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| Guide Rating - | 
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| Pros | •Challenging and new puzzles.
•Leveled mysteries allow for the beginner to advanced recreational math enthusiast.
• Author is well known for entertaining the problem solver. |
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| Cons | • Space Age OZ theme becomes a bit repetitive after a while.
• Some fact findings could have been explained clearer for the beginner math recreationist. |
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The Bottom Line - Clifford Pickover has written fun puzzle books before, but this one contains some of the best brain teasers yet. From zebra numbers and circular primes to Legion's number, these mental mazes introduce the reader to new numeric possibilities that boggle the mind and baffle the best of calculators. The strange mazes, bizarre consequences, and dizzying arrays of logic problems will entertain people at all levels of mathematical sophistication. Grab your pencils and make sure you have lots of time for once you start the mathematical journey of Oz, you won't be able to stop. You find a vast array of topics that include: geometry and mazes, sequences, series, sets, arrangements, probability and misdirection, number theory, arithmetic, and even several problems dealing with the physical world. Pickover's puzzles will draw you in like a magnet. Will I solve all of the mysteries of this book? Doubtful - will anyone? If you're up for the challenge, this book is for you!
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| About the Author
Clifford Pickover is the author of 30 book and 15 patents, he received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Pickover has authored over twenty highly acclaimed books on topics ranging from computers and creativity to human behavior and intelligence. Previos works such as ' The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles and Stars' ( Princeton University Press 2001) demonstrate the math genius within this Ph.D. graduate of Yale. His special interest in puzzles and computer graphics provide much of the magic that is this set of 'thought provokers' and mental exercises. My primary interest is finding new ways to continually expand creativity by melding art, science, mathematics and other seemingly-disparate areas of human endeavor. I seek not only to expand the mind, but to shatter it."
Clifford Pickover |
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