The Old Books Club

Science World Book of Brain Teasers

Edited By Simon Dresner

COVER DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATIONS by William Hogarth

COVER PHOTO by John Ebstel

Copyright © 1963, 2^nd Printing Editon 1963

“BRAIN TEASERS GALORE!

This giant collection of brain teasers, puzzles, and science stumpers tests your wits --- gives you a chance to measure your mind against some of the cleverest puzzles ever!

All brain teasers are from Science World* magazine’s student brain-teaser page --- chosen from thousand of entries. Ingenious, cream-of-the-crop stoppers will really start you thinking.

Most teasers can be solved by logic --- even the madness of the Mystery Multiplication! If you’re stumped (and we bet you will be), the answers are in the back. They’re half the fun, in fact. The ingenuity of the answers will surprise and delight you. What’s more, when you have discovered the secret of the solutions, you can have the fun of presenting the puzzles to your friends. See how clever they are.

Brain teasers are divided into sections, starting easy, getting harder, then getting tough. By the time you’re through the first ones, you’ll be ready for the real skull-crackers.

Get set for hours of brain-stretching enjoyment[!]"

This book is just another great paperback that was included in my father’s personal “education library” when he was younger. Books like this were only 50 cents; but back then that was a lot of money for a kid! A “Science Book of brain Teasers” for 50 cents would be like getting Lynne Truss’ “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” for 15 dollars today. (Okay, maybe I think that’s a deal, but whatever.)

Go on over to Amazon.com and buy a copy! A link to several of these great books for sale is HERE.

There are 128 total pages in the book (including the answer pages), and 114 Brain Teasers. 18 of those are crosswords “stumpers”.

Apparently, the brain teasers in this book were compiled form student entries to the brain-teasers page in Science World, a magazine popular for rising young scientists in the 50’s and 60’s. I was able to find more information on that magazine, as well as The Scholastic Book Company. You can still get Science World Magazine from the Scholastic, Inc! The links I imbedded in the previous text will be on the sidebar under “Old Book Research” also.

I could try to explain exactly what is in the “Science Book of Brain Teasers”, but I think it’d be easier just to give you 3 of the “brain teasers” in each of the levels of difficulty: Starting Easy, Getting Harder, and Skull-Cracking (love that phrase). Really try to solve them—not just guess—and see what you come up with. On Friday, I will publish the answers to the three brain teasers, so keep reading!

Starting Easy: under “Quick and Easy”, page 5

1. A Jar of Amoebas

Suppose there are seven amoebas in the bottom of a jar, and that they multiply so fast that they double in volume every minute. If it takes forty minutes for the amoebas to fill the jar, how long will it take them to fill half the jar?

Stumped yet? Or was that easy? Well,… try this one on for size!

Getting Harder: under “Not as Easy as They Seem”, page 26

55. The Lost Second

While walking home one evening, Bill noticed that is took 6 seconds for the old town clock to strike 6 o’clock. At lunch, the next day, he heard the town clock strike 12, but it took more than 12 seconds. At first he thought the clock had slowed down. Then he realized the clock was still on time. How many second did it take for the clock to strike 12?

How was that? Better? I can’t wait to see your answers… And remember, the introduction said students, school aged kids made these up! Here’s the last of the sampling…

Skull-Crackers: under “Brain Busters”, page 35

72.Ghost Division

In the division below, each letter stands for a particular number (a letter always represents the same number).

Can you figure out which number each letter represents, and write out the complete division?