From Booklist

Even before the book was out, its juiciest bits were everywhere: Sarah Palin was serene when chosen for V.P. because it was “God’s plot.” Hillary didn’t know if she could control Bill (duh). Elizabeth Edwards was a shrew, not a saint. Overall, the men from the campaign gather less attention in these anecdote wars than the women and tend to come off better—but only just: Obama, the authors note, can be conceited and turbulent; McCain was disengaged to the point of recklessness; and John Edwards is a cheating, egotistical blowhard. But, hey, that’s politics, and it’s evident that authors Heilemann (New York Magazine) and Halperin (Time) worked their sources well—all 200 of them. Some (including the sources themselves) will have distress with the book’s use of quotes (or lack thereof). The interviews, according to the authors, were conducted “on deep background,” and dialogue was “reconstructed extensively” and with “extreme care.” So (more…)

Review

“An opus…Mixing math with wonder.”—Washington Post Book World (The Washington Post )

In this area the original 1000 PlayThinks,Will Shortz of The New York Times said it best: “The most wide-ranging, visually appealing, entertaining, gigantic collection of brainteasers since Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles almost a century ago.” Inside The Huge Book of Brain Games, you will find an obsessive collection of 1,000 challenges, puzzles, riddles, illusions—originals as well as must-do classics—it’s like salted peanuts for the brain. With jampacked pages and a full-color illustration for each entry, the book, opened anywhere, is a call to action. (And it’s guaranteed to make you smarter.) Twelve vital categories include Geometry, Patterns, Numbers, Logic and Probability, and Perception. An simple-to-read key at the top of each game ranks its difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10, while indices in the back cross-reference the puzzles. (You

Review

“An opus…Mixing math with wonder.”–Washington Post Book World“An opus…Mixing math with wonder.”—Washington Post Book World (The Washington Post )

In this area the original 1000 PlayThinks,Will Shortz of The New York Times said it best: “The most wide-ranging, visually appealing, entertaining, gigantic collection of brainteasers since Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles almost a century ago.” Inside The Huge Book of Brain Games, you will find an obsessive collection of 1,000 challenges, puzzles, riddles, illusions—originals as well as must-do classics—it’s like salted peanuts for the brain. With jampacked pages and a full-color illustration for each entry, the book, opened anywhere, is a call to action. (And it’s guaranteed to make you smarter.) Twelve vital categories include Geometry, Patterns, Numbers, Logic and Probability, and Perception. An simple-to-read key at the top of each game ranks its difficulty on a scale of 1 to (more…)

Review

“An opus…Mixing math with wonder.”—Washington Post Book World (The Washington Post )An opusMixing math with wonder.Washington Post Book World (The Washington Post )

In this area the original 1000 PlayThinks,Will Shortz of The New York Times said it best: “The most wide-ranging, visually appealing, entertaining, gigantic collection of brainteasers since Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles almost a century ago.” Inside The Huge Book of Brain Games, you will find an obsessive collection of 1,000 challenges, puzzles, riddles, illusions—originals as well as must-do classics—it’s like salted peanuts for the brain. With jampacked pages and a full-color illustration for each entry, the book, opened anywhere, is a call to action. (And it’s guaranteed to make you smarter.) Twelve vital categories include Geometry, Patterns, Numbers, Logic and Probability, and Perception. An simple-to-read key at the top of each game ranks its difficulty on a sca (more…)