An adventure story series filled with suspense, mystery, and fantasy - for kids ages 9-12 and teens Peter, an exceptionally clever junior high school kid, is pulled into an adventure where he and a few friends have to solve a series of very challenging riddles and puzzles. Peter's mind, which has an amazing talent for problem-solving, is needed to save the world. This adventure sure is a big change from what Peter typically deals with in life: He gets called geek and nerd by everyone in the cool group. He tries to hide his love for learning, in a hope to stick out a little less. He fantasizes about a girl who is out of his league. Peter and his friends must solve every confusing riddle and challenging puzzle they face. If they can't, a powerful supernatural being will cause immense destruction and devastation...
Learning programming with one of “the coolest applications around”: algorithmic puzzles ranging from scheduling selfie time to verifying the six degrees of separation hypothesis. This book builds a bridge between the recreational world of algorithmic puzzles (puzzles that can be solved by algorithms) and the pragmatic world of computer programming, teaching readers to program while solving puzzles. Few introductory students want to program for programming's sake. Puzzles are real-world applications that are attention grabbing, intriguing, and easy to describe. Each lesson starts with the description of a puzzle. After a failed attempt or two at solving the puzzle, the reader arrives at an Aha! moment—a search strategy, data structure, or mathematical fact—and the solution presents itself. The solution to the puzzle becomes the specification of the code to be written. Readers will thus know what the code is supposed to do before seeing the code itself. This represents a pedagogical philosophy that decouples understanding the functionality of the code from understanding programming language syntax and semantics. Python syntax and semantics required to understand the code are explained as needed for each puzzle. Readers need only the rudimentary grasp of programming concepts that can be obtained from introductory or AP computer science classes in high school. The book includes more than twenty puzzles and more than seventy programming exercises that vary in difficulty. Many of the puzzles are well known and have appeared in publications and on websites in many variations. They range from scheduling selfie time with celebrities to solving Sudoku problems in seconds to verifying the six degrees of separation hypothesis. The code for selected puzzle solutions is downloadable from the book's website; the code for all puzzle solutions is available to instructors.
No amateur or math authority can be without this ultimate compendium of classic puzzles, paradoxes, and puzzles from America's best-loved mathematical expert. 320 line drawings.
Puzzled?! seamlessly fuses two traditional approaches to the study of philosophy at the introductory level. It is thematic, examining fundamental issues in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and more. It is also historical, introducing major philosophical arguments that have arisen throughout the history of Western philosophy. But its real innovation lies elsewhere. Each of its twelve chapters begins with a traditional argument of a thoroughly puzzling kind: a valid philosophical argument with highly plausible premises but a surprising conclusion. The remainder of the chapter shows how major innovations in the history of philosophy arise as logical responses to that argument. Written with a light touch, Puzzled?! nevertheless offers a rigorous introduction to the ideas it explores and to the foundations of critical thinking itself. It will serve as effectively as a main or supplementary text in an introduction to critical thinking as it will in Philosophy 101.
Not every girl loves pink Izzie hates pink as much as her sister, Rose, loves it. So when Rose plans an all-pink birthday party with the guests dressed in fairy costumes, Izzie decides to give her own alternative party in the attic, where the guests will be monsters, spiders, ghosts, and the pet cat. But some powerful magic triggers the appearance of yet another guest - an unexpected one. This will be a party nobody forgets!
An adventure story series filled with suspense, mystery, and fantasy - for kids ages 9-12 and teens Two years have passed since Peter and his friends went up against Zoltan-a supernatural being-in a battle of minds and wits, with the fate of the Earth on the line. Life is great for Peter now: He and Nicola are still dating. He's about to start high school, where he will be taking advanced science and math classes. But then, out of nowhere, something happens... Something confusing and terrifying, which has the potential to cause immeasurable destruction. Is Zoltan angry again? Is Peter not living up to his promise? Or... is something else going on? So once again, Peter and his friends' problem-solving skills are needed. But this time, what they are faced with is way more puzzling, and the stakes are much, much higher.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world. “Even though I’ve never attempted the New York Times crossword puzzle or solved the Rubik’s Cube, I couldn’t put down The Puzzler.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before Look for the author’s new podcast, The Puzzler, based on this book! What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacobs—four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder—set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world—including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America’s top puzzle-makers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle—The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker—for these are certainly puzzling times.
An adventure series filled with mystery, suspense, and fantasy - for kids ages 9-12 and teens Mere weeks after taking on some of the cleverest and most sinister supernatural beings to date, Peter is trying to put aside all those worries and cheerfully ring in the New Year. But there is one fear, despite his best efforts, he is unable to push from his mind: Earth's impending doom. With Zoltan--the only weather god capable of protecting the human race--now kidnapped, it's only a matter of time before Xavier and his evil followers come to wreak havoc. With the odds heavily stacked against them, Peter and his friends embark on a mission to give the innocent people of Earth a ray of hope. But to do this, they have to go to Sevlar: which means being right under Xavier's nose. The challenges that lie ahead are both confusing and dangerous, and their chance of success is miniscule...
"Of immense interest to those who enjoy recreational maths and puzzles . . . even the most hardened puzzler will find something new." -- Mathematical Gazette Puzzles are as old as history itself, following an arc like that of technology: centuries of slow progress, followed by rapid expansion in the 1800s, and an explosion of activity in the twentieth century. This collection by bestselling author David Wells, a Cambridge math scholar and teacher, follows that pattern. Its first part is devoted to puzzles from ancient Egypt and Babylon and subsequent sources, featuring those devised by Lewis Carroll, Eduard Lucas, Sam Loyd, and other master puzzlers of the Victorian era. The second part demonstrates the tremendous variety of twentieth-century puzzles. More than 560 puzzles are included, from the "mind sharpeners" of a medieval monk to the eighteenth-century Ladies' Diary, the Hindu Bhakshali manuscript, and riddles and popular rhymes. None requires any mathematics beyond the most elementary algebra and geometry -- and few require even that. Complete answers appear at the end.
An adventure series filled with suspense, mystery, and fantasy - for kids ages 9-12 and teens Note: The paperback edition collects books 1-3 in a single volume and is not a boxed set. Peter, an exceptionally clever junior high school kid, is pulled into an adventure where he and a few friends have to solve a series of very challenging riddles and puzzles. Peter's mind, which has an amazing talent for problem-solving, is needed to save the world from powerful supernatural adversaries. Peter and his friends must figure out every confusing riddle and challenging puzzle they face. And anything less than perfection will mean terrifying, unthinkable, impossible-to-live-with outcomes... Get all 3 books in one 500+ page volume! The Puzzled Series Collection includes: - Puzzled (The Puzzled Mystery Adventure Series: Book 1) - Really Puzzled (The Puzzled Mystery Adventure Series: Book 2) - Extremely Puzzled (The Puzzled Mystery Adventure Series: Book 3) The Puzzled Series is a one-of-a-kind mystery adventure that will capture the interest of kids, teenagers, and adults. You'll be scratching your head as you try to solve the puzzles and riddles along with the characters! Over 600 five-star reviews for the individual books on Amazon and Goodreads. Here's what readers are saying: ★★★★★ "My son keeps yelling I love this book. He doesn't say that very often. Bravo." ★★★★★ "Bought these to read with my nieces, and they were hooked from the start...and I didn't want to put it down either" ★★★★★ "It's fun, cool, mysterious, and exciting, just what I look for in a book! (Zoe, age 9)" ★★★★★ "This book is amazing,1000000% my favourite book ever - Review by Tom age 11." ★★★★★ "I'm 40 years old but I still love a great read. Love the storytelling and the puzzles." ★★★★★ "My inner 10-year-old was hooked from the first page." ★★★★★ "Smart, fun, use your brain kind of a book." ★★★★★ "My 10 year old and 8 year old loved diving into this awesome adventure story." ★★★★★ "Brilliant adventure story probably aimed at 8-12 year olds but I am a female 70 (something) and loved it."
