Brain Busters! Mind-Stretching Puzzles in Math and Logic

by Barry R. Clarke

Give your brain a workout with this collection of mind-bending puzzles and mental exercises. 51 puzzles.

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2003

About the author

Barry R. Clarke is a British mathematician, physicist, educator, and writer whose career spans theoretical physics, computational work, puzzle creation, filmmaking, and literary research. Raised in Wales and later West Yorkshire, he developed early creative interests in music, storytelling, and performance, writing puppet plays, composing melodies, and experimenting with school performances and short scripts. After an early departure from school, he worked in engineering before returning to academia, where strong performance in mathematics enabled him to study physics at university. During his studies he engaged deeply with foundational texts in philosophy and quantum physics, balancing creative and analytical pursuits while completing a degree in physics and later an MSc in theoretical physics, producing research on perturbation methods in quantum mechanics. He later worked in the City of London developing software for financial systems, while simultaneously writing comedy sketches for British television and performing music informally, reflecting a persistent dual engagement with science and the arts. From the late 1980s onward, he became widely known for his contributions to puzzle design, particularly through long-running involvement with The Daily Telegraph’s Brain Twister column, where his work reached a large audience and established his reputation in recreational mathematics. He also contributed to television puzzle and game formats, including BBC productions, and provided consultancy for educational and entertainment programming. In parallel, he developed an interest in filmmaking, co-founding a production company that produced short films involving collaboration with actors and creatives, some of which received festival recognition and industry awards. His later academic trajectory included mathematical tutoring in Oxford alongside continued research activity, and he eventually completed a PhD focused on issues in Shakespeare authorship attribution, applying computational and textual analysis methods to historical literary questions. Alongside his academic and creative work, he has written books on physics and mathematical theory, exploring alternative models of fundamental particles and structures, and has published in academic venues. Across his career he has combined analytical research, teaching, creative production, and interdisciplinary inquiry, maintaining a consistent interest in how scientific reasoning, language, and artistic expression intersect. He has also been involved in charitable work, including educational and humanitarian initiatives abroad, reflecting a broader commitment to practical social contribution beyond his academic and professional achievements.

Reviews

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 2 out of 5]

My original 2013 review:

Non-blustery version: It's okay but nothing particularly special or memorable. Good for filling a rainy day at home, but there are better puzzle books for your money.

"I have nothing better to do than read book reviews" version: First, a caveat—I grew up on Raymond M. Smullyan's Alice in Puzzle-Land, so I have a particularly refined interest in puzzles, especially logic puzzles and riddles with especially clever answers ["Why do mathematicians get Halloween and Christmas mixed up?" (search Google for the answer, since I don't think this review forum does spoiler text)].

There are a few straightforward logic puzzles included in Brain Busters!, and the twist of including a list of all the answers with the catch that only one answer in each column is correct is interesting. However, that is about the extent of the cleverness in these puzzles. A number of the puzzles involve just trying to figure out the wording; e.g., from the introduction, "Did [your mathematical friend] know that square is a square?" I had to look up the answer to understand how that was a riddle! I even expected, for instance, the curious 4x4 word puzzle on the cover to have a clever answer, but the answer is just a different set of words with a convoluted meaning—no one would realistically write that kind of a message, so I was left wondering if I'd actually solved it or not. The Complex Crosswords are challenging but annoying; I ultimately ended up building a special spreadsheet in Excel to figure out the letter arrangements without any guides whatsoever other than the 10x10 grid. The Teaser Tales are even more convoluted, and I only figured out a few parts of each tale, even with hints. Also, seriously? A puzzle about how long does it take a party of six cannibals to eat each other until there's only one left alive? UGH. (Ignoring that why is that one eating the mass of FIVE OTHER PEOPLE; do cannibals just never get full?)

The artwork is middling but functional for the matchstick and other simple illustrations. I feel like for a professional publication, though, it couldn't hurt to have gotten a better artist, particularly one who pays attention to little details like the arrangement of the pips on dice—if you want to try to solve THE VERY FIRST PUZZLE by arranging physical dice, like I did, you won't get it to match, because the artist didn't bother to check actual dice to see that they won't line up. It's a small detail that ultimately doesn't affect the solution, but it reveals that whoever drew the picture Did Not Care enough to make them match.

On the plus side, both hints and solutions are included in separate sections, and out of order, so it's harder to accidentally see the hint/answer for the next puzzle. This should be a feature of any good puzzle book. Of course, the hints/answers section takes up a good third of the 108-page book, so keep that in mind if you're looking for one with longevity. Granted, you may spend a long time trying to parse these puzzles as it is.