Sherlock: The Puzzle Book by Christopher Maslanka and Steve Tribe
| Sherlock: The Puzzle Book by Christopher Maslanka and Steve Tribe | |
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| Category: Entertainment | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: A fiendish collection of brain-benders for fans of the BBC detective series. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 272 | Date: October 2017 |
| Publisher: BBC Books | |
| ISBN: 9781785943034 | |
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Who doesn't love a good puzzle, especially those really fiendish ones that get the brain working extra hard? There really is nothing to compare to that buzz we get from the Aha! moment, when everything falls into place and the solution reveals itself. If puzzles are your thing then you may wish to put your grey cells to the test with The Sherlock Puzzle Book, based on the popular TV series.
I'm a self-confessed puzzle addict, hooked from the moment that my dad bought me one of Raymond Smullyan's mind-bending logic books as a child. I love anything to do with logic and deduction; clever riddles and lateral-thinking teasers. The book had instant appeal, with the thought-provoking question on the cover: Can you think like Sherlock?
The layout of the book pays homage to the BBC series, with each chapter based on a particular episode of the show and laid out in chronological order. There are 20 questions in each chapter and they are a mixed bag; including anagrams, codes, riddles, rebus, logic, maths and trivia. Fans of the TV show should have an edge when it comes to the trivia questions, which I found quite tricky, it having been a while since I actually watched the episodes in question. It definitely helps to have some knowledge of the show and characters, even though not all questions require it.
The questions vary in difficulty from the relatively simple to the almost impossible. Each chapter has its own dedicated answer section, although I wish that the answers had been written 'out of order', as it was sometimes too easy to accidentally see the answer to the next question in the chapter.
The book is perfect for either reading alone or quizzing friends and I found it useful on a long car journey as a way of keeping the family entertained. By the end of the book, I deduced that I couldn't quite match Sherlock's amazing abilities of deduction, but I was proud of myself every time I managed to work out a particularly hard puzzle or riddle.
This is the ideal gift for fans of the TV show and puzzle lovers, as it offers a real challenge and hours of fun. Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy.
For those wishing to increase their brain power, we recommend How Puzzles Improve Your Brain: The Surprising Science of the Playful Brain by Richard Restak and Scott Kim and The All New University Challenge Quiz Book: Questions, Answers, Facts, Figures and everything in between by Steve Tribe.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Sherlock: The Puzzle Book by Christopher Maslanka and Steve Tribe at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Sherlock: The Puzzle Book by Christopher Maslanka and Steve Tribe at Amazon.com.
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