by Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson
A sure headache
By: BERNARD TRINK
Published: 13/03/2009 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post
Working my way through How Big is Your Brain? I had the disquieting feeling that the IQ test I'd taken eons ago had come back to haunt me.
The 236-book contains 422 regular and tough puzzles either just written, presented as arithmetic or pictured. Unlike the IQ test, there are answers on other pages. The questions range from simple to trick. Some can be worked out in the head, others requiring paper and pen.
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The authors give marks for correct answers, yet getting a perfect score is nigh-on impossible. A teacher I once had asked in a True and False quiz whether the US has 43 states. We all wrote False. "You're all wrong!" he chortled. If it has 48 states (which dates my schooling) it must have 43. I regard it as the mother of trick questions. There is also a time limit, but we aren't told what it is as we aren't expected to complete the book in one sitting. This reviewer kept at it until I got a headache. Doing 50 puzzles at a stretch, you should be able to do the lot in a week or so.
Some sample questions and answers: Q: Scott of the Antarctic is in his tent. He has a gas stove, a paraffin heater, a candle, a wax taper and only one match. Which should he light first? A: The match. Q: A ship is moored at the docks. A ladder with rungs a foot apart is hung over the side, with 12 rungs showing from the deck to the sea. If the tide rises at the rate of half a foot an hour, how much of the ladder will still be above water after four hours? A: The same number - 12 rungs. As the tide rises, so does the ship, floating on top of the water. Q: How many grooves are there in an old-style 45 rpm record? A: There are two grooves on a record, one on each side.
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Q: What is the next number in the series? 7,645, 5,764, 4,576?
A: 6,457. The last digit is moved to the front to make the next number.
Q: What's next in this series? G, E, L, N?
A: They're the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and then Deuteronomy.
Q: King Charles had a bodyguard of knights. Two-thirds of his bodyguard were Knights of St George, two-sevenths of them were Templar Knights and the last bodyguard wasn't a knight at all. How many men were in King Charles's bodyguard?
A: There were 21 men in the King's bodyguard.
Q: A set of scales is in balance. On one side are 3 1/2 bags of rice, on the other, 1 3/4 bags of rice and a 1/4 kilogram weight. How heavy is a bag of rice?
A: 1/2 of a kilogram.
Q: When can you add two to 11 and get one as the answer?
A: When you add two hours to 11 o'clock, you get 1 o'clock.
Frankly, I don't see how some of the answers to the puzzles were arrived at, trick or no trick. I can only take the authors' word for it. Are the brain teasers fun? Not really, but I'll allow that they're clever. If you choose to buy How Big is Your Brain?, keep a bottle of aspirin handy.
How Big is Your Brain ? by Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson 236 pp, 2007 Icon paperback.