It’s the best book of riddles I have ever known. Less about jokes, zingers, and slap-yourself-in-the-head punch lines, The Lateral Logician is a collection of thinking problems with puzzles, clues, and solutions.

Here’s a bit from the introduction of this book:

“Edward de Bono first coined the phrase ‘lateral thinking’ to refer to a process of thinking that is different from the normal linear, or forward thinking to which we are accustomed. In traditional reasoning, we progress logically from one step to the next. However, in lateral thinking, you must deliberately abandon this process in order to eliminate inhibitions. You then try to solve the problems in different, random, or lateral ways.”

The Lateral Logician is actually three books of puzzles in one: Lateral Thinking Puzzlers, Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzlers, and Great Lateral Thinking Puzzlers.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers contains puzzlers that are fun challenges for small groups and many classic, old familiar riddles/puzzlers. The books are divided, not by riddles and answers, but into three very valuable sections to the facilitator of the puzzles: The Puzzlers, The Clues, and The Answers.

This particular layout not only prevents the reader from accidentally reading an answer upside-down (a technique rapidly developed in the eager puzzle reader) but allows the facilitator of the riddle to offer a physical option for students to read the puzzle and make sure the script can be followed word-for-word. Also, this layout prevents an easy-flipping to the answer page and requires a lot more reading and analysis to find the answer to a puzzle.

The Lateral Thinking Puzzlers section has, in order: Easy, Moderate, Historical, Difficult, and Fiendish Puzzlers. There are 18 Easy Puzzlers and four of my 10 most frequently used riddles come from this section. Here are many family friendly and witty puzzles but also the kind I find most students are familiar with. This section contains a lot of great warm-up riddles or riddles that can boost the confidence of a group struggling with a difficult puzzle.

For example: “A man in a restaurant complained that there was a fly in his cup of coffee. The waiter took the cup of coffee away and promised to bring a fresh cup of coffee. The waiter returned with a cup of coffee. The man tasted the coffee and complained that this was his original cup of coffee with the fly removed. He was correct, but how did he know?” 

It also has Historical Puzzlers based on true-life scenarios. It is great to present a way of lateral logic to events of real life, especially as the pre-adolescent brain is growing in its fascination of a larger world and a concept of history.

Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzlers

Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzlers has a range of puzzlers as well as ‘The WALLY’ Test (WALLY means World Association for Laughter, Learning, and Youth) which is a test of smack-yourself-in-the-head zingers, great for large group riddles like those we present during a meal.

Here’s a classic Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzle: “A farmer had 17 sheep. All but 9 died. How many did he have left?”. 

Great Lateral Thinking Puzzlers

Great Lateral Thinking Puzzlers contains a lot of strange-sounding situations mostly drawn from real-life. These are the puzzlers for staff and road trips with your friends and family, not so much for students in the 5th and 6th grade. A little more life experience is necessary to get these puzzlers – understanding how to drive, how to golf, time zones, the stock market – will help tackle these puzzlers. Also, there is an entertaining section of Grisly Puzzlers, dealing with crimes and bizarre deaths, great for your personal entertainment, less for the students under your care and influence. Try these:

“A man was slowly counting but unfortunately he miscounted. A little later he suffered a sharp pain in his back. Why?”

“Two nature lovers were walking in the country. They were keen on keeping the area natural and protecting the wildlife. One said to the other, “I was impressed by the way you hit that bird.” The second replied, “Yes, it was good, but not as good as that large bird you hit earlier.” What were they talking about?”  

So why is this book special?

Keeping this book as a part of my gear when working with students allows me to engage their critical thinking skills at a moment’s notice. As eleven year olds, their cognitive development is budding into abstract thinking, improving reasoning skills to develop hypotheses and they are increasingly able to see the world from various perspectives.

Drawing out these riddles in a small group setting allows those who are further developed to assist those who may be behind. I make them work together to collect evidence and collaborate on ideas. They are intrigued and entertained. And if one doesn’t work, there are so many more to pull from. And I never, ever tell them the answer.

…they usually figure it out.

At High Trails Outdoor Science School, we literally force our instructors to write about elementary outdoor education, teaching outside, learning outside, our dirty classroom (the forest…gosh), environmental science, outdoor science, and all other tree hugging student and kid loving things that keep us engaged, passionate, driven, loving our job, digging our life, and spreading the word to anyone whose attention we can hold for long enough to actually make it through reading this entire sentence. Whew…. www.dirtyclassroom.com