Keep your brain young Increase your IQ for success in business, work & love The average God-given IQ of an adult is 150. The average effective (day-to-day) IQ is only 100-110. Medical science cannot yet increase the God-given IQ. However, we can increase the daily effective IQ by various mental activities among them puzzle solving. Put a puzzle in front of a child and watch what happens. It's amazing, really. With no explanation or modeling the child will simply get to work, taking the puzzle apart and putting it back together piece by piece. Children are like this. They run, they jump, they seek out challenges and new experiences, and teach themselves by being playful and curious. At some point though, it's hard to say exactly when, we stop playing. We exercise our bodies and our minds only when we have to, focusing on the results and dreading the process. I created this book of challenging puzzles to help adults return to that state of mind we generally associate with the very young: a place where learning is accomplished in a spirit of play, recreation, and adventure. I created this book because I believe that puzzles of all kinds, whether crosswords, anagrams, or Sudoku puzzles, can remind us to be curious and to see challenges as exciting rather than daunting. Though I've written many brain puzzles for children, this is specifically a book for those of us ages 18 and up. It's a book for the student seeking to improve his English or Math skills; as well as a book for the teacher trying to find new ways to connect her students with the material; or simply for the passenger on the bus; and anyone else who seeks entertaining ways to keep the mind moving and fit. After all, exercise isn't just about jumping jacks and free-weights. Both our bodies and our minds need and love exercise. Contrary to popular belief our brains are capable of growth (effective IQ) and change throughout our entire lives. It's easy to underestimate our minds, but so long as we are open to life-long learning as adults, our minds will continue to grow with us. Much has been made of the health benefits of doing complex puzzles. It's true that many studies have shown that individuals who regularly do crosswords and similar activities have improved memory, improved daily functioning, and less memory loss at advanced ages, as well as delayed onset and reduced risk of conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease. That's all wonderful, and is a large part of why I believe fun puzzles are so important, but people have been doing crosswords for far longer than doctors have been prescribing them. The reason for this is simple. We find them enjoyable. My hope for all those who read this book is foremost that you achieve your educational goals, whether you're trying to improve your spelling by decoding anagrams; sharpen your math skills with multiple operation problems; or hone your sense of detail and analysis by finding the difference between two images in a picture puzzle. But even more than this I hope that you become (if you are not already) a lover of puzzles, because to be a lover of puzzles is to be a lover of learning at any age. Go play.