Cabbage, Unfaithful Husbands, and a Zebra. Riddles and Puzzles for Critical Thinking Development

125 of the most interesting puzzles from the last two millennia from different corners of the world

The best puzzles are akin to true poetry. With their inherent elegance and conciseness, they attract interest, awaken the spirit of competition, test inventiveness, and sometimes even reveal universal truths. A good puzzle doesn't require any special knowledge – only a creative approach, wit, and the ability to think clearly. Puzzles captivate our imagination as they fulfill our desire to comprehend this world; they bring us pleasure as we grasp the meaning of what is happening.

No matter what the puzzles are like, the strategies we use to work with them expand our arsenal for solving the interesting and complex challenges life presents to us.

For this book, mathematician Alex Bellos has collected 125 puzzles created over the past two millennia, along with stories about their origins and impact. He has chosen the most captivating, engaging, and thought-provoking tasks. These puzzles can be considered mathematical only in the broadest sense: their solution requires logical thinking but does not demand deep knowledge of mathematics. All these tasks come from China, medieval Europe, Victorian England, and modern Japan, as well as from other times and places.