‘Beyond IQ’ by Garth Sundem

If you want to exercise your brain, crossword puzzles are better than Sudoku. Instead of playing the same computer game all the time, you should try a new one every week. This advice comes from Garth Sundem, who interviewed brain scientists and scoured studies in peer-reviewed journals to come up with the 62 tests in “Beyond IQ: Scientific Tools for Training Problem Solving, Intuition, Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, and More” (Three Rivers). The tests range from role-playing as MacGyver and analyzing the illogical quotes of world leaders to sorting ladybugs, writing limericks, and answering questions like “How is an old dog like a paper mill?”

JAN GARDNER