To start things going, let's look at the different approaches that can be useful in solving puzzles.
First, the logical approach. Logic is always valuable, as it helps you work things out sequentially, using information received to progress step by step to the answer. In this book there are some puzzles in which logic is the perfect aid to finding the solution. As you might expect from its title, Computer
Patterns is one of these.
In problem solving, there may also be a need for an 'indirect' approach, whereby you arrive at an answer by perceiving and thinking about a subject in a way you have never done before. This depends on how you think normally, of course, and so for some people it may be helpful for certain puzzles, and for others for different ones.
The insight that leads you to an alternative way of solving the second part of Count the Cubes is a typical example.
The visual approach is also important, especially in this book because all the puzzles are presented in visual terms and require initial visual comprehension (or conceptualization) to be combined with understanding the text of the problem. This is an obvious requirement for puzzles of
shape and form, most particularly where shapes must be searched for, as in Hidden Shapes,

In general, the visual perception puzzlers in this book are of four types. They are concerned with:

1. distinguishing shapes (in 2 or 3 dimensions), especially where they have been broken up or dissected;
2. the orientation and reorientation of shapes;
3. comprehending changes in shape following specified transformations or changes in given circumstances,-
4. visualizing and conceptualizing shapes or patterns from linear information (such as plans or maps).

Examples of all four types are given on the following pages, together with the answers.

See if you can solve them first without looking at the answers - then go on to enjoy the rest of the book!