Book Review: Bend Your Brain

I'd been meaning to post this review for awhile, but after my laptop conked out I forgot. Lol I requested a free copy of this book from a site I am a member of called Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

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What is it?

Bend Your Brain is the result of a collective effort by several puzzlers that combines visual perception, retention, critical thinking and coordination skills in a variety of 100+ puzzles meant to challenge and help strengthen the brain. Now I love brain challenges. I'm not often good at them lol, but I enjoy them nonetheless. I've been using a couple of daily brain training apps and they've both been a lot of fun for me, so when I joined Blogging for Books a few months ago and came across this book, I requested it immediately. I assumed I'd sail right through it, might have a few tough puzzles but otherwise figured it'd be pretty easy. Oh, ye of too much faith in oneself. LOL I horribly underestimated the level of difficulty of the book, and overestimated my brain power to the same degree. I wouldn't classify the majority of these exercises as being easy. Fun, yes. Maybe even a little frustrating, lol, and I have no shame in admitting that I felt like quite the fool after being unable to complete a few puzzles that I had previously underestimated as being easy.

 

 

What I liked about this book was how many different puzzles there were. I've learned through the different brain challenge apps that I have been using lately that there are so many ways to challenge your brain and its power. I still somehow wondered how 100+ puzzles in one book was somehow going to be educational, fun, challenging, and still hit different areas of the brain. This book accomplishes all four things. I also liked that the different parts of the book were categorized according to the skill that would be tested, which I think helps a lot if one is trying to strengthen a certain part of the mind. I liked that other ideas were given at the back of the book four different activities that strengthen the brain. Although many of the challenges in the book would not be suitable for younger children, like the trivia questions, these suggestions at the back of the book would be good options for parents trying to integrate some education into their child's games. It was helpful to include what skills each suggestion would test as well.

 

 

If I had a complaint with the book, I'd say to make the challenges easier, but that's frustration talking. Lol I'm really enjoying this book and have no complaints. Even the size and weight of the book are unimposing; I can easily drop this into my purse or laptop bag and for a book that said it had 100+ challenges, I was expecting something larger. I thought that the instructions for each puzzle were easy to understand, the light tone of the book fit right in with the puzzles, and the puzzles themselves were designed in a way that made the experience fun and educational, not boring.

 

 

Do I recommend this book?

 Not if you're in the market for something easy. I do recommend the book if you're in the mood for something challenging, you're a whiz at puzzles, or want something different to do in your free time. For my first experience with Blogging for Books, this was a pretty cool introduction. When my laptop is fixed, I'll update the post with some peeks at the challenges so you can see if this book is something you'd like. See you all soon!

 

 

My Rating: