Bored and stuck at home? Check out CCPL’s recommendations for some great Puzzle books from Hoopla. These publications were chosen for their quality of content and accessibility in digital format – so you do not have to leave home to enjoy these great reads! 

Can You Solve My Problems? by Alex Bellos

Ingenious, Perplexing, and Totally Satisfying Math and Logic Puzzles

For daring puzzlers-an eBook of mind-bending conundrums handpicked by the pied piper of popular math Long before Sudoku swept the world, the Victorians puzzled over relationships (If two men each marry the other’s widowed mother, what is the relationship between their sons?), and the ancient Chinese favored counting challenges (If a cock costs 5 pieces, a hen 4 pieces, and a chick ¼ of a piece, how can you buy 100 total cocks, hens, and chicks with 100 pieces?). Some people may claim to “hate math”-but history is proof that everybody loves a good puzzle! From Alex Bellos, math writer extraordinaire and official puzzler to the Guardian, this is the ultimate compendium of math and logic brainteasers-packed with 125 questions, fun trivia, and (naturally!) answers in the back. Can you solve his problems?

The World’s Worst Crimes by Dr. Gareth Moore

A Collection of Enigmas to Puzzle Even the Greatest Detective of All

“My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.”-Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of the Four. Enter the thrilling and entertaining world of Sherlock Holmes and pit your wits against the fiendish and ingenious challenges he sets in this collection. Join his friend Dr Watson in attempting to solve more than 130 unique and gripping puzzle vignettes. Some involve riddles, some plays on words, and some rely on mathematical principles. Use your powers of logical deduction, and see if you can match the towering intellect of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective of them all.

10-Minute Brain Teasers by Dr. Gareth Moore

Brain-Training Tips, Logic Tests, and Puzzles to Exercise Your Mind

Part of the Brain Teasers series

Do you easily forget phone numbers or birthdays? Do you often lose your car keys? Are there times when you just can’t remember your bank card PIN? Do you lose focus at work by mid-afternoon?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you need to sharpen your mental reflexes, fire those synapses, and give your brain a good, hard, and fun workout! 10-Minute Brain Teasers provides practical and necessary advice on how to keep your brain in tip-top shape. From logic tests to word squares to Kakuro puzzles, this book has the essential brain teasers for keeping your gray matter healthy. If you are looking to be able to focus during those long meetings or you just want to keep your mind sharp, these puzzles will be sure to increase your brain efficiency while providing a ten-minute workout for your cognitive lobes. Like any workout, the brain teasers in this book start off slow and become increasingly challenging as you progress from simple memory tests to verbal-reasoning exercises. In the end, you’ll have a stronger, fitter mind-and you’ll have had fun in the process.

Brain Games by Allen Bragdon

Brain Teasers, Logic Tests, and Puzzles to Exercise Your Mind

Part of the Brain Teasers series

Worried your brain is slowing down a bit? Starting to forget names and numbers? Having trouble with basic math problems? With Brain Games: Brain Teasers, Logic Tests, and Puzzles to Exercise Your Mind, those worries will become a thing of the past. From your short- and long-term memory to your planning skills and ability to learn faster, Brain Games contains everything you need to get your brain back in shape in no time.

Packed with three month’s worth of crossword puzzles, over 180 performance tips, and an array of tests-covering spatial recognition, memory, language skills, math, and more-this game collection will make your brain the biggest, fastest, and brainiest around. This is the perfect book for anyone who sits down with The New York Times crossword puzzle in the morning, works through Sudoku and Kakuro puzzles on the way home, or simply loves logic.

75 Word Riddles by Will Shortz

Part of the Puzzlemaster Deck series

This deck, from acclaimed Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times and regular guest on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, are packed with 75 brainteasers and mindbenders, each designed to challenge puzzlers of all stripes. A perfect gift for puzzle enthusiasts of all ages who want to test their brainpower while standing in line, commuting to work, or hanging out with friends.

Mystifying Mathematical Puzzles by Joseph S. Madachy

Golden Spheres, Squared Eggs and Other Brainteasers

From brainteasers that any novice can figure out to complex problems involving number theory, this puzzle treasury offers a splendid variety of conundrums. Readers can follow the path of the bouncing billiard balls, search for the lost chord, size up golden spheres, calculate the number of squared eggs, and take on dozens of other imaginative challenges, including diabolic squares, flexagons, domino games, and geometric dissections. Assembled by Joseph S. Madachy, lead editor of the Journal of Recreational Mathematics, this collection features problems as well as classical puzzles, many of which offer fascinating insights into the nature of mathematics. Mystifying Mathematical Puzzles provides excellent entertainment for puzzle enthusiasts of every level and is ideal for home or classroom use. Complete solutions to all puzzles are included.

More Interesting Book of Puzzling Maths and Science

Not a bit like a typical puzzle book! For an enquiring mind, with an interest in science and mathematics, here is a treasure trove of delights from Philip Searle and son. Puzzles developed by enquiring children and adults for people like them. Not focusing on either science and mathematics gives the elbow room to look at things that curricula don’t cover. Some of the more than 75 puzzles in this wonderful book will be familiar friends, here presented in a lively fresh way for new readers. Many others will be new – there are hours of challenging fun to be had for anybody. Here are a few examples: What is the Mpemba effect? Discover the Carpet Fitter’s Problem Why are Roman clocks wrong? What is the ratio of the Earth to the Moon? How many times can you fold a piece of paper? How much would you ‘weigh’ in Space?

A perfect present for any young person interested in the world – aged 8 years and up – and there is much for anyone of any age! Ideal also for teachers and parents wanting to engage students less interested than they might be in these fascinating topics.

75 Verbal Challenges by Will Shortz

Part of the Puzzlemaster Deck series

This deck, from acclaimed Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times and regular guest on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, are packed with 75 brainteasers and mindbenders, each designed to challenge puzzlers of all stripes. A perfect gift for puzzle enthusiasts of all ages who want to test their brainpower while standing in line, commuting to work, or hanging out with friends.

Contemporary Brainteasers by Terry Stickels

Part of the Dover Recreational Math series

How many cards do I have to deal before I know for certain that you have a straight? If two typists can type two pages in two minutes, how many typists will it take to type 18 pages? How many days are in five million seconds? If you think these are good questions, this is the book for you! Over two hundred entertaining puzzles involving mathematical and mechanical calculations include challenges to your lateral thinking and logical reasoning. When your brain’s tired of being teased, you can consult the complete solutions.

Puzzles and Words by David Astle

A quirky dictionary and puzzle book in one pocket-sized volume. Word nerds and puzzle nuts welcome: this is a book to keep your mind tickled. With more than 400 word stories and 160 original brainteasers, this collection has something to keep all ages amused for hours. From agenda to zumba, it explains how words came to be, and it also offers puzzles such as anagram challenges, riddles, rhymes, and brain teasers.