Lateral - Based on the Hit Podcast: Wonderful Answers to Weird Questions

The first book based on Tom Scott's hit podcast, LATERAL!

This massive collection of lateral thinking puzzles features 100 questions (40 chosen from the best of Tom Scott’s popular LATERAL podcast, 60 that are brand-new) and 20 warm-up brainteasers, all featuring real-world scenarios with unexpected, fascinating answers. Questions are presented with some helpful suggestions to help you get your thoughts moving in the right direction—but even if you don’t solve the puzzle, reading the solution lets you share in the “aha!” moment, accompanied by fun supplementary details and extra commentary. For example, here's one question: In 1998, many of the people who bought tickets to the Brad Pitt movie Meet Joe Black walked out of theaters before the film even began. Why? The answer: Because they’d only come to watch the trailer for Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Reportedly, some cinemas promised to play the trailer a second time at the end of the movie to encourage Star Wars fans to stick around.