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate]
  
  
• http://amzn.com/0879801115 [1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices]
  
  
• All three books in the Test Your Chess IQ series.
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/John-Nunns-Chess-Puzzle-Book/dp/1906454035 [John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book]
  
  [2] Endings
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-.../dp/1857443489 [Winning Chess Endings]
  
  
• http://amzn.com/1936490137/ [Dvoretsky]
  
  [3] Playing/competing Play slow games, at time controls of Game/60 to Game/120, preferably against stronger players. Keep score, then analyze and annotate those games in depth, without using a computer. Then go over the games and your analysis with a stronger player, e.g. bring it to Sunday chess club.
  
  I should really stress this - chess is about playing, not just studying. You need to find a variety of strong players, not just computers, and play against them. You might also consider playing correspondence.
  If you play in tournaments during this time, DO NOT THINK ABOUT YOUR RATING. Also, NEVER offer or accept a draw, EVEN if the option is losing. During the next two years, your only goal is to learn and improve. Learning comes from playing on.
  
  After a few months of playing and analyzing slow games, read these books:
  
  
• http://amzn.com/1857446682/ [Lessons With a Grandmaster]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Pump-Your-Rating-Axel-Smith/dp/1907982736 [Pump Up Your Rating] [possibly my favorite chess book]
  
  By "read" I mean go through them slowly, doing every exercise, thinking about every comment to every game. It's hard work.
  
  [4] Strategy/planning
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Chess-Algebraic-Edition-Dover/dp/0486424200 [Simple Chess]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Reassess-Y.../dp/1890085057 [Reassess Your Chess Workbook]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/dp/9056914340/ [Techniques of Positional Play]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703 [Pawn Structure Chess]
  
  
  [5] http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Chess-Opening-Repertoire/dp/1901983897 [How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire]
  
  Of course someone else could construct an equally valid study plan with hundreds of entirely different books, but ... the ones I've chosen are excellent, and I strongly believe that they are sufficient.
  
  I don't mention computers very much. I think they can be most useful as sparring partners for learning your basic endings and (eventually) openings. But don't let your study center around computers or opening databases or internet blitz.
  
  And of course ... don't let it stop being fun. :-) Maybe that's where some blitz comes in. Otherwise, what's the point?

I have designed some of my own! To give a sampling, in increasing order of complexity (with diagrams!),

• here's a truncated tetrahedron,
  
• here's a double equilateral unit which can make things like an octahedron, icosahedron, "spiky ball," and many other deltahedra,
  
• here's a rhombic dodecahedron, and
  
• here's a compound of the cube and octahedron.
  
  My favorite origami book is John Montroll's Animal Origami for the Enthusiast, which starts out with simple, charming models and builds up to complex masterpieces like this lobster. It's one you can go back to for years. (I still have my childhood copy, inscribed "Merry Christmas 1988, Love Mom and Dad.")
  
  Another lovely volume, though not an ideal first book, is one called Origami for the Connoisseur. One of its highlights is an exquisitely beautiful seashell model. Here's someone folding it on YouTube.
  
  If you're curious about modular origami, Tomoko Fuse is a master of the field. This book ("Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations") is a hefty omnibus with plenty of lovely designs. Fuse tends toward a bit more surface elaboration and fussy preciseness than I go for these days, but her work is absolutely worth recreating with your own fingertips.
  
  Most of all, I'd encourage you to just try things out and have fun. There's action origami that does stuff (fancier versions of jumping frogs and fortunetellers), there's a big "tessellation" scene, where people fold intricate, two-dimensional patterns, there are flowers and franchises and figures. Any decent bookstore will have a papercraft section with an origami book or two. Libraries should have plenty of volumes available.
  
  Enjoy!

Oh, absolutely. This book (along with This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes, which I also recommend) is delightful (and quite non-technical). I don't know if it's at all an introduction to Taoism -- I've read very little other Taoist literature -- but it's certainly an accessible and charmingly-written book about "Smullyanism", which is worth being familiar with just for the pleasure of reading about it if nothing else.

If you've read The Mind's I, the dialogue Is God a Taoist? is from that book.

By the way, the idea of a beginner to Taoism strikes me as very funny -- in a way, being a beginner is what Taoists aspire to! Smullyan expresses it very well in the last chapter of This Book Needs No Title, entitled Planet Without Laughter (that copy is hosted on Knuth's website, so surely it's at least worth looking at?).

I haven't read Logical Labyrinths -- looks like he published it this year (at age 90!). Is it worthwhile? (Probably, given that it's by Smullyan. Can you tell I like his books yet? :-) )

So... I love this stuff, but I am terrible at it. Even knowing the "rules" for making puzzles & riddles, I still cannot make them. My brain just has no ability here, I guess. However, I have a crutch that I use: I buy books of this stuff. Lots & lots of them. Some are even made specifically for D&D. Allow me to link you to some of the things I've bought.

• Shadowman's Twisted Treasury: A Collection of Killer Puzzles. This is actual puzzles, not riddles. If you buy this, you may find puzzle #6 to be obnoxious. Odds of solving it are low in the first place, but if you do, you'll find yourself wondering why a sign was broken apart in such a ridiculous way. Just explaining why/how the puzzle got there in the first place is a problem. However, other puzzles are better. There are simple ones like an ogre counting image which shows a password, if you just pay attention to it. There are difficult but clever ones, like the "as easy as 1-2-3" floor tile puzzle, which is similar to the "Amenuator" floor tile puzzle in Baldur's Gate 2. In the back is some text explaining how you could incorporate it into a D&D/Pathfinder game. It has about 30 puzzles, and gives 3 hints for each. I typically give 1 hint to each player with a character who has an INT score of 13 or more. I give an extra hint for 15+ INT. I give the 3rd hint for 17+ INT. I rate this 7 out of 10.
  
• Riddle Rooms. This is a hybrid. It contains riddles, which then reveal how to deal with a puzzle. Each is presented twice -- first half of the book discusses the puzzles in text form, 2nd half of the book has little 1" maps of the rooms that your players could play on. My favorite is the hall of flame, where jets of fire spout out of the floor -- yet some jets are merely illusions you can walk through, and if you figure out the riddle, you can walk right across the room safely. However, I found that riddle to be too convoluted -- it displays the riddle mirror-imaged, so all the hints you get must be reversed. I thought it too much of a bother, so I set the riddle "right" and allowed the players to proceed safely if they solved it without needing to reverse the directions. I rate this 6 out of 10.
  
• Quest for the Riddle Stone. This is my favorite. I rate it 8 out of 10. However, it's actually just riddles, not puzzles. Each page contains a poem/limerick, along with 3 hints for solving it. About half the riddles are inappropriate for a D&D game, because they reference modern music, automobiles, etc. However, the ones that work are great. Here's one:
  
  I demand top regard, seeking first prize.
  
  I'm gone ere the fall and shunned by the wise.
  
  Whatever you do, I'll claim you do more.
  
  To find me just look where the lions roar.
  
  Anyway, this is going on too long already. I'll attach more links in a reply.

For a book you could look at Puzzlecraft: The Ultimate Guide on How to Construct Every Kind of Puzzle. It was in some Humble Bundle a while ago, but I have only read the first few chapters. Seems to cover many types of puzzles from riddles and crosswords to ... not sure. Not sure if it even has anything about puzzles in digital games, but I imagine the thought processes behind all sorts of puzzles are similar.

EDIT: I only know noticed that one author of that puzzle book, Mike Selinker, is also a published (board) game designer that has worked with some of the largest publishers like WOTC and Avalon Hill on games like Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and Pirates of the Spanish Main. Not sure if that is important or useful information, but hopefully that book also covers some of the types of puzzles that are in games then.

A lot of interview questions are really just combinatorics questions; if you're in university, you should try and take enough math classes to take combo. I failed it when I took it, but it's still proven to be really useful (in fact, more useful than many of my compsci classes).

Aside from the interview books others have posted, generic riddle/puzzle books like What is the name of this book? are pretty cool.

I personally get most my Sudokus online instead of books as I like variants more and there's more variety there. I have a few books that have satisfy my enjoyment of variants.

The Mammoth Book Of New Sudoku by Gareth Moore If you want a lot of puzzles, this will probably suit you well. It has many common and uncommon variants. This one also has some overlapping grid puzzles.

Sudoku Mix #1 by Logic Masters India: Classic Sudoku and 5 variants. Nice handcrafted puzzles. This one has a slowly increasing difficulty per variant. Good for beginning new variants.

Mutant Sudoku by Thomas Snyder and Wei-Hwa Huang A large number of puzzles per variant from easy to very hard. Some common and some uncommon variants. Very nice book, but does go outside the normal sudoku books a lot. I wish there were more books like this.

There are tons of kinds of puzzles. Generally a good way to start is by picking a style you already like.

Sometimes you can find a specific puzzle you like, and tweak the inputs such that the output is foxwoods or whatever.

If you're looking for general puzzle-making advice, this book is a reasonable place to start.

If you want ideas about ideas for puzzle types that you can mold into what you want, then give us something to work with - like a topic or puzzle theme that your friend especially likes, more narrow than 'casinos'.

I'm not familiar with anything current but I'm sure it exists. When I was doing the bulk of my learning we were still carving holes in strips of cardboard to produce code. Someone younger would probably give better, more current advice.

In general, refining your problem solving skills involves a great deal of introspection. Everything you complete you should go back and analyze the stumbles you had along the way. What caused delays, what produced bugs, what just didn't work very well. Look at these things and try to determine what you could have done differently. No better teacher than failure.

Two very old books that got me started: Aha: Gotcha and Aha:Insight. They are amazing puzzle books written by the master of puzzles, Martin Gardner. They have a bit of a math slant, but not too much. Read the reviews to see if it floats your boat.

Math, imo, is the basis of solid problem solving. It's the reason we learn math from pre-K all through university. You're not doing it so you can do calculus at the grocery store, and I've never used a lick of it in my career, but it does teach you how to think in a logical manner, breaking big problems down into little ones.

Another book that had some impact on my career was Design of Everyday Things. Good read for usability.

The butterflies are all by Michael J. LaFosse. I got the patterns from here and here.

The boxes are by Tomoko Fuse. I have a slew of her books. This one is decent for beginners. This one is ideal for beginners but, alas, is out of print.

The other tiny things are by Meenakshi Mukerji and are from this book. She has a fabulous website with an absolute wealth of pictures, info, and diagrams for modular and geometric models. And if you check out her guest gallery, well gee, doesn't that second group of photos look familiar? ;-)

Awesome! Lots of other people linked great references as well, hope you find something that interests you. I've always been fond of animal origami, it's great fun. I also forgot to mention John Montroll's work there - I find his models much simpler compared to Lang's, but no less fun to fold.

| How much better could some of these titans actually become?

One answer would be: no better than the technology and wisdom he was handed in the tablet.

In John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book (expanded edition) is the chapter, "The Test of Time" (not to be confused with the same-titled book by Kasparov). The author's thesis - based on his studying of games - is that the world's best players of about a century ago would be about 2100 FIDE strength today.

I'd be most interested if the tablet were handed to Alekhine or Rubinstein, both obsessive perfectionists. Or Nimzowitsch, whose articulate writings were accessible and groundbreaking. Or the hypermodernists, Tartakower, Breyer and Reti, who had wild imaginations. Or God Himself: maybe He would've beaten Steinitz in their games.

This looks awesome, hope it's good fun.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Official-High-Times-Smokers-Activity/dp/0811862062

I'd say just start with some easy ones first, just so you can get into learning the folding techniques, terminology and diagram interpretations. I recently purchased the book called Easy Origami for my nephews who are 8 and under to get them to start learning. The models in this book are very simple so it probably wouldn't take you very long to master them. Then you can start to move to more challenging things. Learning how to fold the paper crane is always a popular one I find. Everyone always likes it, especially when I do really small ones.

As for paper, try craft stores or paper stores. If you can't find any place that sells origami paper, any square sheet of paper will do. You can use rectangular paper if you just fold it to a square first and cut off the excess strip.

I purchase my paper from this store, although I live close by so I go in person: The Paper Place. You can order online and they apparently ship within Canada (They are located in Toronto), to United States and to the UK.

Once you start getting into more difficult stuff, I found this site to be helpful. They collect videos of tutorials on how to do stuff in a bunch of different categories:

http://www.origamivideo.net/

Figure out what type of things you like to make and practice! It takes time and patience to learn it.

Just recently I started getting into modular origami. I found it to be challenging but when you complete one, they look amazing. It's get frustrating though when you're trying to learn new designs. I find learning to fold the pieces that make up a modular origami piece the easiest usually, it's the assembly that gets me!

Cool, which T-Rex? Satoshi has a nice one My favorite from another creator may be John Montroll's fox which I've folded so many times in high school, that I memorized!

I think for my own, my favorite is the mayfly, I just like how it turned out. That and the shrimp are the two most complex models I can fold from memory. With the other ones, I still need to see the crease pattern!

How many times have pictures of these books made a showing in /atheism. We get it, they're a pretty good read. We all hypocritically revere and jerk off to them like theists do to the bible. How about reading a textbook on mathematical principles, Principles of Physics, or Astronomy. You want your mind blown? Read anything related to infinity.

Some great thinkers were staunchly religious. Try Symbolic Logic and the Game of Logic. Computer science at it's basics.

God is not Great, page 6:
"Sacrifices and ceremonies are abhorrent to us, as are relics and the worship of any image or objects (even including objects in the form of one of man's most useful innovations: the bound book)."

My best suggestion would be to let them take turns being "in charge" Explain ahead of time, that no house rules may be broken. Otherwise let them guide the play. Children are extremely inventive and can come up with 84,000 different things to do with a cardboard box. Have them take turns being in charge. Also, get with the parents and see if they would be willing to fund a "quiet box" for each child. You can fill a small shoebox with crayons, comics, small puzzles, etc. Only bring them out when you need them to quietly entertain themselves when you need to focus your attention on just one or two of the children.

I do have a ton of things on my list, so here is something for $10 and for $5 although I am totally down for surprises as well. Congratulations on the job!

*Edit for formatting

The Turing Omnibus has a bit of that sort of thing. It is mainly focused on computer science, and features some anecdotes about the uses of the techniques explained. This book has a lot of contributors, so the tone varies a bit from chapter to chapter, but it introduces a lot of topics.

In Code examines the RSA (and goes into a bit of depth about Modular Arithmetic) as well as the author's exploration of an alternative encryption.

Aha! Insight and The Number Devil are good books too. They're both aimed at younger readers, and feature lots of illustrations but focus more on thinking about numbers (and problems) than the mechanics of doing calculations.

Oh great! Here is something on my wishlist I would like to learn :)

I have not read The Annotated Alice, but I have read and still have my copy of The Universe in a Handkerchief, which explores the puzzles and games, both obvious and not-so-obvious, in Lewis Carroll's books, with most of the examples coming from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Really, those two books are the kind of books I'd like to write a PhD dissertation on given just how rich they are, and how they have something for everyone.

In my opinion, some of the books and articles of Martin Gardner are an excellent source. Some of them are accessible to both kids and adults, and are good at showing the side of mathematics that's about puzzles and playing.

https://www.amazon.com/Aha-Insight-Gotcha-Spectrum/dp/0883855518

https://www.amazon.com/Aha-Insight-Martin-Gardner/dp/071671017X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TMSE4QQVMX4M815KJWAV

I know I'm late but I'm pretty sure "nosmo king" was in this puzzle book written by Martin gardener

Here's a fun book I was given in high school for winning a school-wide math contest by my math teacher.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cut-Cake-Mathematical-Conundrums/dp/0199205906

The best book I know about different kinds of puzzles is Puzzlecraft, by Thomas Snyder and Mike Selinker. I don't remember how international it is, though it certainly covers many of what would be considered "Japanese" logic puzzle types (how Japanese they are is questionable).

That looks like LaFosse's. He has a ton of variations. This book of his is great, it has that model: http://www.amazon.com/dp/4805312262/ref=pe_385040_30332190_pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_ST1_dp_2

As a beginner, I would say play the Italian for white, as it is more reliable for beginners, with less theory to learn with, and you can practice your attacking at the same time. For black, play the simple 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and go from there. There are a lot of resources out there to help you out, such as videos on youtube, files on the interet, engines, etc

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Practising you attacking skills requires you to do tactics, I recommend the book 1001 Chess Tactics, which can be found here

https://www.amazon.com/Tactics-Chess-Games-Everyday-Players-ebook/dp/B009TBYA7U

or you can use a tactics trainer such as the ones on lichess.org or chess.com however, lichess is free while chess.com requires a membership

For an entertaining and helpful introduction to this topic you should check out this book:


https://www.amazon.com/What-Name-This-Book-Recreational/dp/0486481980

That bothered me too. I gather that the jokes are strained even in the original German. I liked that book even so.

Another book you might like is The Man Who Counted: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393309347

In Lauren Ipsum I stuck to the real words, with some exceptions. I call programs "poems" to stress the desire for elegance. To smooth over the difference between programmers and computer scientists, in the book they are both called "composers".

Came here to suggest that.

I've read that when I was eight years old and decided that I'd be a "mathematician" (whatever that meant for an eight year old).

I kinda veered off the path a bit and graduated in Computer Sciences.

But I digress... The man who counted. Great book! And it is available in english:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Counted-Mathematical/dp/0393309347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348635831&sr=8-1&keywords=malba+tahan

http://www.amazon.com/Riddle-Rooms-1-Dungeon-Dilemmas/dp/1928807011/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417038427&sr=1-1&keywords=dungeon+riddles

Tons of great encounters where level doesn't matter. I would suggest the "shadow imp" one. He locks the players in a seemingly normal room. He pokes them for damage if they don't keep trying to solve the puzzle. He's invincible moves at the speed of light, he's basically a God of msichief. You have to solve a series of riddles and figure things out to get the key to open the door. Players are teleported into the room with essentially only their underwear and are ejected before they die.

There are bunch of magic items they can retrieve from the puzzle room.

From the FAQ on the right side ---------->

1) Chess Tactics for Students by John Bain

3) Back to Basics: Tactics (ChessCafe Back to Basics Chess) by Dan Heisman

4) Winning Chess Tactics, revised (Winning Chess – Everyman Chess) by Seirawan

8) 1001 Tactics Time! From the Games of Everyday Chess Players by Tim Brennan and Anthea Carson

There's an 11-step procedure in the book Puzzlecraft: The Ultimate Guide on How to Construct Every Kind of Puzzle, if you have it.

This book by Lewis Carrol - of Alice in Wonderland fame was my introduction to logic:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symbolic-Logic-Game-Dover-Recreational/dp/0486204928/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2/258-0056705-3870664?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0486204928&pd_rd_r=75cc6912-34eb-11e9-93a5-cfab5f712f42&pd_rd_w=X9vZa&pd_rd_wg=XLyvi&pf_rd_p=a0365e62-3353-40ad-91cf-d4ca762b18a7&pf_rd_r=MFZC67HBGENY14EXGDR5&psc=1&refRID=MFZC67HBGENY14EXGDR5

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A+ sir!

reminds me of a funny book I read once

Smullyan's books are very good. My favourite is Satan, Cantor and Infinity

This book (How to Cut a Cake: And other mathematical conundrums) has this covered. It also covers how to split something with more than two people. A must for anyone planning a party where a cake will be shared.

I wonder if his book might be useful in understanding angles he approaches things from?

If you thought that was good, take up mathematics as a hobby. That's what we live for.

Book recommendation

I like this one best. http://www.amazon.com/The-Universe-Handkerchief-Mathematical-Recreations/dp/0387256415

Yeah it looks like it's just a journal - but there is a weed activity book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811862062/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I recommend starting simple and working your way up to more complicated stuff. I got started with this book:[Animal origami](
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Origami-Enthusiast-Step-Step/dp/0486247929)
It has lots of models, and they get progressively harder, but start really simple.

If you don't want to buy anything just yet, I would suggest at looking though the models here: origami.org and just work your way up form simple to complex

I always liked these "what is the name of this book?" type arguments.

There's the "Aha!" books by Martin Gardner

https://www.amazon.com/Aha-Insight-Gotcha-Spectrum/dp/0883855518

Also he's got a lot more puzzle books

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner_bibliography

What is the name of this book?

Gifting IS addictive!

My daughter drew this for you

This would be for her if it wins I don't know what shipping is because I'm guessing you don't have .ca prime so if it goes over I can find a cheaper item or I can chip in for the difference :D

I used Chessbase and Word for my Kindle chess tactics book - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009TBYA7U/

I second the Kaplan books and add The Man Who Counted.

Im currently reading this gem.

Anyone else read it?

You should read The Man who Counted by Malba Tahan.

"What is the name of this book?"

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https://www.amazon.com/What-Name-This-Book-Recreational/dp/0486481980/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541944649&sr=8-1&keywords=what+is+the+name+of+this+book

I have found it!

It is "The man who counted" and I seem to have mixed up a few of the particulars of the story, but there you have it.

Wikipedia page.

Maybe he's reading this?

That reminded me of this

I've stopped using the chess.com puzzles, 1) because the timer is infuriating (I know it can be turned off), and 2) some of the problems are terrible. They're ambiguous. If you're lucky, there will be comments explaining, but not always. The problems are frequently missing continuations to see the "point" of the puzzle.

Anyway, I've been doing problems from a book on my Kindle offline. I can do them at my own pace, and the author has hand-selected and explained each problem (unlike the computer-selected ones on chess.com):

http://www.amazon.com/Tactics-Chess-Games-Everyday-Players-ebook/dp/B009TBYA7U/

As far as tactics as a way to improve, I think it's the single most useful thing you can do. But not all tactics collections are created equally. Some are garbage.