The Puzzle Instinct

The Puzzle Instinct PDF Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253217080
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles--for the sheer pleasure of it--and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening." --Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times "... Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis." --Psychology Today "... a bristlingly clear... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of puzzles.... A] splendid study...." --Knight Ridder Newspapers

The Puzzle Instinct

The Puzzle Instinct PDF Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253217080
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles--for the sheer pleasure of it--and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening." --Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times "... Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis." --Psychology Today "... a bristlingly clear... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of puzzles.... A] splendid study...." --Knight Ridder Newspapers

Making Up Your Own Mind

Making Up Your Own Mind PDF Author: Edward B. Burger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691182787
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
How you can become better at solving real-world problems by learning creative puzzle-solving skills We solve countless problems—big and small—every day. With so much practice, why do we often have trouble making simple decisions—much less arriving at optimal solutions to important questions? Are we doomed to this muddle—or is there a practical way to learn to think more effectively and creatively? In this enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring book, Edward Burger shows how we can become far better at solving real-world problems by learning creative puzzle-solving skills using simple, effective thinking techniques. Making Up Your Own Mind teaches these techniques—including how to ask good questions, fail and try again, and change your mind—and then helps you practice them with fun verbal and visual puzzles. The goal is not to quickly solve each challenge but to come up with as many different ways of thinking about it as possible. As you see the puzzles in ever-greater depth, your mind will change, helping you become a more imaginative and creative thinker in daily life. And learning how to be a better thinker pays off in incalculable ways for anyone—including students, businesspeople, professionals, athletes, artists, leaders, and lifelong learners. A book about changing your mind and creating an even better version of yourself through mental play, Making Up Your Own Mind will delight and reward anyone who wants to learn how to find better solutions to life’s innumerable puzzles. And the puzzles extend to the thought-provoking format of the book itself because one of the later short chapters is printed upside down while another is printed in mirror image, further challenging the reader to see the world through different perspectives and make new meaning.

Increase Your Puzzle IQ

Increase Your Puzzle IQ PDF Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: New York ; Toronto : J. Wiley
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Learn how to take the "tease" out of brainteasers, and increase your puzzle IQ with this eye-opening guide to solving puzzles. Revealing the basic principles and strategies of cracking logic problems, it shows you, step-by-step, how to solve ten of the most common types of puzzles, from basic deduction conundrums to more complex mathematical bafflers. Packed with practice puzzles and offering hours of amusement and mental challenge, Increase Your Puzzle IQ gives you the know-how you need to decipher even the most puzzling of puzzles. Why are 1997 dollar bills worth more than 1980 dollar bills? In a box there are 20 balls, 10 white and 10 black. With a blindfold on, what is the least number you must draw out in order to get a pair of balls that matches? Which clock keeps the best time? The clock that loses a minute a day or one that doesn't run at all? I have two current U.S. coins in my hand. The two coins add up to 15?. One of the coins is not a nickel. What two coins do I have? How much dirt is there in a hole that is 1 foot wide by 1 foot long by 1 foot deep?

The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi

The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi PDF Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1118045815
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
A walk through history's most mind-boggling puzzles Ever since the Sphinx asked his legendary riddle of Oedipus, riddles, conundrums, and puzzles of all sizes have kept humankind perplexed and amused. The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi takes die-hard puzzle mavens on a tour of the world's most enduringly intriguing braintwisters, from K?nigsberg's Bridges and the Hanoi Towers to Fibonacci's Rabbits, the Four Color Problem, and the Magic Square. Each chapter introduces the basic puzzle, discusses the mathematics behind it, and includes exercises and answers plus additional puzzles similar to the one under discussion. Here is a veritable kaleidoscope of puzzling labyrinths, maps, bridges, and optical illusions that will keep aficionados entertained for hours. Marcel Danesi (Etobicoke, ON, Canada) is the author of Increase Your Puzzle IQ

The Everything Logic Puzzles Book Volume 1

The Everything Logic Puzzles Book Volume 1 PDF Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1507204140
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This brand-new puzzle book features 200 logic questions of varying types and difficulty. Mental workout warriors and logic lovers will adore The Everything Book of Logic Puzzles Volume I. You’ll learn ten different kinds of puzzles and how to solve each, with the difficulty slowly increasing from basic to expert as you go along. And every single puzzle is specifically designed to improve memory, vocabulary, and logical reasoning. With increasingly difficult puzzles ranging from introductory to fiendish, and comprehensive answers to explain each puzzle, this book is perfect for puzzlers of all ages and skill levels!

The Curious History of the Riddle

The Curious History of the Riddle PDF Author: Marcel Danesi Ph.D.
Publisher: Wellfleet Press
ISBN: 1577151984
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
The Curious History of the Riddle investigates the fascinating origin and history of the riddle, from the very first riddle (the Riddle of the Sphinx) to the twenty-first century, with riddles found in pop culture, including movies (Us), television shows (Game of Thrones) video games, and escape rooms. Riddles are ageless, timeless, and so common that we hardly ever reflect upon what they are and how they originated. Most importantly, their invention helped in the development of lateral thinking, the form of thinking that is the foundation of all kinds of discoveries, from mathematics to science and beyond. In The Curious History of the Riddle, puzzle expert Marcel Danesi delves deep into the riddle's origin and history and covers these fascinating topics: 1. The Riddle of the Sphinx: Origins, Legends, Patterns What creature walks on all fours at dawn, two at midday, and three at twilight? (answer: man) 2. The Greek Anthology and the Exeter Book: Medieval Views and Uses of Riddles This chapter looks at the spread of the riddle in recreational and educational contexts. 3. The Merry Book of Riddles: Riddles in the Renaissance By the late Renaissance, riddles were being tailored more and more to produce humorous or whimsical effects. 4. Enigmas, Charades, and Conundrums: Riddles from the 1600s to the Twentieth Century After the Renaissance, riddles had become virtually every literate European person’s favorite form of recreation, and were included as regular features of many newspapers and periodicals 5. The Twentieth Century: Riddles as Children’s Literature In the twentieth century, riddles became specialized for children, spreading throughout children’s literature and educational manuals. 6. The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Riddles Go to the Movies and Online In this chapter, the focus is on riddles in various entertainment media, from best-selling novels such as Harry Potter, to movies, such as the Batman series. 7. Connections: Riddles and Rebuses This chapter explores the structure of rebuses as visual riddles, connecting them historically. Part history book, part puzzle book, The Curious History of the Riddle is fully illustrated with over 200 riddles interspersed throughout the text for solving.

Powered by Instinct

Powered by Instinct PDF Author: Kathy Kolbe
Publisher: Kolbe Corp
ISBN: 9780971799912
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Discusses the practice of using one's instincts in five ways to achieve success and happiness, including acting before you think, committing to just enough, and knowing when to do nothing.

Instinct

Instinct PDF Author: T. D. Jakes
Publisher: FaithWords
ISBN: 1455554014
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Tap into your God-given intuition and start achieving ultimate success with this inspiring #1 New York Times bestseller from Bishop T.D. Jakes. If you have ever felt misaligned, this book is for you. If you have lost the rhythm, the passion, or the thrill of living in alignment, then keep reading. As He did with the very cells that comprise our bodies and the dry bones that were joined together for new life, God has given us deeper instincts to be attracted to those things that fit a higher and better purpose. Never settle for less than God's best for your life. Some people have the courage to move beyond the ordinary, from the methodical mediocre into the revolutionary realization of where they belong. You can have this sense of belonging only when you connect to your core calling. The calling to creativity, the calling to teach, to give, to build, are all part of allowing your instinct to guide you to the "something more" that you suspect is out there. If you are ready to break through the confines of where you are and discover where you are meant to be, then Instinct is your key! !--EndFragment--

The Puzzle of You

The Puzzle of You PDF Author: Leah Mercer
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
ISBN: 9781503959804
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
She's woken up in a life she doesn't recognise - with a daughter she doesn't remember. When Charlotte McKay wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there, all she wants is to go back to the perfect London flat she shares with her husband, and the impressive career she's worked so hard to build. But something's not right. Her husband David is at her bedside - but so is a three-year-old girl, and she's calling Charlotte 'Mummy'... Charlotte's first instinct is panic. When - why - did she have a child? What about her promotion, her independence, her romantic weekends with David? She loved being that woman: how can she have turned into the stay-at-home mother she swore she'd never be? Back at home, she dives into her unfamiliar world, hoping to piece together the mystery of her transformation. But faced with so much that feels foreign and unnatural, will she ever be happy in a life she can't remember having - or wanting to have?

The Social Instinct

The Social Instinct PDF Author: Nichola Raihani
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 125026281X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
"Enriching" —Publisher's Weekly "Excellent and illuminating"—Wall Street Journal In the tradition of Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, Nichola Raihani's The Social Instinct is a profound and engaging look at the hidden relationships underpinning human evolution, and why cooperation is key to our future survival. Cooperation is the means by which life arose in the first place. It’s how life progressed through scale and complexity, from free-floating strands of genetic material to nation states. But given what we know about evolution, cooperation is also something of a puzzle. How does cooperation begin, when on a Darwinian level, all the genes in the body care about is being passed on to the next generation? Why do meerkats care for one another’s offspring? Why do babbler birds in the Kalahari form colonies in which only a single pair breeds? And how come some reef-dwelling fish punish each other for harming fish from another species? A biologist by training, Raihani looks at where and how collaborative behavior emerges throughout the animal kingdom, and what problems it solves. She reveals that the species that exhibit cooperative behaviour most similar to our own tend not to be other apes; they are birds, insects, and fish, occupying far more distant branches of the evolutionary tree. By understanding the problems they face, and how they cooperate to solve them, we can glimpse how human cooperation first evolved. And we can also understand what it is about the way we cooperate that makes us so distinctive–and so successful.