Preface

Most of the puzzles presented in this book can be solved by anyone by simple reasoning and logic. For most of them you will not need any particular mathematical knowledge (although high-school level, in particular algebra, may come in handy), but only a passion for puzzles, games and extravagance.

Of course there are some oldies, like the problem of the average. Why withhold the best puzzles from the reader only because they are old chestnuts? But I can assure that their content is absolutely new.

As I am well aware of the fact that my readers are individuals with different tastes, I have divided my book into different sections containing different kinds of puzzles.

The first collection of puzzles, Genius and Insanity, is the collection to which this book owes it's title. It is a collection of logical puzzles, whose background is the Blue Planet, a planet in another galaxy on which Shane lands on his extragalactic travels in search of the elixir of eternal youth. It is a planet inhabited by sane geniuses, insane geniuses and normals (not much different from the earth, you will probably think, but you will see very soon in what way it is different). He is here confronted by the Master of the Universe, who challenges him with a series of puzzles.

The next two series of puzzles are puzzles of different kinds, with a touch of humour (smile when you puzzle!): More Puzzles and Brain-Teasers. The second series contains more difficult puzzles, but the puzzles contained in each series are not necessarily graded according to their difficulty. Please don't despair when trying to solve the brain-teasers. They sound more difficult than they really are! Organize yourself with a cell chart, pencil and rubber, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

The Odd one out is obviously a series of quizzes in which you have to find the odd one out. It is divided into three parts: in the first part the odd one out is a word, in the second part a diagram, and in the third one a number.

If you enjoyed the last part of the odd one out, you'll probably also enjoy the next two series, Numbers, numbers, numbers and Phone numbers.

In Numbers, numbers, numbers, you simply have to find out the mechanism behind a sequence of numbers, and the next number in the sequence.

In Phone numbers you have to find out a series of phone numbers on the basis of some clues you are presented with.

In case you don't like numbers, I hope you can have more fun with Crosswords and Words, words, words.

In Crosswords, you have to fill the grid of squares with words from a particular field, e.g. philosophy. You are not given any clues, as you already know the field, but some squares are already filled with letters.

Words, words, words is designed to test your general knowledge of words: what they mean (in case they are difficult words), where they come from, and when they were first used. Do you know for example the origin of origin?

Finally, in the last series of puzzles, I present you with culture-fair tests, a series of puzzles that can be enjoyed by everyone, even by people who otherwise are not too keen on numbers or words. They are called culture-fair because you don't need to belong to any particular culture in order to solve them. You only need your brains! In this series of puzzles, you usually have to complete a series according to some logical principle.

As you can see, there is really something for everyone. Chacun a son gout! Enjoy yourself!

*Coming Soon for Purchase!