The best logic puzzle books out there are the ones that keep us wanting more puzzles, more challenges, and more enjoyment after solving each problem. While the best book may vary from person to person and very well based on puzzle experience – there is a puzzle book for everyone.
In this review of the best logic puzzle books I’ll cover books from beginner to advanced, for children to adults, and at all price ranges and sizes.
What makes a good logic puzzle book?
In my opinion, the following makes a good logic puzzle book:
- Difficulty – The difficulty has to be close to perfect for the solver. If it’s too easy it will go by quickly, and if it’s impossible for the person to solve then they won’t derive any enjoyment at all. I find books with a range of difficulty levels the best because you can try harder or easier puzzles based on your experience.
- Topic – There are a few different types of logic puzzles that we’ll cover in this post. If you enjoy mathematics and math logic puzzles then there are books of that style. There are word-logic puzzles, and all other sorts of types. If you don’t know which types you like or don’t like just yet – you’ll have to pick up a puzzle book and find out your preferences.
- Variety – As mentioned in the above point there could be a topic, or there could be a variety of different types of puzzles. These are great to keep you guessing, develop different parts of your brain, or to give as gifts because the receiver will have different types and difficulties to go after.
- Length – In general, the longer the better. If you have 1000 puzzles to solve the book may be more appealing than a 300 puzzle one. We want challenging puzzles but we also want value for our dollar so this certainly must be considered when choosing the best logic puzzle book for you.
- Gift or for you? – If it’s as a gift, I always recommend getting multi-difficulty books so that there’s a range of puzzles for the gift receiver to solve. It’s easy to give a gift that’s too simple or too hard. When buying for yourself you’ll know what difficulty you can handle, or you can at least try a sample puzzle and read reviews (like this one!) before committing to any certain book.
Top 8 Best Logic Puzzle Books
Alright I hope you’re ready for my breakdown of the 8 best logic puzzle books out there right now. Some are new, some are old, and they cover a whole whack of different topics.
Monster Book of Ken Ken by Will Shortz
The puzzles in this book use mathematical operations to solve Sudoku-style puzzles. This style of logic puzzle will appeal to the mathematics and they’re very fun to solve overall. If you like Sudoku, or basically a crossword puzzle with a math component you’ll like this book. If you’re not into math then don’t choose this option. The downside to this book is that all of the puzzles are the same math-logic style.
Puzzle Baron’s Logic Puzzles
The coolest thing about this book is that it includes statics on average solve time, record solve time, and other cool info for every single puzzle. Puzzle Baron’s book comes with 200 grid-based logic puzzles that are sure to keep you entertained as you try to compete with the listed stats. Record your own stats as well and compete against your friends and family to see who’s the master solver!
Challenging Logic Puzzles
I really like this book as an overall great logic puzzle book option because of the variety of puzzles within it. It’s not often you find a logic puzzle book with a variety of puzzles that are all at the perfect difficulty level. This book also has a some-what sequential progression as the puzzles get more and more difficult as you work through it. Another great aspect is that all of the puzzles have their solutions inside of the book. This is a great all-around logic puzzle book option, great for all skill levels within the family, and you can try more challenging puzzles as you improve – awesome!
Of Course! The Greatest Collection of Riddles & Brain Teasers
Riddles, brain teasers, and puzzles all in one – another great variety option when it comes to the best logic puzzle books out there. For someone’s first puzzle book, or when buying a gift for someone else I always recommend going with a variety book that has different difficulties and puzzle types to keep things fresh and account for puzzlers of all skills. One of the main reasons we enjoy solving puzzles and problems as humans if because of the rewarding “Ah ha” moment that comes with the solution. This puzzle book has a really wide-range of puzzles ranging from math, reasoning riddles, logic riddles, and all types of problem solving. Cross bridges, and escape prison cells in this wildly enjoyable book – a must have!
My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles
Getting into more difficult books here, this is definitely not one I would recommend to a beginner. The author Martin Gardner has written math problems for many years of his life fine tuning his problem diversity and receiving feedback on alternate solutions. This book may not be packed with puzzles but these are 70 fine tuned puzzles that will give even the most experienced puzzlers a challenge. Pick up this book if you’re experienced and want to tune your skills.
The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations
This is an extremely popular Russian puzzle book that constitutes of a variety of puzzles styles. The book is so popular that it’s been translated to several languages and has over 8 editions. This book has been around since 1956 so it’s had plenty of time to disappoint and it just hasn’t yet. Martin Gardner, author of the previous book on this list has also edited and clarified this English version for better readability and solvability. With 359 puzzles and over 400 diagrams this simple puzzle book can keep you entertained for as long as it takes you to finish it. I would recommend this book to the math puzzler looking for a challenging book that will take some time to complete.
Total Brain Workout
The Total Brain Workout written by Ph. D. author Marcel Danesi is a fun and exciting puzzle book that features logic reasoning, memory, and perception style puzzles. The unique part is that each puzzle presents information on the part of your brain that is being exercised during each puzzle. The idea behind this book is that with proper exercise of the brain you can improve mental function in several areas of your life. This book is constructed with the improvement of the human brain in mind so enjoy a targeted puzzle book that really wants to help you improve. Work through these 450 puzzles and reap the benefits!
Puzzles & Trivia Challenges Specifically Designed to Keep Your Brain Young
Another amazing 399 puzzles that are aimed at maintaining or even improving the mind is up next on the list. Science shows that middle-aged or older individuals who solve puzzles or brainteasers like the ones found in books on this list have a huge mental advantage of those who do not. Keeping your mind active may ward off mental illness, improve your quality of life, and allow you to think through problems and make optimal choices. All of the puzzles in this book are designed by a neuroscientist with the goal of stimulating neurons which restore and can even strengthen the brain. The puzzles are fun and exciting riddles, brainteasers, problems, and require different levels of decoding to solve each one. This book is a great one as a gift r for someone’s first puzzle book to develop their skills and wake up the brain again.
Brain Games #1: Lower Your Brain Age in Minutes a Day
This combination book of logic, math, sequencing, visual logic, language, cryptograms, crosswords, anagrams, and more puzzles really pushes variety to the max. Most of the other puzzles on this list aren’t very interactive in terms of putting pencil to the paper but this one has plenty of them. Solve anagrams, visual logic puzzles, crosswords, and more traditional logic puzzles within the 5 difficulty sections designed to work your brain. The author-Ph. D. duo that put together this book are both well known within the neuroscience community for developing programs to develop and exercise the mind. I recommend this puzzle for anyone who wants a huge range of puzzles to keep their mind busy – keep this one in the bathroom!
How to pick the best logic puzzle book for you
As I said earlier, the best logic puzzle books will vary from person to person. Books are great to keep in the car, around the house, on the coffee table, or give as gifts. For other alternatives to paper logic puzzles you could also check out apps and websites that regularly post logic puzzles of all sorts. This not only gives you access to unlimited puzzles every day, but they’re often free or very cheap and you don’t worry about using any paper or losing your books. Here are a few of my favorite sources:
- Mathisfun.com – Math and logic puzzles
- Braingle.com – Grid logic puzzles
- Logic-puzzles.org – Assortment of puzzles
Well, it was fun to write this article but I’ll have to let you go for now. The listed books are some of my favorite logic, and books in general out there right now so you can’t go wrong picking up one of these for yourself or giving one as a gift. Use this list of the best logic puzzle books out there to develop your mind and the minds of your loved ones.
Puzzle on!
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