Carol Vorderman's Massive Book of Sudoku

As the 2nd. one of these, I am delighted with it.
Would be perfect if it was a spiral bound book though.
I like having the answers at the back, it does help you learn where you have gone wrong also.

Disappointing (1/1 people found this helpful)

Although I respect Carol Vorderman's experience and knowledge, I found this book well below my expectations. The descriptions of how to do Sudoku were very poor and unclear - and it turned out, not very helpful for a non-beginner of Sudoku. After finally understanding the descriptions came the realisation that I already undertook those tasks quite early on in Sudoku solving and found them to be pretty basic. Thus the tips suggested and undertaken by most Sudoku solvers are discovered through experience.
Secondly, I had to go to the Super-difficult Puzzles(starting at p301) to gain any sort of challenge whatsoever. Thus the first 300 puzzles were a waste. So in addition to the disappointing lack of challenge, this rendered the book rather expensive for the remaining 120 more challenging Sudoku puzzles. On a positive note, I found the "Sudoku 16 Puzzles" (those with numbers 1-16 to solve) more challenging and interesting.

Excellent (3/4 people found this helpful)

Liked the bigger cells so I can put pencil marks in and the paper is better quality so that the book doesn't get ruined. Really liked the customer reviews, could have done with some more to inspire me to do more SudokU. Liked the Squiffy Sudoko.. something different from other books and the 16 x 16. Could do with some letter puzzles as well and puzzles with symbols for a change to give more variety. Some people get fed up with numbers! Letter puzzles could also be good for vocab and general knowledge.

Though I like Sudoku and the logic I do miss learning something which crosswords have.. but I think this is a matter of time.. Would be good to have little numbers in it so I won't have to bother writing all those little numbers all the time! Would be nice to have a message board or something or website for those hooked on Sudoko who have read her books. Liked also Carols Timings but am not clear on the timings.. whether it starts after sticking the small numbers in or not. maybe I am daft but it takes time just sticking them in

Excellent Value for Money (7/7 people found this helpful)

It contains 420 hand-crafted puzzles, which were hand-crafted by Nikoli the Japanese Publisher who has been hand-crafting Sudoku for the Japanese for more than 20 years.

The book has also been very well laid out. One puzzle per page, which makes them big enough to put in pencil marks if required. There is an explanation of techniques for the total novice and, if the sudoku don't prove challenging enough, each puzzle page has a space for your time and score. The puzzles are also rated from easy to super-difficult and grouped accordingly.

Considering the price per puzzle from the best quality puzzle-maker available, this book represents excellent value for money and well worth buying.

As an experienced sudoku player, I was delighted with this book and use it regularly.

Excellent Value for Money (6/6 people found this helpful)

It goes from easy to super-difficult (although rating puzzles is a very difficult thing to achieve. As the book itself explains, the puzzles may be rated differently elswhere and they are). The puzzles are hand-crafted from the Japanese company Nikoli, who are very well known for sudoku in Japan and have been for 20 odd years. They provide puzzles to the Guardian newspaper in Britain, amongst others. This means that the puzzles in the Massive Book are very good quality puzzles indeed, crafted to a very high standard - elegant, symmetrical, only one solution per puzzle - and fiendishly cunning. I have done computer generated puzzles and the hand-crafted do 'feel' different although they are no less challenging and the solving skills required remain the same.

I like the way this book is laid out. Obviously some thought has been put into this. There is one puzzle per page, which I like, then the puzzles are grouped according to difficulty level, with the easy puzzles first and so on until, at the back, there are the 'squiffy' puzzles (you'd be surprised how much difference that makes!) and the 16 cell puzzles. The grids themselves are big enough to put small pencil marks into the cells, which is the advantage of having one puzzle per page and which I appreciate (it also means that the sight-challenged amongst us can join in the game too).

Carol gives hints and tips at the front of the book, just in case these are your first sudoku puzzles and I liked the emails from readers of her previous book at the back. The answers to every grid are provided, should they be required and Carol also gives space at the bottom of each grid to write in your time. She also gives an example time of how long each puzzle should take and a score, which can be filled in on the scoreboard provided - should you choose so to do, I don't.

Considering that this book contains 420 hand-crafted Nikoli puzzles for approximately £7.19 the book is certainly value for money - which is why I bought it - and although it is a massive book it's not too big for small hands like mine to hold. I'd like to see this and further books of this nature to be spiral bound because the spine of mine is taking a battering but other than that, I'd say buy the book it's fantastic!

Carol Vorderman's Massive Book of Sudoku

Carol Vorderman

Editorial Review:

Reader Reviews:

very good. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Disappointing (1/1 people found this helpful)

Excellent (3/4 people found this helpful)

Excellent Value for Money (7/7 people found this helpful)

Excellent Value for Money (6/6 people found this helpful)

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