Here’s a list compiled by Holly Green, shared in an article for Forbes magazine.
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Earlier this year, I posted a blog entitled “Tease Your Brain.” It offered 10 brainteasers that showed how our preconceived notions, combined with the brain’s tendency to see what it wants or expects to see, greatly affect how we solve problems and make decisions.
To my amazement, it quickly became one of the most popular blogs I’ve ever posted in terms of the number of hits and reader comments. So in keeping with the Hollywood tradition of following up a huge hit with an even better sequel, here’s another round of brain teasers to test your wits.
1. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?
2. A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?
3. What is unusual about the following words: revive, banana, grammar, voodoo, assess, potato, dresser, uneven?
4. What makes this number unique — 8,549,176,320?
5. Put a coin into an empty bottle and insert a cork into the neck. How can you remove the coin without removing the cork or breaking the bottle?
6. Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12 rounds. (Pure boxing only – no kicking, UFC takedowns, or anything else). One of the boxers gets knocked out after only six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is this possible?
7. In 1990, a person is 15 years old. In 1995, that same person is 10 years old. How can this be?
8. A man takes his car to a hotel. Upon reaching the hotel, he is immediately declared bankrupt. Why?
9. What do these words have in common: polish, job, herb?
10. You’re standing in a hallway with three light switches on the wall, each of which turns on a different lamp inside a closed room. You can’t see inside the room, and you can’t open the door except to enter the room. You can enter the room only once, and when you do, all the lamps must be turned off. How can you tell which switch turns on which lamp?
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Ready for the answers?
1. The river was frozen.
2. An hourglass, with thousands of grains of sand.
3. Take the first letter of each word and place it at the end. It will spell the same word backwards.
4. It contains each number, zero through nine, in alphabetical order.
5. Push the cork down into the bottle. Then shake the coin out.
6. Both boxers are female.
7. The person was born in 2005 B.C.
8. The man is playing Monopoly. He lands on a property with a hotel and doesn’t have enough money to pay the rent.
9. All three words are pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized.
10. Turn on the right switch and leave it on for two minutes. After two minutes, turn on the middle switch and leave it on for one minute. When that minute is up, turn off both switches and enter the room. One light bulb will be hot (1st switch) and one will be warm (2nd switch). The cold bulb will correspond to the switch you didn’t turn on.
How many did you get right?
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In Holly’s own words:
“As CEO and Managing Director of The Human Factor, Inc. (www.TheHumanFactor.biz), I help business leaders and their companies achieve higher levels of performance and profitability. My unique approach to consulting — based on the approach Pause, Think, Focus, Run — provides the tools, techniques, and skills companies need to reach their destinations and achieve their strategic goals.”