Puzzle Me Twice: 70 Simple Puzzles (Almost) Everyone Gets Wrong

Most people are fooled by these deceptive puzzles where the wrong answer seems so obviously right! Will you beat the odds?

From Alex Bellos—puzzle-setter to the Guardian—here are 70 irresistible challenges that have stumped the sharpest minds he knows, even when warned! For example, how many mistakes are there in the following sentence? This sentence is kurious because it

it only contayns three misteaks.*  Bellos wrangles math and physics, logic and wordplay, optical illusions, card games, and more to tie readers’ brains in pleasurable knots. These puzzles are quick to browse and simple to state, but look out: Each one has a right-looking wrong answer to lead you astray. Suitable for novice and “pro” puzzlers of all ages, Puzzle Me Twice is the perfect diversion for your brainiest friends. Being wrong has never been so much fun! — * There are five mistakes: Kurious, contayns, and misteaks are misspelled, the word it is repeated, and three is miscounted.

About the Author

Alex Bellos holds a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Oxford University. His bestselling books Here’s Looking at Euclid and The Grapes of Math have been translated into more than 20 languages and were both shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book prize. His puzzle books include Can You Solve My Problems?, Puzzle Ninja, Perilous Problems for Puzzle Lovers, and The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book, and he is also the coauthor of the coloring books Patterns of the Universe and Visions of the Universe. He has launched an elliptical pool table, LOOP. He writes a popular-math blog and a puzzle blog for the Guardian, and he won the Association of British Science Writers award for best science blog in 2016. He lives in London.