Mensa Visual Brainteasers
by: John Bremner
Topics include:
Non-verbal reasoning puzzles are regarded as completely 'culture-fair' because they are not dependent on education. Many experts call these 'pure' tests of intelligence. No special skills required to tackle these brain-teasers beyond common sense and logic, combined with a tenacious will not to give up! Full solutions given at the back of the book.
Khurram's Note:
This is probabaly the best form of MENSA testing and skill-building. MENSA's verbal tests are English-language specific , and doing well on those may simply be the result of having access to better schooling. True (innate) problem-solving abilities are usually best-gauged using non-verbal reasoning puzzles.
Reviews:
If you like puzzles you solve using only your raw brains--as I do--you'll like this book. It covers just about all the types of visual pattern puzzles that there are in two dimensions--odd man out, next in the series, what's missing, and find the identical figures. There are a couple puzzles that are not truly visual brainteasers as they demand knowledge of gears or levers; there is an overabundance of puzzles that "turn" on rotational differences between figures; and there is one out and out error right on the back cover of the book (In the bottom puzzle on the back cover, all the figures are the same, so there is no "odd one out." Compare to puzzle #52 in the book.)--OUCH!. But even with these minor problems, this is a fun beginner's book of puzzles of this kind.
If you like puzzles you solve using only your raw brains--as I do--you'll like this book. It covers just about all the types of visual pattern puzzles that there are in two dimensions--odd man out, next in the series, what's missing, and find the identical figures. There are a couple puzzles that are not truly visual brainteasers as they demand knowledge of gears or levers; there is an overabundance of puzzles that "turn" on rotational differences between figures; and there is one out and out error right on the back cover of the book (In the bottom puzzle on the back cover, all the figures are the same, so there is no "odd one out." Compare to puzzle #52 in the book.)--OUCH!. But even with these minor problems, this is a fun beginner's book of puzzles of this kind.