Can you really trust your mind? Explore the brain-twisting science of thinking, feeling, and memory with this mind-boggling book.

A smart way to teach children to think logically and creatively One of the most precious gifts you can offer a child is a sharp mind. The 56 puzzles in this delightful collection were passed down through generations of Chinese families who wanted their children to develop concentration and mental agility. Baifang spent hours enjoying them with her family and friends as she was growing up in the north of China. Now living in San Francisco, Baifang is passing them on to her own children and to families everywhere. Each puzzle inspires clear, precise, and inventive thinking. Some teach math concepts; others involve spatial relationships and visualization. All of them have fascinating solutions and help improve memory and problem-solving skills. An inexhaustible source of challenging fun, these are mental calisthenics for stimulating interaction between lively minds from ages 8 to 80.

Last June in New York City, U.S. and foreign teams dazzled each other with all types of clever language- and culture-neutral puzzles in the first World Puzzle Championships. Now, in this uniquely challenging Games compendium, Will Shortz brings readers 100 of the best of these championship puzzles: Brain Twisters, Hidden Pictures, Memory Tests, and more.

Get smart--give your brain a super-sized workout that's fun, challenging, and mind-expanding! You'll really have to keep your wits about you as you tackle six big sections filled with puzzles and tricks of every sort, from the visual to the verbal. Try critical thinking and lateral thinking questions, where you'll have to "work outside the box," forget your assumptions, and look at the problem from a fresh viewpoint. Whodunits have all the pleasures of a mystery--but you're the detective trying to figure it out! Be "number one" at math conundrums, and open your eyes and look sharp when you tackle the picture puzzles and optical illusions. Give this a shot and find out if you can be a "toothpick architect"! Build a house using 11 toothpicks as shown in the diagram. See if you can make the house face the opposite direction by moving only one toothpick. Answer: Move one of the toothpicks in the roof.

Educational title for gifted and advanced learners.

To solve these tantalizing teasers, you'll need to think carefully and logically. No special knowledge is required ... just common sense.

The activities in this book include: riddles, cryptograms, lateral thinking, categorization puzzles, and much more.