Brain teasers & mind benders

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Martin Gardner

Paradoxes and paperfolding, moebius variations and mnemonics, fallacies, brain-teasers, magic squares, topological curiosities, probability and parlor tricks, and a variety of ancient and new games and problems, from polyominoes, nim, hex and the Tower of Hanoi to four-dimensional ticktacktoe. Together with mathematical commentaries by Mr. Gardner and addenda from readers of Scientific American. Plus bibliographies and, of course, solutions.

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Frederick Buechner

A novel inspired by events in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, from the second century B.C. This is the magical tale of two families brought together, as no mere coincidence, by the devilishly clever archangel Raphael. One is the family of Tobit, a virtuous man who can no longer support his wife and son because of Raguel, the quiet, devoted father of Sarah whose pact with the demon Asmodeus has left her life in tragic shambles. Assuming human form, Raphael appears before Tabias, Tobit's devoted son, to help him retrieve his father's fortune hidden in a faraway city. Together, they embark on a miraculous journey in search of the answers to both families' prayers—a journey that is made challenging and delightful by Raphael's artful efficiency.

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Tim Bugbird

Molly is famous for baking tasty muffins filled with juicy blueberries. But one day, things don't go according to plan! With every muffin ruined, Molly loses her temper and sparks a chain of events that no one could have imagined!

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Heather McDougal

"Elena Alkeson has been on the run for six years. Wanted by the fanatical Duke of Melifax for witchcraft, she is safe nowhere in Devien, as her gift for sensing impending disaster comes with a price: she can't keep her mouth shut. Until she meets Fen, who shares a similar gift: the gift of seeing inside mechanisms and knowing what they do. Elena and Fen must flee for their lives, going to the capital city of Helseve to seek asylum, and, perhaps, a life in which their gifts can be used for good. Amidst the machinery and brilliance of the Autumn Festival, Fen and Elena find friendship, danger, and some powerful allies. But Melifax and his sect, the dour Browns, are determined to bring the people of Devien into a new age, an age of moralism, conformity and mass production, ensuring that the beauty and pageantry of Devien and its Devices will be lost forever"--Page 4 of cover.