Jerry Slocum

When I was in college, I was naive in believing that learning to solve a Rubiks Cube would win me all sorts of new friends. That didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped, but thankfully I still made friends, and some of them also shared my passion for this wondrous invention.

Jerry Slocum's The Cube opens with a history of the Rubiks Cube which is interspersed with a few tangents on puzzles in general, but most of the book, as the subtitle indicates, is devoted to the cube's many ingenious and surprisingly artful solutions.… (meer)

This is a larger, pictorially generous book, with many tangram puzzles and solutions at the end. It covers the history of this type of puzzle, showing us artifacts from the author's collection. Well presented and enjoyable to look through. I didn't make these puzzles in school so I don't have bad memories about them like some do. I believe these were popular in the pre-television age as an alternative to cards.
The fascinating thing is how tricky they are to use. There are only seven pieces which come together to make a square. When they are rearranged many different fool-the-eye designs can be created. At first glance they look simple to make, but aren't that easy to copy out of a book. Luckily it contains all the solutions!
I didn't find anyplace in the book giving precise measurements or procedures to make one exactly right, so I had to wing it. I suppose the authors assume you have a pre-made set.… (meer)

Tangrams, or Chinese puzzles, are deceptively simple-looking design figures formed from pieces of tile cut into geometric shapes. The problem lies in trying to form a pictured figure without knowing where the pieces are joined. With this book, Slocum (Puzzles Old and New) and a research team complete a project to find and translate every historic reference to tangrams ever published. The result is a fascinating historical summary, well illustrated with color facsimile pages and photographs of antique tangram sets. The last half of the book is devoted to sample problems from historic books along with line drawings showing solutions. Puzzle enthusiasts will love this book on a little-known topic. Highly recommended for collections on antiques, gaming, and all things Chinese.… (meer)