The Shoelace Problem & Other Puzzles

This is the second book in a series of 4 in the Mastermind Collection by one of the best Puzzlemakers. Once again,Ivan has put together some old and new types of puzzles to amuse us .Along with the best friend puzzle lovers ever had,Sterling Publishing, they have put out an excellently constructed book.The paper,color and overall quality is nothing short of outstanding and appreciated. In addition to the puzzles, Moscovich scatters little mathematical tidbits throughout the book.There is so much variety in his stuff,when you finish one puzzle ,it is a real treat to flip the page and face another interesting one. I tend to say to myself;"That was a good one,Ivan,what have you got for me now?". I not only do puzzles,I also collect them and in my library have over 500 Puzzle books.Which brings me to one positive criticism.Several puzzles require one to cut up the book.To me that is a total "NO-NO".It would be so much more appreciated if those few pages that require removal were duplicated at the back,and could be removed,leaving the book in tact. I am not going to describe the various types of puzzles,or even pick my favorites,because there are so many types and I enjoyed them all.If interested,you'll find the Customer Review I wrote on "The Hinged Square & Other Puzzles" on April 26,2005,among my reviews and which I also rated 5 Stars. By the way,my title was taken from the book,see if you can find where.

Did you know that for a shoe with seven pairs of eyelets, there are about 400 million different ways to lace it? So says Ivan Moscovich, the designer of these puzzles and games which provide a learning experience that he calls "recreational mathematics." If laces must alternate between eyelets on the left and right side, which is the shortest and the longest way to lace the shoe? This puzzle, a special case of the classic traveling salesman problem, is one of dozens of fascinating problems in this collection. While tackling these problems, you will learn about projective and descriptive geometry, averages, percentages, iterations, and triangulation. Interspersed among the puzzles in this collection are fascinating facts about such things as the invention of matchsticks, and Hans, the horse who could seemingly do arithmetic problems. The answer pages provide not only solutions, but also explanations for the answers that clarify simple principles of mathematics. These puzzles are not just challenging and educational, but they are a visual treat as well, since each puzzle has one or more colorful and eye-catching illustrations. Some of these puzzles are quite tough, but that makes discovering the solution all the more rewarding. Happy solving! Eileen Rieback