부산대학교 도서관

In this Martin Gardner–like book, Sorenson (Washington Univ., St. Louis) offers some 180 very brief chapters on, as his subtitle indicates, "puzzles, oddities, riddles, and dilemmas." He embeds quiz questions in many of these chapters and provides solutions at the end of the book. The topics range widely, from logic, to linguistics, to epistemology, to mathematics, to word play, to cognitive psychology, and so forth. For example, Sorenson discusses paradoxes of confirmation, weakness of will, errors in reasoning that people naturally tend to make, possibilities and necessities, absences (such as silences, holes, and shadows), and many brain teasers (such as the surprise-quiz paradox). Here is an example of an amusing Sorenson quiz: Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th US president, succeeding Benjamin Harrison, so Cleveland succeeded his successor. What other president succeeded his successor? (Answer: Harrison!) Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.