For many decades, Martin Gardner, the Grand Master of mathematical puzzles, has provided the tools and projects to furnish our all-too-sluggish minds with an athletic workout. Gardner's problems foster an agility of the mind as they entertain. This volume presents a new collection of problems and puzzles not previously published in book form. Martin Gardner has dedicated it to "all the underpaid teachers of mathematics everywhere, who love their subject and are able to communicate that love to their students."

LEARN SHORTCUTS Many of the puzzles will seem as though they will take longer than two minutes to solve, but ... there are shortcuts if you can find them!! There are faster ways to solve each problem and dilemma. The Two-Minute Puzzle Book will teach you to look for such loopholes and shortcuts!ENGAGING THEMATIC PUZZLES From Chapter One's 'The One and Only' through Chapter Nine's 'The Whole Nine Yards', each chapter contains puzzles related to the chapter's theme. For example, in the second chapter, you will find mechanical puzzles with double pieces, riddles about couples, line puzzles and more.There are match puzzles, tangram-related puzzles, paper puzzles, geometric puzzles and mathematical puzzles to tease and occupy all types of puzzlists. Some require intuition but all are two minutes away from a solution.UNIQUE CHALLENGES As with their previous puzzle books, the authors, David Goodman and Ilan Garibi, aim to provide a fresh and original book. Many of the puzzles are coming from their heads and are not retreads!! There are some classic puzzles too, but the authors present them in an original way.CULTIVATE YOUR BRAIN TO THINK CREATIVELY Crack open this book and allow the puzzles presented to train your brain. Always look for a bypass or shortcut. Find a different point of view. By rephrasing the question, a solution may surface!We hope that this book will tickle your imagination and sharpen your mind. You just might begin to solve everyday 'real-world' problems differently. FLEX YOUR BRAIN.

With these fun mini puzzles, puzzle hobbyists and cat lovers can piece together two cute scenes of cats going cuckoo for catnip!

This adorable mini puzzle set includes two designs of cats with catnip. Each itty-bitty jigsaw puzzle is made up of 180 tiny puzzle pieces and forms a 7.5" x 6" finished scene that you can craft-glue together and frame as decoration or simply break apart and start anew!

Consider this: Robots will one day be able to write poetry and prose so touching that it will make men weep; compose dozens or even hundreds of symphonies that will rival the work of Mozart; judge a court case with absolute impartiality and fairness; or even converse with the natural ease of your best friend. Robots will one day be so life-like that a human could fall in love and marry one. Thought provoking and controversial? Certainly. Far-fetched? Not at all. David Levy presents the history of Artificial Intelligence, considers recent developments, and speculates about the future of AI. A complete bibliography is available here.

Saunders Mac Lane was an extraordinary mathematician, a dedicated teacher, and a good citizen who cared deeply about the values of science and education. In his autobiography, he gives us a glimpse of his "life and times," mixing the highly personal with professional observations. His recollections bring to life a century of extraordinary accomplishments and tragedies that inspire and educate. Saunders Mac Lane's life covers nearly a century of mathematical developments. During the earlier part of the twentieth century, he participated in the exciting happenings in Goettingen---the Mecca of mathematics. He studied under David Hilbert, Hermann Weyl, and Paul Bernays and witnessed the collapse of a great tradition under the political pressure of a brutal dictatorship. Later, he contributed to the more abstract and general mathematical viewpoints developed in the twentieth century. Perhaps the most outstanding accomplishment during his long and extraordinary career was the development of the concept of categories, together with Samuel Eilenberg, and the creation of a theory that has broad applications in different areas of mathematics, in particular topology and foundations. He was also a keen observer and active participant in the social and political events. As a member and vice president of the National Academy of Science and an advisor to the Administration, he exerted considerable influence on science and education policies in the post-war period. Mac Lane's autobiography takes the reader on a journey through the most important milestones of the mathematical world in the twentieth century.

Piece together a fascinating visual exploration of the natural world. Featuring illustrations from Julia Rothman's best-selling book Nature Anatomy, this jigsaw puzzle will open your eyes to new ways of seeing earth and sky, flora and fauna. With each piece you put in place, nature's wonders unfold: the crystalline structure of a single snowflake, the different types of feathers on a bird, a constellation of stars. A distinctive blend of art and science, this sweeping study of the universe will delight, educate, and enlighten.

Part of an exciting series of sturdy, square-box 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles from Flame Tree, featuring powerful and popular works of art. This new jigsaw will satisfy your need for a challenge, with a masterpiece of modern American Art, American Gothic by Grant Wood. This 1000 piece jigsaw is intended for adults and children over 13 years. Not suitable for children under 3 years due to small parts. Finished Jigsaw size 735 x 510mm/29 x 20 ins. Now includes an A4 poster for reference. Grant Wood's image of two stoic Iowa citizens installed in front of their gothic-hinted home has become a classic of modern American art. Modelled by Wood's daughter and a local dentist, the painting offers a defiant statement of prosaic regionalism in a cultural world then dominated by the modernist tendencies of Europe and Russia, a reposte perhaps to the expressive works of Picasso, Kandinsky and their fellows. The folk art of American Gothic presents a familiar world of local history and imbues it with echoes of Old West photography, with proud owners standing awkwardly in front of their pioneer homesteads. Wood, though, appears subtly to undermine the simplicity of the image with darker implications of the gothic window, the tricorn rake, and the severe expressions of the protagonists, which draw the viewer into the more enigmatic world of the long, dark nights of the American gothic countryside.

Award-winning designer, illustrator, and creative director Michael Storrings captures the magic of the early 20th century jazz scene in New York City. Michael Storrings Jazz Age 1000 Piece Puzzle from Galison is packaged in stylish matte-finish sturdy box, perfect for gifting, reuse, and storage.

Put down your smartphone and pick up a pencil! This fresh interpretation of classic paper-and-pencil games features five tear-off pads with colourful edging and sleek modern graphics. The set includes five two-player games, some familiar and some new: three-dimensional Tic-Tac-Toe, Dots & Boxes, Hedron, Nim, and Hex. Each pad has 150 sheets for a total of 750 single games, enough to keep players of any age happy for hours! The instructions are printed on the base of each pad.

Wiggling a pencil so that it looks like it is made of rubber, "stealing" your niece's nose, and listening for the sounds of the ocean in a conch shell- these are examples of folk illusions, youthful play forms that trade on perceptual oddities. In this groundbreaking study, K. Brandon Barker and Claiborne Rice argue that these easily overlooked instances of children's folklore offer an important avenue for studying perception and cognition in the contexts of social and embodied development. Folk illusions are traditionalized verbal and/or physical actions that are performed with the intention of creating a phantasm for one or more participants. Using a cross-disciplinary approach that combines the ethnographic methods of folklore with the empirical data of neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology, Barker and Rice catalogue over eighty discrete folk illusions while exploring the complexities of embodied perception. Taken together as a genre of folklore, folk illusions show that people, starting from a young age, possess an awareness of the illusory tendencies of perceptual processes as well as an awareness that the distinctions between illusion and reality are always communally formed.

Collected over several years by Peter Winkler, of Bell Labs, dozens of elegant, intriguing challenges are presented in Mathematical Puzzles. The answers are easy to explain, but without this book, devilishly hard to find. Creative reasoning is the key to these puzzles. No involved computation or higher mathematics is necessary, but your ability to construct a mathematical proof will be severly tested--even if you are a professional mathematician. For the truly adventurous, there is even a chapter on unsolved puzzles.

Extreme Spot the Difference is the ultimate photo puzzle challenge. Tougher, more engaging and more visually impressive than anything you've seen before, this book takes you on a tour of the world's most beautiful, busy and exotic cities in amazing extreme detail.

A NEW TWIST ON A POPULAR PUZZLE CUBE! Invented by Piet Hein, the Soma cube is one of the most famous mechanical puzzles in the world. The traditional challenge and outcome is to build a cube or other structures from all seven pieces.CHANGE THE RULES, CHANGE THE OUTCOME! The puzzles in this unique Soma-inspired collection are no longer predicated upon using all seven pieces at one time! By varying the number of pieces, there are many new and versatile puzzle challenges, from all types of recreational mathematics fields. For example, you will find symmetry puzzles, cover-up puzzles, and even fraction puzzles. The chapters are divided according to the number of pieces used; from single-piece puzzles to puzzles requiring a complete set.WHY USE THE SOMA CUBE? From the moment our creative team changed their rules of engagement for this new collection, the potential puzzle challenges and their solutions became nearly limitless! There is something magical and enchanting in those seven pieces that enabled us to find many puzzles and challenges!NEW CHALLENGES Most of the puzzles demonstrated within the book are original. Some are based on classic puzzles, as well as more modern ones, modified and presented by using the set of Soma pieces.LOW COST AND HIGH INTEREST FOR HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT WITH INCREASING COMPLEXITY! This is a unique collection of puzzles - all you need is a set of the Soma cube. The puzzles range from easy to difficult and they appeal to a wide audience - all within the reach of the general public. It presents many geometrical and mathematical principles, and makes them easier to understand. However, no special knowledge in mathematics or geometry is required.

A NEW TWIST ON A POPULAR PUZZLE CUBE! Invented by Piet Hein, the Soma cube is one of the most famous mechanical puzzles in the world. The traditional challenge and outcome is to build a cube or other structures from all seven pieces.CHANGE THE RULES, CHANGE THE OUTCOME! The puzzles in this unique Soma-inspired collection are no longer predicated upon using all seven pieces at one time! By varying the number of pieces, there are many new and versatile puzzle challenges, from all types of recreational mathematics fields. For example, you will find symmetry puzzles, cover-up puzzles, and even fraction puzzles. The chapters are divided according to the number of pieces used; from single-piece puzzles to puzzles requiring a complete set.WHY USE THE SOMA CUBE? From the moment our creative team changed their rules of engagement for this new collection, the potential puzzle challenges and their solutions became nearly limitless! There is something magical and enchanting in those seven pieces that enabled us to find many puzzles and challenges!NEW CHALLENGES Most of the puzzles demonstrated within the book are original. Some are based on classic puzzles, as well as more modern ones, modified and presented by using the set of Soma pieces.LOW COST AND HIGH INTEREST FOR HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT WITH INCREASING COMPLEXITY! This is a unique collection of puzzles - all you need is a set of the Soma cube. The puzzles range from easy to difficult and they appeal to a wide audience - all within the reach of the general public. It presents many geometrical and mathematical principles, and makes them easier to understand. However, no special knowledge in mathematics or geometry is required.

**A perfect loo book - full of fiendishly clever word games and brainteasers** Ah, the tedium of the toilet. The boredom of the the bathroom. If only there was a more edifying way to pass the time while carrying out your morning ablutions. Well now there is! *Train your mind while on your behind!* Featuring 102 fiendishly clever word games, brainteasers, puzzles and quiz questions, this is the ultimate bathroom book for your home, or a superb stocking filler for the lofty loo book lover in your life. *It's quizmas time for business time!* For those who've enjoyed The Shiit Workout, 52 Things to do on the Loo, and Things to do While you Poo on the Loo. *Search for solutions while doing your ablutions!*

Do you feel like you've solved enough traditional Sudoku, crosswords and logic problems to last a lifetime? Thinh Lai's Puzzle Universe is the second book in an exciting new series for everyone who loves puzzles and wants something fresh! Vietnamese puzzle master Lai Van Duc Thinh has created a series of original puzzle types sure to test the skills of even the most experienced puzzle-solver. Creatively stimulating new puzzles include Bar Code, Elbow Room, Boxing Match, Borderlands and more, each of which come with full instructions on how to solve them, as well as a variety of difficulty levels to aid in your progression.

'Great fun. Railway travel without leaving your armchair!' Chris Tarrant A jam-packed puzzle and trivia book about Britain's iconic railways. The Big British Railway Puzzle Book is a must-buy gift book for puzzle book fanatics, train and travel enthusiasts, history buffs, and the people up and down the country who love their heritage and their regional identity! Featuring a treasure trove of puzzles about railways and locomotives, using maps, old routes and tracks, original posters and all things that delight train lovers, the book also includes mind-boggling brainteasers, navigational tests, word games, code-crackers, anagrams, crosswords, mathematical conundrums and more. As well as having over 100 mind-bending puzzles, the book also contains historical facts and figures, trivia and introductions to each section authored by Dr Thomas Spain, a research associate at the National Railway Museum, about the history of the British Railways. From the National Railway Museum in York!

A jam-packed puzzle and trivia book about the birds in Britain, in collaboration with the RSPB. Can you tell your rook from your crow? Do you know the collective noun for a group of goldfinches? Or where a willow warbler goes when it migrates? A must-buy for any bird enthusiast or bird-watching novice, this puzzle book is filled with questions, word games and brainteasers that will test your ornithological knowledge and reveal a treasure trove of incredible facts about our feathered friends - covering topics such as garden birds, coastal and country birds, behaviour, biology, culture, rare birds and bird migration. Featuring over 150 puzzles, from quiz questions to illustrations of birds to test your identification knowledge, wordsearches and crosswords, as well as maps to explore flight patterns, the RSPB Great British Birdwatcher's Puzzle Book will put your friends and family through their paces, and on the path to becoming an ornithological expert.

A Vogue 2021 gift guide pick "For someone who adores flowers, it would be a joy to put together this puzzle." --House Beautiful, Beautiful Things: Gifts to Give Your Home A rose in full bloom. What is more captivating? Adapted from a nineteenth-century chromolithograph from the collection of John Derian, the artist and designer whose work with printed images of the past transports the viewer to another world, Garden Rose challenges the puzzle doer with its subtle tones of parchment and repetition of leaves and thorns, and utterly enchants with the delicate pink bull's-eye of its single, mesmerizing bloom. Featuring: 1,000 interlocking pieces Mini-poster (6 3/4" x 9 3/8") for reference or framing Completed puzzle size: 18 7/8" x 26 3/8"