Puzzles Books

This inexpensive, sturdy, entertaining book contains a one-a-day collection of 365 amusing, insightful and even witty quotes, drawn from a rich group of personalities whose birthday is celebrated on date under which they are featured. Ranging from poets, novelists, artists and movie stars, to scientists, politicians and philosophers, the quoted authors include William Blake, Lewis Carroll, Edgar Degas, Sophia Loren, Isaac Newton, Richard Nixon, Albert Camus, and 358 others. All the quotes are encoded in substitution cipher, each letter standing for another, and with varying degrees of difficulty they are guaranteed to keep you busy for hours as you find yourself using your intuition, your knowledge of spelling and syntax, and even your familiarity with each quoted personality to figure them out.
The book also includes an introduction that gives us general hints for solving cryptograms. Two sections with clues on the solution of each puzzle, one stating the occupation and year of birth of the celebrity being quoted and another stating the correct substitution for one or more letters, are included at the back, along with the solutions for each puzzle. An index of authors for those searching for quotes from a particular individual is also included.
If you love cryptograms, buy this book. I guarantee that you won't be able to do them just one a day.
--Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

"365 Mind-Challenging Cryptograms" is filled to the brim with celebrity quotes. Your challenge is to decode both the quote, and the name of the person who said it.

There is a good set of instructions for solving this type of puzzle right at the beginning - which makes this a great book for the cryptogram novice and pro alike.

I really like how the author arranges the hints so that you can receive the hint without having to see the whole answer. You can choose a level 1 hint - which tells you the profession & birth date of the celebrity who made the statement - if you're still stuck, you can move on to the level 2 hint - which gives you a more direct hint for either a letter or a word within the puzzle. If you're still stumped, you may want to check out the index - which provides a list of all of the celebrities quoted in this book. And, if all else fails, you can find the complete answer given at the end of the book.

Overall, I found this to be a fun collection of cryptograms. The only reason that I gave it 4 starts instead of 5 is because I found there to be too little room to write the answers - the coded letters are too close together - so I wound up having to write really small.

RDT MNEL THUSJ THSI KD LANMKJP OD GDTEJSLMABE

If you like clever cryptograms, you'll like this book.

Expert-level bridge and backgammon player Danny Kleinman presents 365 Winning Bridge Tips, a practical-minded resource for bridge players of all levels from novice to skilled professional. Virtually every tip is actually in the form of a bridge problem, spelled out with a simple black-and-white diagram and bridge notation, while the text walks the reader through the problem, the ideal solution, and possible alternatives. Discussing both issues of bidding and card play, 365 Winning Bridge Tips presumes familiarity with basic bridge rules and conventions but no more than that. A "must-read" from the aspiring bridge gamer seeking to hone his or her skills.

Expert-level bridge and backgammon player Danny Kleinman presents 365 Winning Bridge Tips, a practical-minded resource for bridge players of all levels from novice to skilled professional. Virtually every tip is actually in the form of a bridge problem, spelled out with a simple black-and-white diagram and bridge notation, while the text walks the reader through the problem, the ideal solution, and possible alternatives. Discussing both issues of bidding and card play, 365 Winning Bridge Tips presumes familiarity with basic bridge rules and conventions but no more than that. A "must-read" from the aspiring bridge gamer seeking to hone his or her skills.

Expert-level bridge and backgammon player Danny Kleinman presents 365 Winning Bridge Tips, a practical-minded resource for bridge players of all levels from novice to skilled professional. Virtually every tip is actually in the form of a bridge problem, spelled out with a simple black-and-white diagram and bridge notation, while the text walks the reader through the problem, the ideal solution, and possible alternatives. Discussing both issues of bidding and card play, 365 Winning Bridge Tips presumes familiarity with basic bridge rules and conventions but no more than that. A "must-read" from the aspiring bridge gamer seeking to hone his or her skills.

When I first saw this book I expected it to be the routine book of play problems with Loser on Loser plays, not ruffing in 2nd spot, etc. Instead I was pleasantly surprised as the problems were common, but not the routine ones covered in many other books. There are bidding, defense, and play problems, all requiring the reader to listen to the bidding.

I don't agree with all of the authors bidding ideas, but they are interesting. And some of his points are excellent, like when he expalins why a convention should not be used in a certain situation. Also, concerning Long Suit/Short Suit game tries, its better if the weak hand describes itself, not the strong hand.

The play problems are mostly Intermediate Plus. Most are MP oriented, but that doesn't take away from their use for IMPS players. The problems are common ones, not unusual squeezes.
They involve counting, listening to the bidding, visualizing the unseen hands, thinking about a suit based on spots played, not breaking new suits, or setting up a suit.

Over, this book will not be of much interest to Advanced players (most who think they are advanced are just Intermediate plus) becajus ethey will find the play problems easy, and already know the bidding.

Those below Intermediate level will not be able to visialize teh hands and think about the spots, and will miss most of the problems, and probably not even know how to solve them.

Example:

You dont want to lead any other suit but Clubs, based on the bidding, so you select Clubs.
you lead K from KQ32
Dummy has 10 x x
pard plays the 5.

Declarer plays the 6.

Whats going on?
At first you may think its a Bath Coup and not to continue.
But with the 10 in Dummy, its likely Declarer doesn't have the AJ else he would take the K and lead to the 10, establishing a 2nd trick by force.

Leading low can be ok.

I edit the Bogglers page at Discover magazine and have used Terry's puzzles over the years. His puzzles are great for forcing your mind to think in new ways. But more importantly, they're fun. Doing one a day will keep you sharp!

I thought I had all the great puzzle books, magazines, card decks, etc. until I saw this latest work from Terry Stickels. Wow! I have never seen anything so fresh and original. These are puzzles I have never seen before and they cover everyting from math to geography to science to masterful word games. THIS WILL BE A CLASSIC! This should be owned by every lover of fun and knowledge from kids to adults.

As a professor of Creative and Critical Thinking, I am always on the lookout for fresh and varied ancillary aids to make the classes more interesting. This calendar offers a wide array of fun, interesting and chalenging puzzles that would be an asset for any classroom. I think the general public would enjoy it as well.

I'm the author of Thinkertoys, ThinkPak, and Cracking creativity and read, generally, everything that hits the market on creative and critical thinking. This is the best of best calendar on the market, and I've seen them all. Bravo, Terry, for another terrific calendar of puzzles.

Excellent resource to use in elementary classrooms! Contains many excellent, fun, interactive games that can be learned in a minute or less. I've used many of the games for my morning meeting as well as recess. Wonderful!

I bought this along with the Morning Meeting book and having these 2 books together provides an amazing resource in my 2nd Grade classroom for me! I can just turn to the activities section or the greeting section to find a greeting that will work for Morning Meeting. So many of the activities and greetings are so fun, also- the kids just love them! So glad I have this.

Make sure there are multiple copies for your staff to share. If we all read the same theoretical ideas - and discuss how they would effect our situations - we all grow and change together.

I use this book almost every day in my second grade classroom and have loaned it to several other teachers in my building. The games are easy to understand and teach and the students love them. The activities and greetings are easy to personalize and think of variations to be used over and over again.

The concept of positional play was something I hadn't dealt with until this book. Although tough for me to get through, the 200 problems illustrating the concepts Robertie postulates were helpful enough to raise my FIBs rating over 200 points. When you get serious about winning, you'll read this book.

The volume covers a great number of problems that give players difficulty. Robertie's approach is systematic and his writing is lucid. A "must-have" for serious players.

This book outlines advanced strategies for opening and mid-position moves. It is the next step after Robertie's 'Backgammon for Winners' and 'Backgammon for Serious players'. If you have read and disgested these first two books and are looking for the next level then this is a must have. There are over 200 situations covered. Details include reasons for the right move along with alernative plays. Both moves and doubling are covered. The book is broken into several section. Opening moves, mid-game, the blitz, and defense are just a few. Illustraions accompany each example and the reasoning is well written and easy to follow. As Bill Robertie points out there are many books that contain short cuts to winning but when the tournament is over you do not see any of these players around. This a study guide that can be used for a lifetime of playing one of the worlds oldest and most challenging games.

Robertie has written a number of books on Backgammon. This is not the one to read first, it may be the one (with volume 2) to read last. But, for advanced players or those who want to become advanced players, this is where the real meat is.

Teaches in a very short time how to play the game better. My 11 year old could also read and apply the book's techniques, so I think it is well worth the money and time if you like to play this game.

It wasn't long ago that many of us hardcore yahtzee
fans believed that the optimal strategy was well out
of the reach of mortals. Well, the esteemed Olaf
Vancura, PhD has thankfully proved us wrong. Yahtzee
Advantage is certainly the most ground breaking book
in the history of Yahtzee that ever was and certainly
ever will be. After a short history of Yahtzee,
Vancura discusses Yahtzee rules and even clarifies the
dubious and complicated 'joker rules.' He then moves
on to how he unravelled the secret of Yahtzee. The
next few chapters address how to simulate the optimal
strategy in beginning, mid, and end game. There are a
number of useful graphs that summarize what play to make
during different rolls in the game; he even
includes the Yahtzee distribution given perfect play
and provides a few case studies. Without Dr.
Vancura, we never would have known the golden benchmark - the optimal score under perfect play. Advantage Yahtzee is a must for serious fans of the greatest game ever made. Because of Yahtzee Advantage, and its counterpart - the online Yahtzee Proficiency Tester- , I expect that we will see human yahtzee scores to rise dramatically over the next decade.

This book includes a decent set of rules, a standard score sheet and a crystal clear explanation of the one rule that most people misinterpret. Neat, but, in and of itself, not worth a book unless you're a purist who wants to know if they are in the "wrong" camp. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was.

Of course, it also includes a reasonably small set of guidelines that will enable you to approximate "perfect" play. Given the "stupefyingly" large number of possibilities, you'll never play "perfect" Yahtzee. If this is what you want, five stars. If you have a penchant for numbers, you may well be playing close as it is. Again, I was.

Personally, I wanted a book with three sections: the two above and the third consisting of the mathematician's/programmer's point-of-view. Of course, the book tells you the approach Vancura used. Without it, the problem explodes. It took Vancura two months to go from "it can't be done" to "did it." But the distance from "here's how" to actual implementation is huge. Would have loved to have access to source code in at least pseudo-code if not C/Perl/some other popular language - preferably somewhere on the web.

For some reason, I had always thought of Yahtzee as a game of mostly luck and a little skill. Then I read Advantage Yahtzee, by Olaf Vancura, Ph.D. The book is cheap (only 6.95) and a relatively quick read, but I guarantee that your Yahtzee scores will improve dramatically after reading it just one time.

This book, however, was written in such a manner that even someone who has virtually no math skills and has only played Yahtzee once will be able to read it easily and benefit greatly.

Between the strategy tips, the book is filled with fun facts. Did you know that the highest possible score in Yahtzee is 1,575? That would mean you'd have to roll 13 straight Yahtzees. Or did you know that on every first roll, there are 252 possible outcomes? You'll learn this and so much more if you read this book. Pick it up, it's well worth the cheap cover price and will improve your game vastly.

Wow, This book really helps, I beat the game alone on alien and predator profiles, but the marine was a little tough, didn't need the book much, but is great for people who are stuck

I liked this book. It was a real help

wow it is great it helped me pass the gam

I have been playing the game since the first day it came out. And since that day, I have been completely frustrated with it too. This book has helped a lot. It give full maps of all the enviornments. Every air ducts, every sub-level, everything! I play this game 24/7, so you can tell I like it a lot. The most helpful thing are the maps. The alien levels are mind-bogglingly long. It took me a week to beet the first level on the alien. I got this book and beat it in 15 minutes. It tells every charecter's weaknesses and strong points. It even gives a blueprint of the weapons and people. It gives info about everybody. It is really great.

Finally a management book with something new to offer! I found "All the Moving Parts" to be one of the most thought-provoking and insightful books on organizational change that I have read in quite some time! Blair seems to have a unique style of entertaining you while educating you and unlike many management books, I personally found it hard to put the book down. She includes some very interesting and surprising case studies that make you ponder our traditional approach to organizational change while offering a fresh new perspective. Her concepts are easy to understand and seemingly easy to apply. This book has shifted the way I view my organization and inspired me to address change in a different way. "All the Moving Parts" is a highly impactful read not to be missed!

This book gave me insight and real life solutions to timeless issues. The model for success is cutting-edge without being overly complicated.

This is a must read, a must have for anyone in business be it year 1 or year 101

This book, while speaking to C level challanges, remained grounded in reality and solutions. Not the usual business babble that keeps wheels spinning, with no change.

The below review was contributed by: Sue Vogan, Writer & Author of NCO-No Compassion Observed: [....]____

First we look at obvious ways things change - chaotic, planned, and undetected. Chaotic change occurs within organizations when, for example, there are security leaks or insider trading. Planned change happens in accordance with annual goals and when the Board of Directors are privy to the changes being planned. Undetected changes come about as a result "when an organization lacks a comprehensive strategic plan and, instead, relies on its managers (or "silo heads") to independently determine what is to be done and the changes that are to be made with their specific departments of divisions." The author asks you to envision the company you would like to manage and then compare it to reality - or the current company you work for or manage. Big difference! "Organizations today need to mobilize ALL THEIR MOVING PARTS to be in alignment and poised to effect frequent and successful change for the future."

"What are the moving parts of an organization?" People, departments or divisions, conveyances, materials - "specific, literal and tangible features of modern organizations. "The five moving parts are: The chief executive officer, his leadership team; the board of directors; its employees; and its customers." Blair provides examples of each and demonstrates what makes their success important lessons for us. "When a company pays equal and serious attention to all five of the essential elements - that is, those elements that comprise a company's leadership and management power, its policy power, its production and knowledge power, and its marketing power - it will own the future."

There are rules of management - " small things matter;" "chaos, even though unintended, should always be able to be controlled;" "all things eventually pass;" "dealing with chaos in organizations takes good planning and a high level of skill for the careful timing of mitigating actions;" "if you're going to institute change, you're going to institute chaos;" and "change is chaos. You can learn when to avoid it, or how to create it." These are important rules and, if we can recall them when things get hectic, are ones that will relieve the stress that comes from chaos.

There are helpful tips on how much you should share with staff, how clients/customers fit into the big picture, and the ingredients for success when it comes to making changes. Now that the moving parts have been identified and their importance explained, there is a chapter that deals with protecting the moving parts. It only makes sense that you would want to take care of something that's working. When the protected moving parts are in place and they are working, how does this translate into an organization? Blair explains this by looking at teamwork, leadership roles, what person or group is in charge of goals, and what "wholeness" means to an organization. Secret - wholeness translates to "success." And who doesn't want that?

This is an important book should you be opening a business, wanting to improve a business, or looking at working for an organization. From the information presented by Blair, you should be able to make the decisions that will take you in the direction you want to go.

I purchased several of Tom Tierney's historical paper doll sets to augment my family history projects. I have 150 years of family photos which are mostly in black and white, of course, so it's great to see the period clothing in detail and in color. The paper dolls will add so much to my research and my family's appreciation of the historical times and stories. Although I intend to keep the paper dolls uncut, they are printed on card stock which would be easy to cut and not tear apart if well-cared for.

It's obvious that no member of this family ever had to dive into a *missionary barrel* to select clothing. Tom Tierney chose an upper-middle-class family to represent America in the 1930s.

Following the stock market crash of 1929 a mother wearing a fur coat was not commonplace. The hats do grab your attention - - perhaps they were designed to draw eyes away from any shabbiness in shoes or dress? My own wardrobe during those years is remembered as a blur of nondescript cotton print dresses, and that was long before no-iron fabrics were invented. Those were the days when the father's shirts were sent out for pressing. They were returned, folded around cardboard inserts that the children eagerly grabbed for their drawing projects - - which might include original paper doll designs!

Some will purchase this *American Family of the 1930s* - - possibly to leave it uncut for a collection. Fewer children receive paper dolls as gifts now, but when they do they probably get busy drawing & coloring clothes that fit the mod taste of most girls nowadays. Reviewer mcHAIKU enjoys Tierney's dolls as historical statements even though these fashions do not help grandchildren to 'envision' her growing-up years.

If you collect paper dolls, or just like them, I suggest you snatch this one up. It's one of the newest additions to my collection, and is already one of my favorite of the Tierney paper doll families. The entire family comes in swimsuits: grandparents Walter and JoAnn; Walter's sons Patrick and Brad; JoAnn's children Scott and Shannon; Patrick's smiling wife Kathy; their absolutely darling children--Bridget has Shirley Temple curls, Deirdre has a fashionable bob-cut, and Brandon has his uncle's good looks. They have fashionable costumes for all occasions: shopping, winter outings, and, of course, Shannon's afternoon wedding! On the last plate is Shannon's beautiful wedding dress. Georgeous dress, in the 30's fashion. I won't spoil it though--you have to see it for yourself! A must-buy!

I thought the paper dolls showed the unique clothing of that time period, I am a avid collector of paper dolls and i am glad i had a chance to add this to my collection. I have also bought other Tom Tierney paper doll which were exqisite as well

I found this book simply sensational, once it has hundreds of interesting puzzles on math and logic. One learns a lot by reading it.

With 430 puzzles, problems, paradoxes, and brain teasers, this book is a mammoth puzzle collection, compared with most math teasers and puzzles book available. But what is important is not the quantity, but the quality and charm of the problems presented. Each problem is presented with a full length solutions that makes the book absolutely an instructive experience for the reader. In some cases the author even discussed on how others had attacked and failed the problems.

Additionally the book is fully illustrated with clever diagrams and sketches, which make the reading even more pleasant for everyone. You, your freinds and family will spend many hours trying the vast array of puzzles prented in this book.

This excellent collection of teasers has inferential problems in arithmetic and algebra, and includes geometry, mazes, magic squares and a lot of chess-board tours. The answers are often gems in themselves -- things mentioned in passing and left to the reader to establish -- e.g. "... of the twelve ways that eight queens can be placed on a chessboard without attacking one another..." At twelve years old I spent many an hour finding those twelve ways. There is a small problem with the age of the book, first published in 1917. You could buy an airplane for 400 pounds ($1,680) then, and the money puzzles in the first chapter assume familiarity with British pounds, shillings and pence (and ha'pennies and farthings). The Dover edition of 1958 included a preface on British coins and stamps, and another on the game of cricket, but this edition was in 8vo rather than the original quarto, making some of the diagrams very small. I received my copy in 1936, at age eleven, and have cherished it ever since. I still find challenges in it in spite of my Masters degree in Mathematical Physics!

Dudeney was one of the two fathers of puzzles today. Amusements in Mathematics has many of Dudeney's best puzzles. An excellent book.