Mathematical Mind-Benders (AK Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series)

I like most of the puzzles in this book. Easy to challenging. Recommend for anyone interested in puzzle solving.

I own both this book and Winkler's "Mathematical Puzzles: A Connoisseur's Collection". Both are my favorite brain teaser books. People with a mathematical, programming, or engineering bent will probably be the most likely to enjoy Winkler's books. Most of the puzzles end up stumping me. But that is what I want in a puzzle book. Since my exploring down many trails of my own, before seeing Winkler's solution is a great learning experience. Google "Seven puzzles you think you must not have heard correctly" if you want a taste of Winkler's puzzles.

Mathematical Mindbenders does have a lot of math puzzles... and a lot of hard ones, which I do appreciate. However, there are enough puzzles that are riddles or trivia... and too many that are full of tricks. I thought I would give Peter Winkler a try, but I definitely prefer Martin Gardner's work. If you're looking for a good math puzzle book, try anything of Gardner's before you buy this book.

A bit wordy, most of the puzzles are well known. Might worth it for contest training.

This puzzle book is targeted at people interested in mathematical thought and logical thinking. This is not a book for someone looking for math free logic only puzzles.

This book is amazing, and the difficulty of the problems is overall really high in my opinion. A great book to have on your bedside if you want your brain to work even when you sleep...

Like its predecessor, this book is an extremely good collection of mathematical puzzles. Strongly recommend for those who are serious about mathematics or those who are interested in solving some of the serious puzzles.

It is always nice to see a book that shows how mathematics can be used to promote thinking rather than continuing to reinforce the erroneous view that it (mathematics) is learned by sheer repetition.

I have bought numerous books of mathematical puzzles over the years. This one is *by far* my favourite so far. The puzzles contained therein include a few that I already knew, sometimes only from verbal description, and have not (or only rarely) seen discussed elsewhere. I particularly like the way consideration is given to alternative answers where occasionally there was room for variation in how the wording of a puzzle could be interpreted. The range of puzzles is wide, and the tools needed to solve them are varied. The writing style is itself very entertaining. As a programmer and amateur mathematician, I constantly seek sources of ideas and inspiration. Since receiving this book only today, I already have one algorithm and a couple of mathematical curiosities I plan to investigate further. Beware, though, that not all the puzzles are mathematical; there are a few interspersed that concern engineering, linguistics, typography, lateral thinking, and so on. For me, this adds to the entertainment value, and helps to maintain concentration, and moderate the pace. Some of the puzzles are very easy; some are very hard; some serious; and some are just plain daft.I will be buying his earlier book (the Connoisseur's Collection) too, very soon.

Only great if you’re a mathematician