If you can match minds with the greatest brains, then you have a chance of solving these puzzles. Try this one right now:
"A word 1 know.
Six letters it contains;
Subtract just one
And twelve, you'll find, remains."
If you can prove that six minus one equals twelve, you win the prize for smart thinking!
If you miss it, or any others in this book, all the answers are in the back. Great cartoons and illustrations will help and entertain, while your brain gets to work on these topnotch, tricky challenges.
Over the last two centuries, Ireland has produced some of the world’s most outstanding and best-loved poets, from Thomas Moore to W. B. Yeats to Seamus Heaney. This introduction not only provides an essential overview of the history and development of poetry in Ireland, but also offers new approaches to aspects of the field. Justin Quinn argues that the language issues of Irish poetry have been misconceived and re-examines the divide between Gaelic and Anglophone poetry.
Joseph Conrad is one of the most intriguing and important modernist novelists. His writing continues to preoccupy 21st-century readers. The rise of postcolonial studies has inspired new interest in Conrad's themes of travel, exploration, and racial and ethnic conflict. John Peters explains how these themes are explored in his major works, Nostromo, Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, as well as his short stories. He provides an essential overview of Conrad's fascinating life and career and his approach to writing and literature.
Long ago when people still lived in caves-perhaps at the same time when they developed habits that were different from those of other animals- humans began to practice ecology. They became keen observers of nature through such basic and instinctive actions as tracking both large wild animals and small prey, discerning edible plants from poisonous ones, and noting the time of year when different plants could be gathered. From necessity and inherent curiosity, humans began to learn about the relationships between living things and the environment.
Where did math come from? Who thought up all those algebra symbols, and why? What's the story behind ...negative numbers? ...the metric system? ...quadratic equations? ...sine and cosine? The 25 independent sketches in "Math through the Ages" answer these questions and many others in an informal, easygoing style that's accessible to teachers, students, and anyone who is curious about the history of mathematical ideas. Each sketch contains Questions and Projects to help you learn more about its topic and to see how its main ideas fit into the bigger picture of history.
