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Einstein's Twin: Mind-Bending Puzzles and Paradoxes from the World of Science
From the author of Einstein's Riddle comes a collection of ingenious puzzles that will stimulate your brain while also introducing you to science's most intriguing concepts, paradoxes, and unsolved conundrums.
How can a cat be both dead and alive? Can you travel back in time to kill your own grandfather? How can a particle also be a wave? And where are the aliens?
After guiding readers through warm-up logic puzzles designed to sharpen the wits, Jeremy Stangroom tackles time dilation, wave-particle duality, time travel, and quantum entanglement, along with many other scientific phenomena. Engaging your critical thinking skills while at the same time challenging your sense of reality, Einstein's Twin is a must-have for any avid puzzler's library.
How can a cat be both dead and alive? Can you travel back in time to kill your own grandfather? How can a particle also be a wave? And where are the aliens?
After guiding readers through warm-up logic puzzles designed to sharpen the wits, Jeremy Stangroom tackles time dilation, wave-particle duality, time travel, and quantum entanglement, along with many other scientific phenomena. Engaging your critical thinking skills while at the same time challenging your sense of reality, Einstein's Twin is a must-have for any avid puzzler's library.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Jeremy Stangroom
72 books19 followersJeremy Stangroom is a British writer, editor, and website designer. He is an editor and co-founder, with Julian Baggini, of The Philosophers’ Magazine, and has written and edited several philosophy books. He is also co-founder, with Ophelia Benson of the website 'Butterflies and Wheels'.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 5, 2015
I verily believe that Einstein's Riddle is a great book. The writing in it is very insightful and "will stretch your mind". The strengths of this book are how the book utilizes so many truly thought provoking questions and the variety of these questions. Among these stupendous questions, one stand out above the rest, Einstein's Riddle. The only problem that I find in this book is that the answers to the questions in the back of the book are not written in much detail. Some questions only need a one - word answer, but I would have liked more substance put into some kind of explanation than what is "necessary". I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to take the time to improve their way of thinking and put forth effort to that task.
July 7, 2012
There were some fun brainteasers in this book, but many of the questions require statistics and probability instead of good, old-fashioned logic. My favorite puzzle was Einstein's Riddle, which requires you to make a grid and fill in the answers based on clues. (I'm happy to say I arrived at the correct answer.) I had heard of several of the riddles before -- some are as old as philosophy -- but it was still fun to revisit them.
I plan to share this book with my mom, who was a math professor, and see how she fares. She'll probably get all of the statistics questions right.
I plan to share this book with my mom, who was a math professor, and see how she fares. She'll probably get all of the statistics questions right.
March 24, 2023
Quantum physics is horrible and the human race would be happier without it.
Fun puzzles though.
Fun puzzles though.
November 15, 2010
Una mia regola aurea sulla qualità dei libri da leggere è "se sono in carta patinata, lascia perdere". Diciamo che sono più attento al contenuto che alla forma del contenitore; la regola chiaramente non si applica ai libri d'arte o di fotografia dove c'è la necessità di una carta di migliore qualità per vedere le immagini, ma per l'appunto queste sono le eccezioni e non la regola.
In questo caso la regola è stata regolarmente rispettata. Bisogna dare atto a Stangroom di avere creato delle nuove storie intorno ai classici problemi e paradossi in quel mare magnum che sta tra la matematica e la filosofia; è però anche vero che tutti i problemi presenti dovrebbero essere ben presenti a chi è avvezzo a questi temi. Per quello che mi riguarda - anche se probabilmente io non faccio testo - l'unico paradosso che non conoscevo è l'ultimo, quello sulla bella addormentata. Se però il paradosso di Simpson e quello di Newcomb vi sono sconosciuti, forse può valere la pena di procurarvi il libro.
In questo caso la regola è stata regolarmente rispettata. Bisogna dare atto a Stangroom di avere creato delle nuove storie intorno ai classici problemi e paradossi in quel mare magnum che sta tra la matematica e la filosofia; è però anche vero che tutti i problemi presenti dovrebbero essere ben presenti a chi è avvezzo a questi temi. Per quello che mi riguarda - anche se probabilmente io non faccio testo - l'unico paradosso che non conoscevo è l'ultimo, quello sulla bella addormentata. Se però il paradosso di Simpson e quello di Newcomb vi sono sconosciuti, forse può valere la pena di procurarvi il libro.
October 15, 2018
This is a great book for knowledge and also at the same time for relaxing. This is because the book includes a lot of Riddles, Paradoxes, and Conundrums as the name suggests! The book is a really casual read for people that have extra time to learn something interesting! I recommend this book to anyone who likes to try and solve problems.
February 13, 2022
A good collection of proper mind exercises. The solutions provided are clear enough to follow if you cannot solve the riddle yourself and they get harder and harder throughout the book. A good read for any mathematicians wanting a brain workout.
August 14, 2020
Birkaç saatte bitirdiğim, tam anlamıyla yalayıp yuttuğum bir kitap: Jermy Stangroom'dan Einstein Bulmacası. Adı üzerinde aklınızın sınırlarını zorlayacak bulmaca ve paradokslar kitabı. Bundan sonra başucu kitabım :) Bu kitapta Einstein'ın çocukken tasarladığı meşhur bulmacasını, üç kapıdan hangisini seçeceğinizi, sürpriz partinin hangi gün olacağını, e-postaların güvenilirliğini hesaplarken gri hücreleriniz fazla mesai yapacak. Çözümü bulursanız problem yok ama bulamazsanız sorumlu okurluğu elden bırakmayın, kitabı fırlatmayın sinirle fırlatılan kitap yaralayıcı olabilir. Bulmaca çözmek, gri hücreleri çalıştırmak ve eğlenmek için herkese tavsiye ederim.
June 29, 2018
Viihdyttävä teos, johon on koottu klassisia paradokseja ja muita kutkuttavia pulmia. Kokoelman kiehtovuus ei ehkä säily ihan loppuun saakka. Tekijä olisi voinut karsia ja valikoida aineistoa huolellisemmin.
June 29, 2024
Very short book but not good. I kept waiting for more interesting puzzles but the puzzles just didn’t make sense or were poorly written. I didn’t enjoy the made-up backstories before the puzzles. The book was also too British for my liking.
December 18, 2019
It's funny book dude..., haha
August 8, 2020
Seru sekali untuk dibaca. Saya suka cara buku ini mengawali dari logika-logika yang sederhana hingga yang kompleks.
November 15, 2020
Boring! No entertainment! It takes a long time to solve. Please, stop doing this.
Exception: Also, if you're a teacher it could be useful too.
Exception: Also, if you're a teacher it could be useful too.
May 2, 2018
İlginç, kafa karıştırıcı bulmacalar. Çok da olağanüstü değil, çerez niyetine okunabilir.
June 24, 2012
Relentless, and mind boggling, infuriating, yet intriguing, this book has more than its fair share of slaps to the face of your intelligence. I say that with a grain of salt however, because there were also a multitude of conundrums that were "No-win situations". By this, I mean that no matter how hard you thought on something and came to a certain conclusion, one that you had previously gone over in your head was really the right one, even if using logic it was proven false. The prior statement, on the other hand, is what made the book so enjoyable to read.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good brainteaser every once in a while.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good brainteaser every once in a while.
September 5, 2009
Not as fun or insightful as I hoped. Discussion of the puzzles are much more of the "a greek philosopher first discussed this imagined logical conundrum" blah blah description than I wanted -- cross MadLibs with a sudoku puzzle book with a dry "history of the ancient greeks" text and a short magazine article about the "Monty Hall" problem and you'll get this book.
September 29, 2013
This book was a lot of fun. I read several of the riddles/conundrums/paradoxes a day and was sufficiently entertained. I think my favorite part of the book was the explanations of the history behind the paradoxes and such. Fun read!
January 11, 2015
I love this book of riddles/puzzles. They are very challenging and take dedication and time to complete. I think this would be a great gift for someone who likes puzzles. Also, I did them alone but I thought it would have been more exciting to work with a friend.
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June 12, 2015Einstein'ın çocukken hazırladığı paradoksu bile çözmek bir günümü aldı...ve yanlış sonuca vardım, ama kesinlikle bir grup ile oturulup üstünde tartışıp güzel vakit geçirebileceğiniz, sinir bozucu (ama çözdüğünüzde bir o kadar rahatlatıcı) bir eser.
November 4, 2009
Mind boggling.
March 23, 2010
An engaging collection of riddles, some of which I'd seen before, with clear explanations/answers for each at the end. I'm still working on Einstein's riddle - a logic problem.
September 12, 2011
Kaikille suositeltavaa aivojumppaa! Itse jäin kaipaamaan enemmän nimikkotehtävän Einsteinin arvoituksen kaltaisia päättelytehtäviä.
November 9, 2011
This was a good book of mind bending riddles and paradoxes. I'd be lying if I said that I understood all of them, however, I did enjoy trying to puzzle through them.
September 10, 2015
Fun and well designed, this book includes the most well known puzzles. Very interesting!
December 31, 2014
An incredible mix of puzzles and conumdrums.
February 6, 2015
Begins with the classic 5 house Einstein riddle...If you enjoy logic puzzles it is worth trying and can be found on the internet.
September 13, 2015
A good combination riddles somr based on probability bıt all fun
December 26, 2015
Rather too many unanswerable questions from philosophy in this collection.
March 28, 2016
Spent two days working on the first puzzle. Damn, these were tough. If you like logic puzzles that lean heavily towards needing to use equations to solve this is the book for you.
August 10, 2016
Good and interesting riddles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews