William Hartston

William Hartston has directed this book at those mystified by mathematics, or at least that is what the subheading says. And the book is full of accounts of why the world would be a better place if politicians better understood logic, lawyers knew probability and journalists could grasp statistics. Unfortunately, it seems as though none of these professions are likely to pick up this book. Instead, it will be numerate nerds who will read it, tut-tutting at the foolishness of these innumerate elites.… (meer)

As a puzzle-setter in the escape room business, I couldn't resist getting a copy of Hartston's book after a good friend informed me about its existence. After finishing it, I'm not really convinced that I know much more about the "history of puzzles", however. Perhaps a better title would have been "categorisation of puzzles", as only the first few chapters dig into some brief historical research.

The format of the book is text interspersed with related puzzles. That sounds nice enough, but I quickly realised that I was never in the mood for solving the puzzles when I wanted to read about them. So I stopped trying and just went straight for the solutions presented at the end. :-)

The book ends with a prize puzzle. I can't compete since I don't have an address in the UK, but I don't find myself motivated to even try it. As the book continued, the author put in more and more of his own puzzles (not without bragging about their ingenuity) and I never found these to be particularly engaging.

So, in short, it's a nice little work definitely giving some insight into the classification of puzzles, presenting an overview of the classics and highlighting some master puzzle setters from past and present. Don't expect much more, however.… (meer)