Best Sudoku

The book s introduction offers helpful tips and techniques for solving the puzzles, starting with the process of elimination. For almost 20 years, Brain Games® has been the go-to name for puzzle book and magazines that are both entertaining and mind building. Based on the recognized science that games train your brain to think quickly and creatively, BG puzzles cover all bases: logic, word puzzles, cognition, spot the difference, and more. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There are already a lot of reviews so this will probably get lost in the mayhem, but I would like to share what I wish more book sellers would ‘show and tell’ about their puzzle books, such as pictures of random pages and how many of each puzzle type is in the book so you can make sure you do not end up with a ‘variety book’ filled with a hundred crosswords and only a handful of the more interesting ‘outside the box’ puzzles."
"There was some writing in the one that I received and I wasn't too happy about it but it's ok. Once we MASTER this book we will be moving on to the Kindergarten book."
"They love them."
"Every time we work on it, he says it "makes his brain feel good"."
"Great book!"
"This is a good puzzle book, but I am not totally into some of the variety of puzzles."
"This is a great workbook w brain games In it."
"The crossword puzzles and other word puzzles help her work on her spelling skills."

It contains three hundred challenging and devilishly difficult Sudoku puzzles in a portable paperback. “Sudokus are to the first decade of the 21st century what Rubik's Cube was to the 1970s.” ― The Daily Telegraph. Hunched over newspapers on crowded subway trains, sneaking secret peeks in the office, a puzzle-crazy nation is trying to slot numbers into small checkerboard grids.” ― Associated Press.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Not sure yet, but it looks like some of the Very Challenging ones will need x-wing strategy or greater."
"It can be really frustrating!"
"This book provides lots of challenging puzzles in a larger than average book."
"Hard, but workable."
"My grandma likes it, she always tells me "this book you got me is hard!""
"My husband and I work Sudoku daily for fun and to keep our minds alert."
"A daily pleasure and mental workout."
"Did 2 puzzles (one page) about 2/3 into the Demanding pages, and 2 puzzles near the end of the Beware!"

Plenty of puzzles for everyone: 330 Easy, 342 Medium, 330 Hard. Charles Timmerman is the author of over 100 puzzle books that have cumulatively sold more than one million copies, earning over 1,000 five-star Amazon reviews.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Good quality pages & printing."
"Bought this as a gift for my sister for her birthday."
"It has easy enough puzzlies for all of us to enjoy, and some that are a real challenge, but just as enjoyable."
"I love doing sudoku, i feel like im sharpening my mind... this book has SO MANY puzzles, i love it."
"This book is still in use."
"Husband is obsessed with Sudoku and this book is right up his alley."
"I like it so much I purchased a second book to leave upstairs in my room."
"The Easy ones are really easy, the hard about like the 3-Star level of difficulty in the daily papers, about my upper limit."
Best Analytic Philosophy

Each chapter presents a concise explanation of the argument, followed by a response illustrating the problems and fallacies inherent in it. Whether you're an atheist, a believer or undecided, this book offers a solid foundation for building your own inquiry about the concept of God. Armin Navabi is a former Muslim from Iran and the founder of Atheist Republic, a non-profit organization with over one million fans and followers worldwide that is dedicated to offering a safe community for atheists around the world to share their ideas and meet like-minded individuals.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I completed 5 years of theological training and I served as a minister for some 17 years. I have found so much help and support in Armin Navabi's book, "Why There Is No God"."
"I thought this book looked interesting and since religion is a common hot topic of conversation I thought it would be best to educate myself on some of the reasons why I am an Athiest."
"Nicely thought out, and well presented material."
"well written book, I can relate and respond to questions like this when they arise."
"A good quick read to prepare yourself and your arguments."
"If you have thought about these issues, there probably won't be that much that is completely new to you, but regardless, it's still a nice, and easily digestible summaries of the arguments for non-belief."
"Great book to read, I would really recommend this book to people who are beginning to feel skeptical.."
"Good read."
Best Poker

Twice-world champion and Hall of Famer Doyle Brunson and five leading experts in their various specialties tell you when to raise, call, bet, and fold at hold 'em (limit and no-limit), 7-stud (high and low), draw poker, and lowball.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Even for the modern player, reading Brunson's thoughts on the game is crucial, because even if it's not how you personally play, it's a mode of play that every top player understands."
"You buy system 1, then you buy system 2.. not for the casual player, you need to READ, digest, maybe re-read Doyles plays, tips, etc."
"There has never been, nor will probably ever again be such a definitive word on the game of Poker."
"I recommend reading it cover to cover before picking a section, because you may find a new gem in a game you haven't played before."
"- Delivered as promised and in perfect condition."
"Super, great information!"
"I've read super system two,and reading original lots of useful poker knowledges."
Best Bridge

Explains twenty-five bidding conventions, including the grand slam force, lead-directing doubles, negative doubles, new minor forcing, responsive doubles, reverse Drury, splinter bids, Stayman, takeout doubles, and weak two-bids.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a really great resource for learning bridge."
"Last section is for duplicate player/"experts" who have time to "study" with their partners and spend a lot of time at the table."
"A nice addition to my Bridge library."
"This is the second time I've purchased this book."
"This book covers all the essentials to learn and understand the most popular bridge conventions."
"A must have for all bridge players."
Best Chess

The most complete collection of chess problems ever published, including 5,334 instructional situations, presented by the world's leading chess teacher. Bruce Pandolfini is perhaps the most experienced chess teacher in North America.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"An excellent workbook for training the beginner's eye and mind to see combinations and relationships between pieces and pawns."
"My 7 year old loves this book."
"Polgar doesn't cloud the pages with his thoughts and observations, it's just straight up chess problems without the unnecessary riffraff."
"Very useful book."
"A must for anyone who wants to to improve their."
"Nice book to teach 5~10 years old and let them practice."
"love this Book even thought I order a hardback I ended up with a paper back... STIIL WANT A HARD COVER IF ANYONE HAS ONE FOR !!"
"One problem, the copy I bought years ago has page 559 where page 539 should be."
Best Trivia

From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. Fortunately, such people can turn to Randall Munroe, the author of the XKCD comic strip loved by fans of internet culture. For Munroe, who writes with a clarity and wit honed over eight years of writing captions for his webcomic, the fact that a question might be impossible to solve is no deterrent to pursuing it.” —Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog. while dealing with relationships and the meaning of a computer-centric life, xkcd has become required reading for techies across the world….The Internet has also created a bond between Mr. Munroe and his readers that is exceptional. "With his steady regimen of math jokes, physics jokes, and antisocial optimism, xkcd creator Randall Munroe, a former NASA roboticist, scores traffic numbers in NBC.com or Oprah.com territory. [A]t its best [xkcd] isn’t a strip comic so much as an idea factory and a shared experience."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I love the blog and was really looking forward to this book, but buying the kindle edition was a mistake."
"This is a great way to enjoy older questions and answers over again, updated, and to share them with new people, and the new questions and answers - never featured on the website - are delightful; I won't spoil it for you, but my favorite has to be the answer to "If a bullet with the density of a neutron star were fired from a handgun (ignoring the how) at the Earth's surface, would the Earth be destroyed?" If you have even a passing interest in science and ever enjoy daydreaming about the fantastic or the ridiculous, this book is for you. Gift season is coming up; thanks to this book my Christmas shopping will be a great deal easier."
"Randall Munroe hits that oddball humor sweet spot with zany questions and actual, scientific--and most importantly, interesting--answers."
"Randall Munroe's XKCD is a cornerstone of the World-Wide Web, and he brings the same intelligence and overabundance of careful research here to absolutely hilarious (and often randomly awesome or terrible) questions."
"Best bathroom book ever... and I mean that in the very best possible way you can imagine."
"All wrapped up in a well made book sufficient for display."
"Whether it's taking a dip in a nuclear reactor cooling pool, or halting the earth's spin just to see what would happen, Monroe accepts the intellectual challenge and delivers with gusto."
"They're hyperlinked, and you can use the links on the footnote to jump back But the page bounds move slightly every time, and notes near the top activate the Kindle options rather than the footnote."
Best Blackjack

Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.’s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Well not a gambler in the sense of giving my money away to the casinos, because I know the odds are rigged to the benefit of the house. The only difference is the market will not "take you for a one way ride into the desert". I highly recommend the book or the movie."
"However, without nerves of steel to hold them steady when carrying and betting huge sums of money while avoiding threats of being caught in their lucrative activities, they would not have succeeded, brilliant as they were."
"Good read, very interesting."
"Good luck putting this book down...you will most likely finish in one sitting."
"They may have taken Vegas, but ultimately greed, technology, and inflated egos, brought them down."
"Loved the movie, and love the book."
"If they weren't going up against an entity detested more than "big oil" we may not root them on...But, you will root for them as they leave carnage in the pits because you know given the opportunity, you would do the same (hopefully you would not let it become your life and religion since your moral compass balances you). Ben Mezrich's book is a bit slight, but is fun and you'll likely zip through it in a couple of sittings because it has good tension and the constant thrill provided by the six is palpable as they manipulate the odds."
"What this book does offer is a short and easy to read storyline regarding the lives of MIT students who took many casinos, most prominently in Las Vegas, for considerable money with a team effort card counting system for Blackjack."
Best Word Games

When time is up, pun makers share their puns with the prompter, who awards the prompt cards to the player whose pun he or she likes best. JO and FRED FIRESTONE, a daughter-father duo, are the creators and hosts of Punderdome®, NYC’s Most Puntastic Competition—part of New York’s comedy landscape since 2011.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My 3 friends and I sat in a circle, drew green and white cards, and looked at them until we had a puns. But if you love puns, I would 100% recommend this game if only for the well thought out and structured green/white cards which you can use for endless fun. BONUS: There are hilarious pun jokes on the back of the cards which I discovered during my 3rd play through."
"Jo Firestone is a treasure and this game is destined to be a classic."
"This is so much fun."
"Fun game, good price, and make you really think lol."
"Not a fan favorite."
"I was so excited for this game, but honestly it was a huge let down."
"Boring game."
Best Gambling

The incredible true story of the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer and, as the first of the great quantitative investors, ushered in a revolution on Wall Street. A child of the Great Depression, legendary mathematician Edward O. Thorp invented card counting, proving the seemingly impossible: that you could beat the dealer at the blackjack table. Along the way, the so-called godfather of the quants played bridge with Warren Buffett, crossed swords with a young Rudy Giuliani, detected the Bernie Madoff scheme, and, to beat the game of roulette, invented, with Claude Shannon, the world’s first wearable computer. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom that can guide us all in uncertain financial waters, A Man for All Markets is an instant classic—a book that challenges its readers to think logically about a seemingly irrational world. “In A Man for All Markets , [Thorp] delightfully recounts his progress (if that is the word) from college teacher to gambler to hedge-fund manager. Edward O. Thorp launched revolutions in Vegas and on Wall Street by turning math into magic, and here he weaves his own life lessons into a page-turner as hot as a deck full of aces. “Whether you are an aspiring professional player, a casual gambler, or an occasional visitor to Las Vegas, you can feel the impact of Edward O. Thorp’s intellect on that desert city. The text was based on Thorp’s original research that stemmed from his curiosity about the game of 21 and was billed as a how-to book for the layperson to beat the casinos at blackjack. A Man for All Markets chronicles Thorp’s personal journey in navigating the unexpected and sometimes dangerous obstacles that come along with challenging the status quo of a wealthy corporate adversary.” —Nicholas G. Colon, professional advantage gambler and managing director, Alea Consulting Group. Find the formula for valuing financial options but use it to make money rather than win a Nobel Prize? This book is in part the gripping story of how one man’s genius and dedication has solved so many problems in diverse fields. But more important, it’s a fascinating insight into the thought processes of someone with little interest in fame, who has mostly stayed under the radar, yet who has followed his inquisitive mind wherever it has led him, and reaped the resulting rewards.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Edward Thorp is a remarkable man - a polymath of science, computing, mathematics, and finance - and I have looked up to him for a large portion of my life, from when I read "Beat the Dealer" as an impressionable young teenager, to my career in finance as I learned more about his incredible investing exploits, told skillfully in Poundstone's "Fortune's Formula". Third, his investment management career, which was so consistently successful until it came to a screeching halt on federal charges against members of the east coast branch of his firm (Thorp does appear to have been completely uninvolved and unaware). Fourth, and longest, a 120+ page meditation on the recent past, including a handful of successful investment ideas that have been discussed ad nauseam elsewhere (thrift conversions, the Palm/3Com arbitrage trade, statistical arb) and long ruminations on compound interest, personal finance, the hedge fund industry, personal fitness, time, and his interesting but fairly tangential interactions with Warren Buffett, among other things."
"I have read almost all his books. I think this book is one of the best."
"Written by a great Economist and "Gambler"."
"An amazing life."
"As a mathematician, trained in California, Thorp has been a hero to me."
"Having informally followed some of the core life principles guided in this book, I am truly enriched after reading it and look forward to the future as I walk a similar path if I can be so fortunate."
"It condenses the knowledge of a great mind into understandable and useful advise."
Best Magic Tricks

More than 2,000 illustrations provide the know-how behind 300 techniques, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, along with advice on planning and staging a professional-quality magic show. Mark Wilson is first and foremost a famous magician, who the New York Times has recognized as probably the nation's leading authority on magic.” He is also the hugely successful author of numerous kits and books devoted to instruction in the magical arts including the newly released Complete Course in Magic (Revised Ed.).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My significant other is a bartender that does magic tricks to entertain his customers, I bought this as a gift for him and he loved it!"
"This is a great book on learning magic from one of the best magician around."
"This book has detailed information for folks who are genuinely interested in learning how to build their own magic show complete with information about patter, misdirection, and prop construction."
"Grandson has really loved this gift."
"I owned this volume way back when I first started in magic, it was referred to me by a friend who owns a magic shop and he said once you read this and try some of the tricks it would be a really good start, the tricks that are within its pages, some are very easy and some are even stage illusions, many are now dated but I have found that with some rehashed patter and some updated workings these tricks are timeless, I own the Tarbel volumes and I find myself going back to this more often then not!"
"The variety is awesome and the reader may pick and choose or simply select the category of interest and concentrate on that. We had magicians at nearly every birthday party and, like most kids, I was enamored with the entire process but never pursued it beyond amateur status."
"By far the BEST book to buy first, if you're a beginning magician."
"Everything you need to know to get your magic hobby or career started!"
Best Math Games

Part of the reason for the book's success is its marvelously varied assortment of brainteasers ranging from simple "catch" riddles to difficult problems (none, however, requiring advanced mathematics). In addition, Martin Gardner, former editor of the Mathematical Games Department, Scientific American , has clarified and simplified the book to make it as easy as possible for an English-reading public to understand and enjoy. A master at making math fun for his high school students, Boris Kordemsky loaded this clever collection with a wide variety of math and logic related games and puzzles dealing with magic squares, tricky weights and measures, properties of numbers, mathematical tricks, and more.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Anyone who enjoys math and logic puzzles is basically required to own this classic."
"I'm a teacher and I've been using problem in this book as daily class warm ups."
"Definitely makes your brain more aware."
"Complex to say the least, but even though it's challenging it is still a lot of fun."
"I use it in my stratagies and tactics class to encourage critical thinking and to have some fun with students."
"Plenty of ingenuity and excellent challenges that defy the imagination."
"If your kids aren't bored with it, teach them as young as possible!"
"I had expected clever word and math puzzles and I was a little disappointed to find the book devoted a lot of space to visual puzzles."
Best Crossword Puzzles

500 puzzles; the biggest collection of Sunday crosswords ( the Times' most popular) EVER. He has edited countless books of crossword puzzles, Sudoku, KenKen, and all manner of brain-busters.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was purchased for a gift."
"As any cruciverbalist knows, you must keep lots of puzzles on hand."
"A great value."
"Some very challenging puzzles in this book."
"Very heavy and difficult to hold."
"Bought this for my mother and she loves it."
"It made a great Christmas gift for my mom."
"A majority of the book featured long puzzles with the grids so small that it was very difficult to print letters in them."
Best Travel Games

Now, more than ninety years later, the classic crossword series continues with a brand-new collection of crosswords at every level from top puzzle master John M. Samson. John M. Samson is an expert crossword puzzle constructor and editor.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"When I worked at a brick and mortar bookstore in college, Simon and Schuster crossword books were popular for crossword enthusiasts."
"For me the joy for doing a Simon-Schuster puzzle is from that the puzzle title reveals itself bit-by-bit."
"Bought this for my husband and he is very pleased."
"these are my favorite puzzle books, have gone thru all of them, wish there were more."
"My Puzzle man Brother In Law loves it ..."
"However, it is not at the difficulty level I was expecting."
"Excellent product and service."
Best Word Search Games

The book s introduction offers helpful tips and techniques for solving the puzzles, starting with the process of elimination. For almost 20 years, Brain Games® has been the go-to name for puzzle book and magazines that are both entertaining and mind building. Based on the recognized science that games train your brain to think quickly and creatively, BG puzzles cover all bases: logic, word puzzles, cognition, spot the difference, and more. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There are already a lot of reviews so this will probably get lost in the mayhem, but I would like to share what I wish more book sellers would ‘show and tell’ about their puzzle books, such as pictures of random pages and how many of each puzzle type is in the book so you can make sure you do not end up with a ‘variety book’ filled with a hundred crosswords and only a handful of the more interesting ‘outside the box’ puzzles."
"There was some writing in the one that I received and I wasn't too happy about it but it's ok. Once we MASTER this book we will be moving on to the Kindergarten book."
"They love them."
"Every time we work on it, he says it "makes his brain feel good"."
"Great book!"
"This is a good puzzle book, but I am not totally into some of the variety of puzzles."
"This is a great workbook w brain games In it."
"The crossword puzzles and other word puzzles help her work on her spelling skills."
Best Video & Computer Games

Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"As a Zelda fan it's wonderful to have a physical book of all game events (from 1986=2011), concept images and developer interviews."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
Best Logic & Brain Teasers

Based on the science that shows that people middle-aged or older who solve word games and brainteasers have a significant cognitive advantage over those who do not, 399 Games, Puzzles & Trivia Challenges is the illustrated game book specifically created to cross-train the brain. Nancy Linde created and runs Never2Old4Games.com, an online subscription service for activities professionals working with senior citizens at assisted living residences, retirement communities, senior centers, and other senior-serving organizations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"And for most of them, they're the types of challenges that you can read aloud to a group--or to a significant other--to enjoyably while away a long road trip. You might be asked about a wealthy socialite from the 1920s, or a slightly famous murder trial that took place during the Great Depression. In retrospect, the cover text is very revealing: the book claims these puzzles were designed to "keep your brain young.""
"A good variety of word puzzles that can be done rapid-fire like a game show while sitting around the campfire or in a car on a road trip."
"I bought this puzzle book to take on a long flight that also had a decent layover."
"Great fun."
"It is so good for your brain and a fun way to pass the time....... fun to do with a friend too."
"This book is such a terrific way to engage your mind in a fun and not toooo challenging way."
"Maybe there isn't any real scientific proof that these games help slow brain aging, but just having quiet, me-time, thinking all on my own without outside stimuli to distract me, has to be a brain-perk in itself."
"So entertaining!"
