Each and every book, be it fiction or non-fiction, be it for kids or adults, no matter what, enriches and energizes you in someway or the other. I truly believe that and hence do not hesitate to read almost any reading material I can lay my eyes on. Some of these books challenge and energize my logical, analytical, geeky side – the ones that have puzzles, riddles and brainteasers. Today, I feature a couple of such books that I read recently.

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Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?

OK Google, maybe I am and maybe I am not; but this book can help me get smarter in the event that it is ‘I am not’.

What I enjoyed about this:

• I liked that it is not a book you need to read in any particular order. I picked up random chapters and sometimes even random pages to read. And it was fun to read that way.
• I loved that I was able to answer a few and also that I was flummoxed by other puzzles/riddles/questions in the book; and that they range from the logical to the nonsensical.
• Poundstone provides tips to answer questions that might confound and confuse, as well as explanations(to answers and to the questions themselves), a look into hiring processes and interviews across companies, how to brainstorm your way to answering questions that seemingly have no answers, and more.

While interview processes constantly evolve and this book might or might not land you that job, it does challenge your brain, helps you leap outside the box and think creatively and with purpose; and helps you finally understand why you were asked – “How many bottles of shampoo are produced in the world in a year?”

In Summary:

Brainfood with tips to encourage thinking with purpose and imagination sprinkled with a touch of humor. Definitely a book your puzzle-lover friend or family member will enjoy.

Rating: 4/5

Secret Agent Brainteasers

If the earlier book proves you are smart enough to work at top tech companies, this one tests your abilities to be a secret agent.

So you have always dreamed of being a spy, have you? Then this is the book for you! But if you have not, then this is still the book for you if you love challenging your brain 🙂

This book is an interesting combination of historical facts of the secret service and tons of brainteasers ranging from the hard to the harder. Each chapter starts off with truly interesting stories of the British Secret Service agencies from Victorian times to now, that are linked in one way or another to the puzzles that follow.

The puzzles tease your brain in myriads of ways – codes, anagrams, patterns, maps, and more. They challenge and frustrate and inevitably are exhilarating too!

Do you want to know the relation between butterflies and the founder of Scouting, and what are those two doing in a book about espionage? Read the book to find out this and so many more almost unbelievable but true tales of daring and secret agents; and to challenge yourself with puzzles and brainteasers that will put you in league with 007!

In Summary

This is a book for that secret agent in each one of us; so go ahead and enjoy it.

Note one: having paper and a pencil (as well as an eraser) handy is the best way to proceed with this book 🙂

Note two: I am still working my way through the puzzles here, just a dent so far.. but loved the histories lessons and loving the challenge

Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy of this book- Secret Agent Brainteasers. This is my honest review of the book.

From poetry yesterday to puzzles today…..

..so my bookish summer continues…..

This was for Day 25 of my bookish summer.. as I take a blogging journey along with fellow  UBCers and other blogger friends all around the world. Once again, thank you for your support always!

Here are my previous Bookish Summer posts:

• A Bookish Summer Begins
• She Reads…..They Read..
• Tag: My Blog’s Name in TBR Books
• Re(a)d, White and Blue
• 15 Cool Words Every Book Lover Should Know
• Book Review: A Walk in the Woods (Guest Post) 
• Sunday Scribblings #12: Summering Bookishly
• Hiking and Treasure Hunts
• Top 10 Fictional Bookworms
• Clerihew for Who
• Throwback Thursday in My Bookish Summer
• Sunday Scribblings #13: Summers Are Bookish No Matter Where You Are 
• 3 Mini Reviews of Books
• 10 Authors Whose Books I would Buy Without Much Thought
• 5 Quick Tips to Have a Bookish Summer
• Summer Reads of Childhood Today
• More Girls Who Rocked the World: Book Review
• 5 Literary Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Sunday Scribblings #14: Totally Booked Summer
• Book Review: When Charley Met Emma
• Have Books, Will Travel
• Book Review: Smash Poetry Journal