From ancient riddles to modern Sudoku, people have been fascinated by puzzles. Whether they are seen as a glorious waste of time, a harmless way to spend a train journey or a valuable way of exercising the mind, the lure of puzzles has been irresistible.By using over a hundred of examples of the most mindbending, the most challenging, the most satisfying, or simply the most humorous of puzzles throughout the ages, William Hartston traces the development of brainteasers of all varieties and the increasing ingenuity of puzzle setters from ancient civilisations to modern puzzle crazes.

William Hartston is a Cambridge-educated mathematician, an international chess master and the author of The Things That Nobody Knows and Even More Things That Nobody Knows. He now writes the off-beat Beachcomber column for the Daily Express and is a viewer on Channel 4's Gogglebox.