Mensa Think Smart Book

MENSA THINK-SMART BO by Abbie F. Salny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To read more reviews check out: Reviews by Shuvam
1. Introduction:

Mensa is an international organization of high IQ people. Originating from England, it has spread across 100 countries, which also include India where I live. Under this impression, I picked up this book. I wasn’t hoping much from a small 128-page book read, but what I found is a profound knowledge that I can utilize everywhere. The question is how this book fairs from all perspective? Before I begin, a brief about the book: It was published by the Harper-Collins publisher and the book which I read was published in 1986.

2. Central Theme:

The book revolves around the subject of intelligence, such as mathematical ability and verbal skills. The subject matter discussed varies in nature, yet they all are relevant as they sum up to make the overall IQ of a person. Each aspect of one’s intelligence is dealt in small bits of the chapter. This makes it reader-friendly as you will be able to absorb new information in a human manner.

In the initial two chapters, the book describes what is Mensa and the history of Mensa. Then, it proceeds to the main topic in 8 chapters. These chapters agenda consist of core information, followed by many mind-boggling puzzles to solve. The last two chapters consist of a list of puzzles which simulate the standard IQ test conducted by Mensa.

3. Pros:

What I enjoyed about this book is that it is a small read and hence anyone can follow through this book and learn a few fine methods to improve one’s memory. In fact, the 10th chapter “The psychopracticality of everyday life” describes how to use this newly gained information in everyday life. In the meanwhile, it throws light on some of the practical skills such as lateral thinking and cryptography.

4. Cons:

Many times, the author uses Mensa specific examples and tools to explain a certain aspect of information. While puzzles may be okay, the repetition about Mensa while describing something, can feel a bit intimidating to non-members. Also, the puzzles do not come graded according to the level which you will find in other puzzle books, so that can make it difficult for you to gauze your intelligence.

5. Conclusion:

The book is a nice read if you want to learn in brief about how our brain works and how to make optimum use of it. I would recommend this to every reader as it is applicable to everyone. In case, you have already read a great deal on this subject then you might not find anything new as you might have come across a few of the techniques in other books.