A Brief History of Puzzles

From ancient riddles to modern Sudoko, people have been fascinated by puzzles. Whether they are seen as a glorious waste of time, a harmless way to spend a train journey or a valuable way of exercising the mind, the lure of puzzles has been irresistible. By using over 100 examples of the most mindbending, the most challenging, the most satisfying, or simply the most humorous puzzles throughout the ages, William Hartston traces the development of brainteasers of all varieties and the increasing ingenuity of puzzle setters from ancient civilizations to modern puzzle crazes.

William Hartston is a Cambridge-educated mathematician, an international chess master and the author of The Things That Nobody Knows and Even More Things That Nobody Knows.