HomeEverything ElseMaster Sudoku: Step-by-Step Instructions for Players at All Levels |
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132 of 135 found the following review helpful:
Thorough Explanations for Solving Sudoku + Lots of Puzzles! Nov 01, 2005
By Colleen McMahon
""Omnivorous Reader""
If you travel around some of the online sudoku websites you hear a lot of esoteric-sounding solving techniques thrown around--x- and y-wings, forced chains, swordfish. I've read and re-read the explanations of these and still can't make sense of them.
So I bought this book, since it was advertised as one that will take your sudoku abilities to higher levels by providing detailed explanations of solving strategies.
I was a little disappointed that it doesn't venture all the way into the x- and y-wing/swordfish etc. realms becuase that was what I was most hoping to see explained. So if you are trying to progress to those levels of solving, this book won't help (and so far I haven't seen a book that does explain that stuff, it all seems to be online).
HOWEVER, if you are just starting out with sudoku or can easily solve the 1- or 2-star puzzles but get stuck on the more difficult ones, this is an excellent book. It walks you through an entire puzzle solution for each of the four levels of difficulty in the book, and although it went over techniques I had mostly figured out for myself, it did help me systematize them. For a beginner, or a beginner advancing to higher levels, I can't recommend this highly enough. If you are trying to reach the truly esoteric levels, that book is still not out there, or at least it's not this one.
And, having whetted your appetite by showing you how to solve the puzzles, the book provides 200 puzzles to play with. The paper is good quality and stands up to the inevitable erasing. My only complaint is that with a thicker book like this, it's a little awkward working on puzzles on the go, on the train or in the car. This book is one leave at home or at work where you can open it on a table or desk. (Tuck one of the thinner books or magazines in your car for portable puzzling!)
And Ms. Vorderman did something truly diabolical with the puzzles in this book--she included suggested solving times and point amounts for solving each puzzle in a particular time range. You score points for each puzzle depending on how long it takes you to solve it. This has added a whole new level to my addiction and makes even the easiest puzzles a real challenge as I try to beat my own times. The puzzles make this book worth a look by even experienced solvers who don't necessarily need the explanations of solving strategies.
In short, I definitely recommend this book, particularly to novice and intermediate sudoku fiends, but I'm still waiting for the explanation of the highest level solving strategies in a way that I can understand!
51 of 54 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent Guide! Sep 21, 2005
By M. J KILLEEN
I started doing Soduku puzzles while vacationing in the U.K. I picked up Carol's book for the plane ride back to America. I was already able to finish these puzzles, but the techniques presented in the book allowed me to do so much faster and more efficiently. The guide to super-difficult Soduku puzzles is a godsend.
40 of 42 found the following review helpful:
FINALLY!!! A Sudoku book that explains every level of difficulty! Sep 14, 2005
By Book Bum
This is my 13th Sudoku book... And it is the first one that includes complete step-by-step instructions and very specific tips on how to do every level of difficulty of Sudoku puzzles! This, alone, was well worth the price of the book!
30 of 31 found the following review helpful:
SUDOKU books keep getting better and better! Sep 30, 2005
By J. Guild
This is definitely the best of the Sudoku books I've come across yet.That is not to say the others aren't also very good,but this one has more puzzles,over 200;including easy,medium,difficult and super-difficult.Also included are the most extensive and detailed instructions and tips.The tips are given for each level of difficulty and therefore progress as one also progresses from the easy to the more difficult puzzles.Then at each level, Carol gives a complete step by step solution for a puzzle of that level.I don't want to give the impression that this book is any more complicated than others,just more detailed.It would be an excellent book for someone who is just getting started or who has been doing them for some time.
I'd just like to throw in a couple of other thoughts.I first started doing Sudokus in May of this year when I "found" them in a local "freebee" newspaper.The first thing I found was they were too small and the newsprint was poor to write on and erase.So,for what it's worth ,I made up a blank grid 4 1/2 X4 1/2
inches,making each cell 1/2 X 1/2 inch .I put 2 of them on a sheet of standard white paper 8 1/2 by 11,and made a bunch of copies.By the way,I used a heavier line for the outside edges and the edges of what Carol calls mini-grids or as I call them, blocks.Then, I transfer the numbers to my sheets to work on.I use a fairly bold marker to fill in the given numbers.A double check here ensures you haven't made a mistake copying the numbers.This emphasizing makes it easy to keep the rows,columns and mini-grids separated.
By marking in the "givens" boldly, it keeps them obvious from the "possibles" or "found" solutions.It also allows one to return to the book later and redo puzzles or to pass on to someone else.Another thing,I've found that a mechanical pencil,with its thin replaceable leads (no sharpening) and an "eraser pen" with a replaceable eraser is the best to work with.
Another different feature of this book is the bit about keeping score.Carol gives points for scoring times,which by the way, increases with the puzzle's level of difficulty.It might be fun to see how you've improved when you return to these same puzzles a few months later.Again,your times against yourself or Carol's suggested times.
You might want to check out the reviews I've written on other Sudoku books on Aug 3,(2 books),Aug 6 and Aug 10 of this year.
Good Sudokuing!!
P.S.
Carol has just published a new and better Sukodu book.See my review of November 16,2005.
25 of 26 found the following review helpful:
 Where's the beef? May 06, 2006
By Michael James
"Consumer of All Things"
I'm a new Sudoku learner and although I'm a pretty smart guy, this book isn't all that great. For instance, in the (mini) lesson on Medium difficulty puzzles, Vorderman brings up the logic rule she calls "the only one that fits." The explanation is insufficient, the example doesn't make sense. And then a few pages later, where she walks you through an entire puzzle to practice everything that you've just learned, the rule is never used!
The amount of tutorial material in this book is miniscule. (She probably could have written this in a day.) Lots of puzzles, but I wanted a tutorial book and this wasn't it.
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