Brain Games – Puzzles: Left Brain Right Brain

Caution may become habit forming!
I Love these games! I am addicted to figuring them out. My first book almost ticked me off because I felt like it was too hard, but then realized it’s meant to make you think! So I would read the directions and analyze it try it if I got stuck I erased and started over! Got easier! Some puzzles still puzzling to me but I work little by little sleep on it. Try again next day! (Truth…I do these in the bathroom in the morning, Lol) (TMI)

Brainy
The puzzles in some books ask you to match, connect, unscramble, identify, search or fill in blanks. These games are more challenging than tic-tac-toe or hangman, but generally are not a heavy lift intellectually – it’s more about seeing patterns by drawing on existing skills. The puzzles in this book are less games and more problems that need to be solved using a mix of right (visual, creativity) and left (language, reasoning) brain power. It’s a challenging collection of sequencing, attention, analysis, logic and creative thinking puzzles that simultaneously task both sides of your brain. These puzzles both draw on and expand your cognitive awareness whether or not you get to the answer.This is a well designed and illustrated book with interesting essays on brain capacity, memory, anatomy, exercise, health and function to introduce each puzzle section. The narratives explore where learning happens in this 3-pound organ composed of fat, water, neurons, blood and chemicals, but they can’t explain how. That mysterious process comes alive as you fire up your neurons, past and present memories, and plumb the depths of your knowledge to work through the puzzles – perhaps surprising yourself with how much you know and can accomplish. When stuck, there’s always the answer key in the back pages.We combined brain power and worked these pages as a family. A great team building and brain-building exercise.

Too many puzzles require visualization not writing. Not enough explanation or clear enough examples.
Most of the puzzles are more frustratingly challenging than fun. While the challenge is the point, I feel like there is a lot of unnecessary challenge introduced purely by insufficient instructions and vague examples. Many of the puzzles’ examples don’t make sense without referring to the answer key, which defeats the purpose of going through the book. Many of the puzzles also require either pure visualization or redrawing convoluted diagrams to match them up and solve (i.e., many puzzles are not suited for print and require an interactive interface such as a touch screen). I got this book to keep myself entertained with simple but challenging puzzles, and that’s not what I found. If you really like the challenge and working things out all by yourself with no guidance, it’s probably great. If you’re looking for a daily passtime over your morning coffee, this set of puzzles may not quite fit that need.Note: I have gotten other publications from this company and absolutely love them. This review is specific to this particular book.

LOVE the challenge!
If you played the early video game” Myst”, your brain is up to this level of puzzles. You have to use your brain. Thinking outside the box is helpful and having good pattern recognition is a real plus. This is the third Brain Game puzzle book I have purchased due to the quality of the puzzles . The most difficult puzzles for me in “Left Brain Right Brain” are the math ones….saving those for last. If you like seek word puzzles , get one of the Brain Game Puzzle books with only word puzzles. All Brain Game books are printed on good paper and are well bound. This is a quality product. I use the white spaces around the puzzles as a sort of journal . I date each page as I finish them and make a few remarks about that day. I do not throw them away when finished. They are that good. 🙂

This is a very nice book to go and train your brain.

Great puzzles but the spiral binding is a bit awkward.