Puzzles Books

Let the story of the Turk encourage to think in detail....Wolfgang Kempelen was a genius and so was Johann Maelzel, but once you find out how the Turk worked you then will be suprised, but then this machine persuaded many people that the Turk had life. Yes, that this machine was a thinking machine that could think and move. This story can encourage or inspire anyone to pick up a certain subject and to place passion in the things that you do. The Turk is a fascinating subject, and i encourage you to buy this book. 10 stars.

Over two hundred years ago, good chess players were playing against a machine, and generally being defeated by it. The machine was the famous chess-playing automaton "The Turk," and although it has been extensively written about for centuries, much of what has been written is just wrong. No one has collected as much history about the Turk as Gerald M. Levitt, a chess player and writer who has written _The Turk, Chess Automaton_ (McFarland & Company). It is a fascinating history of the machine and what people made of it.

How it worked was a trick, but an exceedingly clever one that has been speculated upon in various ways ever since the Turk made its debut. It was an intricate mechanism, to be sure. That mechanical arm really was picking up the pieces and moving them, and somehow the machine could see what move its opponent had just made. But the main part of the machine was a human chess player concealed within the table. (Even if you know this, the way the Turk saw the board and moved the pieces will be a surprise.) The doors of the cabinets inside the table were opened one at a time and no player could be seen, but that is because the cabinet was a cleverly designed magical apparatus that allowed him to scoot around in it to remain concealed as the various doors were opened.

During its career, the Turk played the chess champion Philidor, Benjamin Franklin, and Napoleon. It was taken on tours of the world, and crowds were amazed by it. Eventually, it wound up in a museum in Philadelphia, and was burned up in a fire in 1854. _The Turk, Chess Automaton_ proves to be a grand history of the Turk's amazing career, but it is also a good deal more. For real chess freaks, all the moves of the known games played by the Turk or its various operators are given here. During the years of its operation, many different theories about how the machine worked were voiced and written about, and Levitt has included many of the original documents. By far the most famous writer about the Turk was Edgar Allen Poe, whose 1836 article is reproduced here. Among the useful appendices to this entertaining and well-illustrated book is the final one: the Turk has been resurrected. A maker of equipment for professional magicians has made a faithful copy of it. It has been shown in various seminars on the history of magic. And the Turk still fools people.

From 1770 to 1855, the European chess communities were held spellbound with Baron Wolfgang von Kemplene's amazing automaton popularly known as "The Turk". It was ostensibly an automatic chess playing machine, but was in reality one of the most successful hoaxes perpetrated on the public. The Turk was manipulated by a man housed in a hot box (working by candlelight). In addition to playing a good game of chess within an hour's time, the hidden director had to keep track of the position, move the pieces with the pantograph arm apparatus, nod the head, roll the eyes, cover up sneezes and coughs, and work the mechanism that spoke the word "Echeck!". Gerald Levitt's superbly researched, written, and presented history of this amazing hoax includes an extensive analysis of how it operated, a collection of published games played by the Turk (several unknown for 200 years), and numerous other games known to have been played by the Turk's hidden directors. The Turk, Chess Automaton is "must" reading for all chess history enthusiasts and students of 18th century hoaxes and popular culture.

THANK YOU FOR THE FAST DELIVERY. JUST AS PROMISED. WILL ORDER AGAIN. MANY THANKS

Even though the majority of TM Strategy Guides are rather lackluster, this one's a keeper for the TM 1 tips! The TM 1 game is rare and tips are even rarer. If you own TM 1 then you may want to purchase this before it's unavailable. If you search the web for TM 1, you'll see what I mean...

I think it is going to be a good seller for people who have these game

Elegant images and floral motifs in traditional woodblock print styles are highlighted and well-designed. Beautiful colors and fabric patterns. The small booklet explaining the cultural correspondences with traditional Rider-Waite imagery is very good

The historical symbolism of the tarot does not make it a natural match for oriental art and cultural expression. In fact, IMHO, many of the "cross-cultural" decks are imagistic train wrecks. However, as strange as it may seem, this tarot is not only stunningly beautiful, but it really works. The traditional Waite-style images have been tweaked just enough to make sense with Japanese figures and designs, but not so much to make a mockery of each. In fact, the Buddhist/Japanese sensibility seems to highlight different aspects of each card and bring out further subtleties of the same truth -- the real value of cross-cultural enterprises. The images have a surface serenity because of the gorgeous Ukiyoe stylistics, but reveal passion and power the more one looks. The suit cards do not have pictures, but the backgrounds are very evocative of the mood of the cards. Anyone with more than just a passing knowledge of the Rider-Waite tarot will be able to recognize them and use the deck. This would be a valuable addition to any collection, though perhaps not the best choice for a first and only deck. (On the other hand, I would choose it strongly over many of the more traditional decks that have far weaker, poorly executed art and wacko symbolism.)

This vintage classic was presented long before the Tarot decks became best sellers. Not one for pop-bubble gum card enthusiasts. I would almost say this is an art deck only, that is not the case. Surprisingly accurate divination and insight can be presented. If sheer beauty is what you appreciate, then this is the Tarot for you.

Commissioned U.S. Games/Mr. Kaplan by a Japanese artist; Koji Furuta and printed in Japan in 1982, It was never intended for the "Miss Cleo" set. Indeed, it is a rare treasure among collectors today. Good luck finding a copy!

The cards are done in the always appealing Japanese silk screen style. This captures the very visual presentation of the culture that now has grown into animation and beyond. There are many contemporary decks that have been published in Japan since, most of them not available in the U.S.A. The Tarot is distinctly a European invention, as far as modern history is concerned.

The cards themselves are sturdy and hold up well with multiple reading. The backs are beautiful, with a Japanese maple leaf falling upon an autumn pond. I do not read with them any longer, though the are very conducive to a "Zen-like" mood. It is shoji screens, bamboo and fine Japanese incense(koji) on silk brocade cushions...

The images themselves are like watching Kubuki theatre unfold. The major trumps cannot be described in words. They are simple and evocative in style. Buddhist mythology is used to rapturous effects. The minors trumps are given subtle reference that skilled readers can pick up on: the 3 of wands has morning glories climbing upwards. The subtle drama is carefully played out in each card. The accompaning booklet explains some cultural difference as well as similarities.

U.S. Games has taken this and its other Asian gem the Chinese Tarot sadly out of print. Both decks really helped me out in my early career. There is the Royal Thai deck available. Serious collecters take note: U.S Games will take important decks out of print for more "fluffy-bunny" best sellers. Maybe this is good in some respects. Time will tell...

Not much to say... I love RPGs and these are some really cool classics.

All essential information for playing Ulima I-VIII and Akalabeth is in this book. One small problem: the Ultima VIII section is based on an older, slightly inferior version of the game -- it should have been updated. However, it is good enough to get you through most tough spots.

At first glance the early Ultima games seem quite simple, but don't let the stick figures and pixilous graphics throw you, this is hardcore role-playing at its best. This book gives you everything from the beautiful detailed maps of every game, to prices of every item at every store, plus hints and walkthroughs (and dungeon maps!!) But watch out, there are a few spoilers for some of the puzzles as well. So if your in a stuck, or maybe just looking for a quick way to beat one of the games, this book is for you.

Like the other reviewers I found this to be one of the best collections of brainteasers I've come across, both for the variety of puzzles & the author's very good choice of them. It is roughly similar, in the nature of the puzzles & level of difficulty, to e.g. Martin Gardner's "Entertaining Mathematical Puzzles", but this is a much larger collection, & it contains many puzzles of types that Gardner's volume doesn't. There are 355 puzzles in all. The selection criteria are spelled out in a preface, & I can't disagree with them, e.g. he has avoided trick questions; he has excluded puzzles like magic squares & anagrams where finding the solution tends to be "mechanical" or trial-and-error; he tends to avoid puzzles that involve "tedious reliance on algebraic questions". As promised the puzzles are very entertaining & satisfying.

The book is, sensibly, divided up among different types of puzzles. Geometry-type puzzles (not my favorite ...) make up puzzle numbers 1~55. "Physics" puzzles are 56~85. (Example: Taking account of gravitation attraction, if all space were full of water except for just two air bubbles, would the bubbles move apart, towards each other, or not at all?) "Strange Situations", puzzle numbers 99~133, are of the lateral thinking variety. (E.g. a man and son are in a car crash, the man dies, his son survives, they take him to the hospital, but the surgeon says "I can't operate, he's my son"--how to explain this.) "General Puzzles" is the largest group, numbers 134~320, & maybe a few examples will give a sense of them: "Is the number of people in the world who have shaken hands with an odd number of people odd or even?" "How is it possible for Jim to stand behind George and George to stand behind Jim at the same time?" "If there are more trees than there are leaves on any one tree, then there exist at least two trees with the same number of leaves--True or false?" "What is unique about the number 8,549,176,320?" "How far from the center of the Earth would you have to be to see 1/3 of the planet's surface?" There is also section of harder puzzles requiring proofs, 337~355--"not for the faint-hearted" (these ones remind me of Stephen Barr's dang hard brainteasers). In between are some of the family relations-type puzzles (e.g. is it possible for your grandfather to be younger than your father?), a few chess problems, & some other types.

So far I've worked at around 120 or 130 of the puzzles (solved some ....). Only a few of them have been too easy, and most have been quite interesting and challenging, and some impossible. I confess I'm not crazy about some of the numerical ones (e.g. ones involving relative speeds), but if you're into brainteasers at all you're bound to find a lot of great stuff here. The solutions are explained in the back of the book, and the presentation of the puzzles and solutions is lucid throughout. I appreciate the fact that Brecher doesn't try to embellish the puzzles but states them simply & concisely. The only other collection I've seen to compare this to, in scope and variety, would be the Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles, by David Wells, which I also like a lot. The Penguin book has 568 puzzles, of which I've tried maybe 100, & for me they had about the "miss" rate (somewhat too easy, or some other disappointing aspect) as the ones I've tried in Brecher's book, but it's a low miss rate and I treasure both these books.

The best puzzle book I've come across. The variety and complexity of the puzzles will keep puzzle fans happily occupied for quite some time. Some of these puzzles, I'm happy to say, may take me some number of years to chew on before I will check my answer in the back.

This is one of the best puzzle collections I've come across in the past 10 years. Chock full of old chestnuts as well as original creations by the author, this book is indeed a valuable addition to any puzzle library. With its 355 puzzles this book is a great buy.

Wonderful book.

The solution, direct from the author: The correct answer is a tamandua or lesser anteater. The singular creature can be found in the foreground depicted on the tambourine held by the elephant shrew. There is even a clue. In the left foreground there is an artic fox holding a green placard. He is looking towards the creature with the tambourine and pointing at the lower case (for lesser) letter A (for anteater) in the word 'Faunae'.

we are stumped also as to who won the contest and where is the snail????. is there a web site for mike wilks as well?

I loved looking at this masterfully illustrated book, and the puzzle kept me going for hours and hours and hours! However, I have never been able to find the contest results or an companion annotated edition, like Wilks' Ultimate Alphabet. So the missing animal, its gender, as well as a snail on one of the pages, are still lost on me.

Is there any help out there?

It is the definitive work on the history of the US chess championships.

I like this book very much.

It begins with a description of the match between Charles Stanley and Eugene Rousseau in 1845. Stanley won that match to become the first US Champion. Eight year old Paul Morphy watched as Stanley, as Black, played 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Ba5 a6! TN 4 Ba4 b5. The move 3...a6 is now named for Morphy, who became the US Champion in 1857. We continue with George Mackenzie, who first won the US Championship in 1871. Mackenzie won in 1874 and again in 1880, when he defeated James Grundy in a playoff match. Andy Soltis and Gene McCormick tell of the scandal involved, in which Grundy won a game under very dubious circumstances, allowing him to reach the playoff.

Then we see champions Harry Pillsbury and Frank Marshall. And a discussion of Jose Capablanca's claim to the US championship. Capablanca defeated Marshall in a match 8-1, but was not granted the title of US Champion for a simple reason: he was not an American citizen, but a citizen of Cuba.

We then proceed to the 1936 Championship tournament, won by Sammy Reshevsky. (Amazingly, Reshevsky was still playing in the US Championship when he tied for third in 1981). And we see the wild 1942 championship, in which Reshevsky was awarded a win by tournament director Walter Stephens, who, in the most outrageous ruling in US chess championship history, forfeited Arnold Denker on time even though Denker's flag was still up (the game should have been a draw). Reshevsky wound up tying for first after that, and he won a playoff with Isaac Kashdan for the title. Perhaps justice was served when Denker won the 1944 championship.

After that, a new generation took over. In 1951, 19-year old Larry Evans won the championship, and in 1954, 23-year old Arthur Bisguier won it. In 1957, 14-year old Bobby Fischer became our youngest champion. Fischer went on to win all eight of the championships he played in. We see him scramble out of lost positions in 1959-60 against Robert Byrne and Edmar Mednis (he lost games in later championships to both of them). We see the 1962-63 championship, in which Fischer finished a game ahead of Bisguier by defeating him on the White side of a Ruy Lopez, Berlin variation. And there's the incredible Fischer 11-0 sweep in 1963-64, where the commentators thought Fischer was lost in his game with Robert Byrne until Byrne quite properly resigned.

We see Walter Browne's championships in the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as the 1978 championship that Browne withdrew from. And the incident in the game between Leonid Shamkovich and Mednis in that tournament: Mednis lost when he got into time pressure caused by his clock running much faster than any of the other clocks.

In the 1987 championship, we see Nick deFirmian tie Joel Benjamin for first place. Once again, a director's ruling came into play when deFirmian appeared to lose a game on time after his opponent, Michael Rohde, made an illegal move! The ruling gave deFirmian enough time to reach the time control and win the game. And we see descriptions of the tournaments through 1996.

I liked the more than 100 games in the book. It is a fine tribute to all the players in the history of championship chess in the United States.

"All you need to know about Championship Chess in the U.S."

I wasn't really interested in reviewing this book, but an Internet student asked me to take a look at it, as he was thinking about buying it for his collection. (I have had this book for several years now.)

First you should know that I am a Chess Master that for many years has made a living from teaching chess. Secondly, I am also a huge fan of Andy's, but I will try to be objective as possible here.

The books starts off with an Introduction, and in it is a very funny and amusing story as told by Pat Wolff to Charles Fried, the former Solicitor General in the Reagan Administration. (I also wish to note that only people who are familiar with the plight of chess players in the U.S. can even begin to comprehend what he is talking about.)

Chapter One is entitled, "A Champion Is Crowned." It is the story of one Charles H. Stanley, the first official U.S. Champion. (Did you know that the first U.S. Championship was a match between Stanley and Rousseau? And that it was played in New Orleans in 1845? Most people think Morphy was the first U.S. Champion, but that is a common misconception.)

Chapter Two is about Paul Morphy. (Who else?) There are chapters with titles like, "The King Is A Captain." (Chap. # 3.) Or ... "The Years Of Confusion." Or even "The Man Who Enjoyed It." I could go on and on, but I trust by now you get the general picture. This is a great book. Its NOT just a chess book, but a history book as well. And one that is thoroughly enjoyable to read.

My favorite chapter would have to be the one that covered the life and times of Samuel Reshevsky. His `squeakers' and come-from-behind finishes are most enthralling to read about. And the way that Soltis describes it, one almost feels as if you were there ... re-living the events as they happen.

Practical every era and period of chess is covered. Nothing is left out. There are dozens - if not hundreds - of game fragments, and many nicely annotated games as well. Soltis often gives you a `blow-by-blow' that other chess authors will not trouble to do. You find out many stories that may have stayed permanently behind the scenes if not for this book.

You get 8 pages in the middle of the book with 16 truly beautiful photographs. At the end of the book is nearly everything a chess person could want or desire: # 1.) A complete summary; # 2.) Individual records; # 3.) An Openings Index; # 4.) An ECO openings index, # 5.) A general index.

And there are even some personal memories in here for me. I attended and was a spectator at many of these events, starting as a small boy visiting my GrandMother in New York. The section that describes the Lev Alburt victory at Jacksonville, Florida in 1990 is very personal for me. I was there in the audience, and I watched just about every game. (My Brilliancy Prize game for The U.S. Open that year can be found in just about every on-line database.) And - of course! - you get cross-tables from most or all of these events.

I do not think I can rate this book highly enough, nor do it any real justice in a small review.

Why would you buy this book? Certainly not to improve ... there are too many good teaching books - `The Complete Chess Player,' by Reinfeld; `My System,' by Nimzovich; "How To Re-Assess Your Chess," by IM Jeremy Silman; The Watson or Alburt books, etc. Plus you could get several other books what you will pay for this one, especially if you are willing to buy a used book.

You would not buy this book if you are trying to raise your rating ... once again this is not a book really designed to do that. No!! Buy this book because you love the game and want a book that will be a permanent and lasting memory of all the great tournaments, and all the great players who played in them. Q.E.D.

Great Book, I didn't realize how much fun office pools could be.
Just think how crazy we get with the Superbowl pool; well this book has all types of great pools you can do all year round and not just with sports. Some of the pools are so simple they're brilliant!!

Make your office fun again...We did!!

The Unofficial Office Pool Handbook by Steve and Tom Ney is a straightforward "how to" guide to creating, playing and competing in workplace pools, including friendly competitions revolving around predictions about sports, entertainment, and other hot topics. Sample lists, comparison charts, pool ideas, tips, score sheets and more fill the pages of this excellent, well-rounded, highly recommended guide to a widespread favorite pastime of the workplace.

Incredible insight by the Ney brothers on how to maximize earning potential in office pools. Extremely entertaining, even for the sport 'layman', especially if you're a 'swill masters' fan....yo yo

Belial's Brood is White Wolf supplement that details a covenant from Vampire the Requiem. In it, we are given information ranging from how the covenant interacts with themselves and others, to new game mechanics, to different outlooks on the Brood's history. I do not give books 5 stars often but I could not find much wrong with this book. The art was good and the history and politics of the group were interesting. As White Wolf is becoming known for, the book also offered all of the information as a "take what you want, discard the rest" kind of feel for actually using them in a game.

Some older gamers may notice the resemblance between the Brood and White Wolf's older game group, the Sabbat. I couldn't say it any better than a player by the name "Fabio Sooner" said, "It's the anti-Sabbat, the Sabbat to end all that pile of nonsense the old Sabbat was." This group has all of the benefits and none of the problems that are associated with the old Sabbat. And it all works with Humanity. Still no need for paths. Also gone is the Judeo-Christian concept of infernalists and mass murderes that the core book originally wrote them as.

If your an old Vampire player than this book is worth getting just for the new Vaulderie ritual!

This is a great atmosphere book for wod. A lot of us have come up with our own Belials Brood backgrounds left to our own devices, so I thought this book would come in a tromp all over them. But it seems to be it was more of a book that opened up more possibilities for my game then told me exactly what these people are from beginning to end.
I recommend it!

This book is a great supplement for nWoD's Vampire the Requiem game. In it you'll find vampires literally hell-bent on revelling in their demonic and instrinsically evil natures. This book is dark and contains strong material, so I recommend it for adults or very mature players. If you want great atmospheric vampire antagonists in your world of darkness game this supplement is a great value. As a storyteller I would use it primarily as antagonists, but really mature and seasoned role players could portray these beings as playable characters in the right setting. These vampires in many ways remind me of the vampires as depicted in the graphic novel 30 Days of Night by Douglas Niles and Ben Templesmith.

These vampires are very reminiscent of Anne Rices Children of Darkness vampires from Queen of the Damned, except these are much more monstrous and demonic.

Classic RPG. I prefer this game to AD&D. Game mechanics are more simple which makes it quicker to learn. The career advancement is much more interesting and I like being able to build your characters statistics in a more intelligent manner. Unfortunately most people are sheep and unwilling to give most other games a chance. If more people who play AD&D would give this game a chance and play a few sessions of it, I know there would be less people playing AD&D.

Before Tome of Salvation the Gods in Warhammer universe had meat mostly around the gods of Chaos. The ruinous powers and their followers was so well developed that it was leaving all the other gods in a secondary role at best (except maybe Sigmar and Ulric, but what the players had at their disposal was still far from what have been dug about the Chaos gods). The background about the Classical Gods (Verena, Shaylla, Sigmar, Morr, etc) was so thin that it was not appealing for the players to take these gods as a key stone around which a character could be built. The book Tome of Salvation comes to fix this by adding content to the Classical Gods. It goes even further by providing matter concerning the role and the importance of faith in the Old World in general. It defines the life of a priest and how each differ according to the god they worship. It explains how the common folks and nobles deals with the Classical Gods, the superstition and the ancestor spirits. The book provides also information concerning the minor gods of the Old World. It deals with the issue of the outlawed gods, such as Khaine and Gunndred, outside the famous Chaos Gods. It gives also some information about the Gods of the other races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling) and how their faith differ.

If Tome of Corruption is essential to Warhammer by the review and the information it give about the influence and power the Chaos have in this universe, Tome of Salvation marks an important turning point because it come to add content and depth to those who are benevolent. It comes also to offer an alternative to those who are evil in intent but who do not worship or rely on the faith for the Ruinous Power.

For the numerous topics this book explores and develops for the first time, it is doomed to become a classic for the world of Warhammer.

I personally think that this book truly helps give new life to the world of Warhammer. Other books list gods and pantheons and what spells they get and stick to that. But this book gives you important holidays, gestures, minor local gods, people's feelings, different orders and radical beliefs, how other's see elder races's gods, etc. It actually gives you the means to show why religion is more than just a skill bonus or special power. These are gods who are prayed to when the people are troubled, who races and kingdoms go to war for, and who willingly (or unwillingly) die or be executed for. It shows once more Warhammer's dedication to a roleplaying game.

And yes, there are still very, very cool new rules, careers, and spells and such. Very sweet book.