The Brain Explorer Puzzles, Riddles, Illusions, and Other Mental Adventures by Exploratorium Staff ISBN:  0805045384 (Softcover)

Having memory problems yourself?  Well, this book has some good tips on how to enhance your memory skills and your students'.  It's got tricks telling your students how to win at Hangman and new ways to play Tic-Tac-Toe that will really work the ol' noggin.  It also gives steps to use to work out logic puzzles.  There's lot of good info and puzzles in this unique book. 

As I read this book, I kept thinking that the activities would be great for a small group--either at home or at a homeschooling co-op.  I really see this book as full of activities for a group to get excited about.  I want to get this book out when we've got some friends over.  It would be fun to memorize some of the stuff in it so that I could amaze our friends on a game night or something.  Plus, with a lot of people involved, you would get a lot of different answers and wrong guesses which are always fun for a good-natured laugh.

Here's a funny joke included in the book to help us to learn to not assume anything when trying to figure sometime out:

Q:  A butcher is 43 years old and stands 6'2" tall.  What does he weigh?

A:  Since you have all the information you need to figure it out, I think should skip giving you the answer.

I think it would be a great book to go completely through if one of my kids were studying the structure of the brain in depth--like for biology or an anatomy and physiology class.  This book gives the practical side of studying the brain, so it would make a nice complement to the study of the physical workings of the brain.

So here's how the book is organized -- there's a short story board introduction telling the reader that they can explore the Caverns of Memory, the Forest of Hidden Surprises, or the Puzzle House--page numbers included.  At the beginning of each of these sections in the book, the reader is given a story board (sort of like a cartoon) selection of chapters to choose from.  Each of these sections is about 4-8 pages long.  If there was a *true* Table of Contents, it would look like this:
 
 

Caverns of Memory	Base Camp Lost and Found Combination Cave Cave Paintings Treasure Chest
Forest of Hidden Surprises	Moonstruck on the Mountain Jumping the Gap Leak Lake Grotto of Games Trickery Thicket Garden of Illusions Temple of Tan
Puzzle House	Plexer Studio Through the Trapdoor A Shift at the Snack Bar Mysteries in the Logic Lounge Book of Beginnings Playroom
Appendix 1	How to be a Good Puzzle and Problem Solver (this info is, of course, taught throughout the book)
Appendix 2	About Your Brain
Other Matter	Suggested Reading Index Thanks About Exploratorium

I think that the looking for faces section (Moonstruck on the Mountain) is a little pointless.  But that's just my opinion.  I just don't see the value, but then there's lots of stuff I don't understand.  I guess my reaction isn't too out of the ordinary.  When the Exploratorium folks were beta testing this book, they found that not everybody likes the same type of puzzles.  They say that we shouldn't be surprised by this.  Since there are a lot of different types of puzzles in this book, not liking a section or two won't make much of a difference.

Overall this book is full of surprises.  Over the years I've seen a lot of this info in different places at different times. But upon reading this book, I found there were plenty of new twists on older ideas, and that definitely kept the book interesting for me.  So most kids will find enough worthwhile activities and info in The Brain Explorer to keep them busy for a while.

If you're looking for a good supplement to a study of the brain or just a fun book that will give your student a good taste of problem solving and creative thinking, The Brain Explorer fits the bill.