From: zorn@apple.com (Jed Hartman)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Situation Puzzles and "Creativity Games"
Keywords: situation puzzles, lateral thinking, creativity, textbook
Date: 14 Apr 92 00:39:08 GMT
Followup-To: zorn@apple.com
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA


   News on the search for the fabled Book Of Situation Puzzles (anyone
uninterested in such puzzles and uninterested in creativity games should
skip this article):


   First, thanks to Mike Reymond for the info on _Lateral Thinking Puzzles_.
I'm attempting to obtain a copy.


   Second, Jim Moskowitz found a book called _Math For Girls_ which referred
to a book called _Beyond the Easy Answer_, which appeared to be a book of
situation puzzles.  It's subtitled "Exploring New Perspectives through
Creative Problem-Solving Games."  Written by Richard Weintraub and Richard
Krieger, with illustrations by Peter Green.  Published in 1978; reprinted in
1979.  I wrote to the publisher, Zenger Publications, for more information.
They sent me a photocopy of the entire book, which is out of print.

   It has 35 situation puzzles in it, of which about four aren't on my
list.  Of those four, two are ridiculous pop-psych "puzzles," and two
are usable (and will probably be added to my list).
   But the book wasn't intended as just a list of puzzles.  It's presented
as a set of exercises to promote creative problem-solving; the problem with
it is that these puzzles are nothing of the sort.  They're "aha" riddles
(where you suddenly flash on the answer), like "This man's father is my
father's son" and "I can't operate on him!"; or they're purposely misleading
in wording ("afraid to go home"); or they're situation puzzles, in which you
pretty much have to build up a gradual picture of the situation through
questions.  They're not lateral-thinking puzzles in the sense of "you're
given this situation; now find a creative solution to the problem."  In that
kind of puzzle, there are no right answers (though some may be better
than others); but the puzzles in this book have definite intended "right"
answers (even though the authors carefully point out that there may be other
good solutions).  Also, in the suggested approach to using these puzzles,
there's no restriction on the kind of questions the guessers can ask;
clearly it's intended to be restricted (otherwise the guessers can just ask
"what's the situation?"), but the authors don't say so anywhere.

   The puzzles chosen would make a good start at an FAQ list for rec.puzzles
if the FAQ didn't already exist.  They've got one knights&knaves problem,
the slow race, several "where do the survivors get buried"-type items, "I
can't operate on him," identical-but-not-twins, "What color is the bear?",
the Sphinx riddle, "What's wrong with a coin dated 10 BC?", "How do you
cross a 10-foot-wide moat with 9-foot planks?", the smudge-on-the-forehead
puzzle, the "if you lie we'll hang you, but if you tell the truth we'll
shoot you" puzzle, and more.

   The book also has really dreadful "Follow-Up Activities" for the puzzles
-- for instance, in the followup to the "slow horse race" puzzle, it asks,
"Are there 'wise people' with whom you consult before making an important
decision?"  Such followup questions have a place in a reader or similar
texts, where some sort of personal experience is involved in what's being
followed up; but here I consider them ludicrous, like asking similar
followup questions to "story problems" in math class.

   The second section of the book, pretty much unrelated, looks like it might
be better -- it's called "Human Relations Games," and seems to be better
put-together for use in a classroom.  One question related to one of them:
"Did this game help you understand how important it is for us to be able
to ask questions and challenge the leader?"

   The third section, "Creativity," appears to have some vaguely-interesting
exercises in it.  (It also contains phrases like "Alex Osborn, the originator
of brainstorming, . . .")

   (Btw, Zenger Publications appears to be a textbook publisher.)

--jed

Jed Hartman    |"Others will fly in that tempting void that waits beyond
zorn@apple.com | the sky; / we'll control the lightning once again."
_______________|                          --Jean Stevenson, "Dedication"
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles