The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube

a must have book if you want to learn the ins and outs of the cube. lots of fun too.

I finally could solve Rubik's cube after getting this book. Nourse begins with nomenclature for each of the faces: Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, and Bottom. (It does not matter which face is the front, as long as one consistently uses that face as the front, etc.). He has a nomenclature for each move. For example, (B+) means one quarter turn of the back face in a clockwise direction, (F-) means one quarter turn of the front face in a counterclockwise direction, and (T2) means a half-turn of the top face (does not matter in which direction). In using this guide, one first solves the top face of Rubik's cube, then the side faces, and finally the bottom face. Helpful diagrams guide the reader at each step. He points out that the center squares can only rotate in place. Nourse even has a place for humor in his little book. He says (p. 20) not to unglue and move around any of the colors, or else one may not be able to solve the cube even if one outlives the universe.

I remember tinkering around with Rubik's Cube back in high school but was never all that serious about solving it. Recently, I've decided to pick up a cube, get a book to learn some patterns and then finally solve it. With the aid of this book, I solved the cube in less than 30 minutes. I solved two thirds of the cube without using any of the patterns in the book. The last fews steps to solving the cube are kind of tricky but the book explains it very well and has easy to memorize patterns. So with some practice, I can see how someone can easily solve the cube in less than a minute by using the patterns in this book or variations of them.

Sometime I guess in 1981 or 1982 I purchased this book at the Woolworth's in Janesville, Wisconsin having bought a Rubik's cube and having been completely engrossed in it. I was 12 or 13 at the time. The book was (at is) a straightforward explanation of how to take a mangled cube and get it back in shape. My personal record is one minute and nineteen seconds. I've managed to hold onto that cube and this book over the years. It has a very high geek nostalgia factor.

It was the first book I saw on how to solve Erno Rubik's ingenious little puzzle. I became quickly addicted to the cube and finding quicker solutions to solving it. I gained some noteriety in my small town when my father suggested I teach a two-day class on how to solve it at the local college's adult ed center. I was 13 at the time. This has recently surfaced and I am now known as cube boy by a few co-workers.

An uncle of mine - a puzzle fanatic - bought this book, and we used to fight over who would use it, as we were both perplexed by our cubes. I've seen other solution books, but this one is by far the easiest to follow. I just acquired a new Rubik's Cube (they're being sold by a company called OddzOn Productions, in Campbell, CA), and am ordering this book again! Excellent work, Mr. Nourse!