Do You Think You're Clever?
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'As well as putting your most smug relatives to the test, this book is an entertaining way of encouraging unusual thought and debate' --The Oldie
'Test your knowledge and see where you rank in relation to the nation's elite with this light-hearted and informative quiz book. Featuring actual questions taken from undergraduate admissions interviews' --Woman and Home
"The book celebrates being 'clever' in its widest possible sense, championing the free thinker, the alternative, the individual, the power of deep thought." --Judges Comments, Society of Authors Education Award, 2010
"A great book to dip into...you can hardly stop yourself wanting to see the next question." --Evan Davis, BBC Radio 4, 'Today' Programme
"'Do You Think You're Clever?: The Oxbridge Questions', brings together the toughest, most esoteric examples of the genre, and writer John Farndon - a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge - sketches out winning responses to each." --Daily Telegraph
"immense fun to read and surprisingly inspirational." --Forlorn Hope, Ops-Centre --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
'Test your knowledge and see where you rank in relation to the nation's elite with this light-hearted and informative quiz book. Featuring actual questions taken from undergraduate admissions interviews' --Woman and Home
"The book celebrates being 'clever' in its widest possible sense, championing the free thinker, the alternative, the individual, the power of deep thought." --Judges Comments, Society of Authors Education Award, 2010
"A great book to dip into...you can hardly stop yourself wanting to see the next question." --Evan Davis, BBC Radio 4, 'Today' Programme
"'Do You Think You're Clever?: The Oxbridge Questions', brings together the toughest, most esoteric examples of the genre, and writer John Farndon - a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge - sketches out winning responses to each." --Daily Telegraph
"immense fun to read and surprisingly inspirational." --Forlorn Hope, Ops-Centre --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
Why can't you light a candle in a spaceship? What books are bad for you? Is nature natural? Every year the Oxford and Cambridge's learned professors pose such curious conundrums to potential students to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the clever from both of them. Deftly exploring the twisting paths your mind can take when you're really made to think , "Do You Think You're Clever?" provides dazzling answers to over 60 of these infamously perplexing problems. John Farndon takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride from philosophy to physics, literature to logarithms considering why the pole vaulting world record will never exceed 6.5m, whether there are too many people in the world, how to reduce crime through architecture, and much more. How would stand up against Oxbridge's sharpist minds? "Do You Think You're Clever" is a sparkling tour amid the heights of intellectual abstract thought. Imbibe slowly and give your neural networks the workout they crave.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
103 of 106 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There are a whole lot of guides for sale on how to get into Oxbridge, but this isn't really one of them. It's not that it won't help you, but it's a whole lot more entertaining than that.
There are a lot of myths about the Oxbridge entrance procedures, a lot of them true (somehow I made it into Cambridge, so I know). But the greatest myth is that the questions they ask are somehow impossibly esoteric and unanswerable. In truth, the questions they ask relate to the subjects they teach, and test not just intellectual rigour, but intellectual curiosity.
This book will appeal to the intellectually curious. The rigour is there in the hands of the author, who has covered an impressive amount of ground in researching and contemplating the answers to interview questions from across the spectrum of subjects. (A quick Amazon search, and you'll see he's pretty well qualified to do so.) For every question, taken from real interview, you get a quick few pages' worth of insight.
This is fun, just for the drama of seeing the question, thinking, "God, how would I answer that", and then rolling on to a reassuringly clear and well thought out response, and then wondering, "could I ever have come up with that?". Always interesting, always entertaining, this is highly recommended. (And a good gift for anyone who might be applying.)
There are a lot of myths about the Oxbridge entrance procedures, a lot of them true (somehow I made it into Cambridge, so I know). But the greatest myth is that the questions they ask are somehow impossibly esoteric and unanswerable. In truth, the questions they ask relate to the subjects they teach, and test not just intellectual rigour, but intellectual curiosity.
This book will appeal to the intellectually curious. The rigour is there in the hands of the author, who has covered an impressive amount of ground in researching and contemplating the answers to interview questions from across the spectrum of subjects. (A quick Amazon search, and you'll see he's pretty well qualified to do so.) For every question, taken from real interview, you get a quick few pages' worth of insight.
This is fun, just for the drama of seeing the question, thinking, "God, how would I answer that", and then rolling on to a reassuringly clear and well thought out response, and then wondering, "could I ever have come up with that?". Always interesting, always entertaining, this is highly recommended. (And a good gift for anyone who might be applying.)
56 of 62 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This isn't just a book for Oxbridge hopefuls. It's great for anyone with an inquiring mind who likes the idea of firing intelligent comebacks to some of the most bizarre, interesting, and loaded questions that the Varsity's finest have come up with.
There's lots of fun to be had posing the challenging questions to friends and seeing how they cope. And John Farndon's conversational, often humorous tone keeps the book light enough to hold your interest without losing any of its sharpness. Reading `Do You Think You're Clever?' made me think that if I could answer just one of the abstract questions even half as well as the author, then I'd be very pleased with myself - perhaps even smug enough to answer an immodest `yes' to the title question!
There's lots of fun to be had posing the challenging questions to friends and seeing how they cope. And John Farndon's conversational, often humorous tone keeps the book light enough to hold your interest without losing any of its sharpness. Reading `Do You Think You're Clever?' made me think that if I could answer just one of the abstract questions even half as well as the author, then I'd be very pleased with myself - perhaps even smug enough to answer an immodest `yes' to the title question!
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What inspires me about this book lies in its ability to halt the oncoming calculating and conditioned way of answering questions seen in GCSE and A-Level papers. It probably won't help you that much in terms of succeeding academically, not just because its answers are far too 'out-there' to provide these conditioned answers, but also because it is far too entertaining to be of genuine interview use! To be able to see the face of the interviewer whose prospective undergraduate receives the answer to "Are you cool?" of "I'm mildly tepid" (which Farden suggests in the conclusion to this question as an appropriate answer).
This book will appeal to those who think outside the box - i.e. those who have the intellectual curiosity which is so necessary to getting into Oxbridge. I would thoroughly recommend it as a gift for those applying: the author unpacks the questions to make them slightly more manageable, and slightly less daunting. John Farden also manages to capture what Oxbridge are really looking for in their student - they are not interested so much in what you have to say, but rather how you get about saying it. Farden manages to capture this in the way he answers the question. By reading his book, which is fundamentally about thinking in a different way to our mundane daily lives, the reader thinks in ways in which Farden does not - and so further capturing the aim of the book; we think beyond the ideas which are portrayed and so we become more aware about things we would not usually think of or contemplate.
Well done! A thoroughly interesting read.
This book will appeal to those who think outside the box - i.e. those who have the intellectual curiosity which is so necessary to getting into Oxbridge. I would thoroughly recommend it as a gift for those applying: the author unpacks the questions to make them slightly more manageable, and slightly less daunting. John Farden also manages to capture what Oxbridge are really looking for in their student - they are not interested so much in what you have to say, but rather how you get about saying it. Farden manages to capture this in the way he answers the question. By reading his book, which is fundamentally about thinking in a different way to our mundane daily lives, the reader thinks in ways in which Farden does not - and so further capturing the aim of the book; we think beyond the ideas which are portrayed and so we become more aware about things we would not usually think of or contemplate.
Well done! A thoroughly interesting read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
OUT OF TOUCH?
Reading this book brought back memories, but it doesn't very accurately reflects the questions most students are asked these days. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Paul Szegett
Not as advertised
This was described as a 'light hearted quiz book' It isn't. It is a series of essays answering the Oxbridge interview questions, that could not ever have been answered verbally in... Read more
Published 4 months ago by yggdrasil
A must must read for all potential applicants
FAST delivery, perfectly cushioned with bubble wraps, and the book is a definite must for all considering Oxbridge. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Fay
Well do you?
In this collection of seemingly impossible questions, John Farndon takes us through them as he sees them, but the main focus is on YOU trying to solve them, and what YOUR opinion... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Joe C. Blackburn
Science - beware..
I bought this to help advise students about the process of Oxbridge interviews. Although I found the approach interesting in the humanities questions (it would be an impressive... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Peter Webber
it's OK
It seems fine for humanities, but answers to sciences' questions have a fair number of errors and inaccuracies. Read more
Published 5 months ago by P.
Reminds me of the time when ...
.. in my own interview I was asked about what would happen if I made voodoo dolls of my two interviewers, burnt them, and then opened The Times obituary column a week later to read... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Study Shortcuts and Exam Tips from Oxford Grads
Somewhat engaging
This book has some interesting answers to questions that cover a reasonably wide range of topics.
However, if you're looking for a book to help you with your Oxbridge... Read more
However, if you're looking for a book to help you with your Oxbridge... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Greg Auger
Disappointing
A bunch of clever answers to Oxbridge interview questions; however they aren't particularly interesting or original answers. Read more
Published 13 months ago by J. PORTER
disappointing
Got this as a Christmas present by a well meaning husband who knows I like philosophical meanderings. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ichabod
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