Lateral Thinking Posers: More Than 100 Brainteasers to Solve With Logical Reasoning

by Erwin Brecher

Take a novel approach to puzzle-solving in this fun quiz book that tests your ability to think for yourself Written by a Mensa certified scholar, the problems in this book describe situations that are unusual or even bizarre, and which defy any attempt to find a ready explanation. Look deeper, however, and it becomes clear that the puzzles are constructed in a manner that will make the circumstances fit one—and only one—reasonable and logical answer. This lends itself to an entertaining and exciting challenge throughout as well as an extremely satisfying pay off once the problem is solved—as every puzzle in the book has a reasonable, well-constructed solution for you to find.

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

Reviews

[Shirley Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from a bus shelter library, so I can’t really complain as it was free, and I’ll pass it on for someone else to try. That said, I was disappointed.

I usually love this kind of book, and there are some reassuring classics included: the barbershop puzzle, the lift button mystery, the surgeon who won’t operate, and so on. Fans of traditional lateral thinking teasers will recognise the format immediately.

However, many of the puzzles seem to defy the author’s own stated logic, and I suspect these are the ones he devised himself (with the help of friends, as mentioned in the introduction). Quite often I found alternative explanations that seemed just as plausible - or more so - than the official solutions. In other cases, I couldn’t agree that the given answer was credible at all.

There is also a factual error in one story involving left-handedness, and the language throughout is oddly inconsistent: neither clearly UK nor US English, but an awkward mixture of both.

One puzzle even states that a strange event occurs without any change to the landscape, yet the solution is that the tide came in - something that would obviously alter the landscape dramatically.

Brecher does suggest an interesting twist: treating the puzzles as a team game, which is a nice idea. But perhaps in the 15 years since publication, so many stronger lateral thinking collections have appeared that this one now feels uneven and dated. I play a few on social media daily, so sadly this book now seems weak.

[Ayanda Thusini]

Good questions to think out the box or have a critical thinking mind