The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations

I must confess that this book was a slight disappointment, but not in the area of the quality of the puzzles. My problem was that I expected to find puzzles unfamiliar to me, as the transfer of data out of the Soviet Union in the days of the Cold War were limited. It was my hope that the different conditions in the Soviet Union had led to the development of puzzles that were quite different from the staples in the west. That was not the case; nearly all of the puzzles in this collection are similar or identical to puzzles that have appeared in many western publications. For example, the classic puzzle of the farmer crossing the river with a wolf, goat and cabbage. The puzzles are of course quite good; in general they are mentally challenging and sometimes have odd solutions. However, if you are regular reader of puzzles, then it is extremely unlikely that you will find a puzzle completely different from anything you have seen before.

Excellent collection of math puzzles not requiring advanced math - A book for anyone and everyone With and outstanding collection of 359 mathematical recreations and being lavishly illustrated with more than 400 diagrams and sketches, this book will certainly become a treasure in the personal library of anyone that enjoys solving puzzles. It's a mammoth puzzle collection, compare 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. The book is divided in fifteen chapters, as shown: - Amusing problems. - Difficult problems. - Geometry with matches. - Measure seven times before you cut. - Skill will find its application everywhere. - Dominoes and dice. - Properties of nine. - With algebra and without it. - Mathematics with almost no calculations. - Mathematical games and tricks. - Divisibility. - Cross sums and magic squares. - Numbers curious and serious. - Numbers ancient but eternally young. - Solutions. Everyone will find the type of problems the like most. Often the puzzles are presented in the form of charming stories that provides valuable insights into contemporary Russian life and customs.

I was thrilled and surprised to see that this book is still in print. I loved puzzles as a child and spent many hours for fun working the problems in this book (which may have paved the way for my PhD in Computer Science). I fished out my old copy recently to show my 11 year old daughter how I spent my spare hours as a child - *not* playing computer games of dubious educational value. I am sure that working the problems in this book helped increase my problem solving skills - in a different and more general way than I was learning in school. Of all the puzzle books and puzzles I ever owned, this is the only one I saved. The book has a wide variety of types of puzzles (not all involve numbers). While some are easy, most were challenging. The descriptions were charming, with Russian names of children and towns and quaint puzzle descriptions involving wells, or steam engines or household objects. All in all, a delightful, very educational puzzle collection.

I greatly enjoy mathematical puzzles and brain teasers and regularly look for good puzzle books out there. I picked this one up about 10 years ago, and it's still one of the best I've ever encountered. Many of the problems are short and concise, but provide great challenges. A great learning tool as well as a nice diversion for many ages.

As a 7th grade math teacher, I use problems from this book to supplement my gifted pre-algebra classes, and to provide a challenge to my math teams. Superb book.