Indeholder "Introduction by Libby Purvis", "Do you think you're clever?", "What happens when I drop an ant?", "Why is the pole vaulting world record about 6.5 metres and why can't it be broken?", "If you could go back in time to any period of history, when would it be and why?", "Are you cool?", "If there was an omnipotent god, would he be able to create a stone that he couldn't lift?", "Should someone sell their kidney?", "Is it moral to hook up a psychopath (whose only pleasure is killing) to a reality-simulating machine so that he can believe he is in the real world and kill as much as he likes?", "Should obese people have free NHS treatment?", "Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall?", "Why can't you light a candle in a spaceship?", "If I could fold this paper an infinite number of times, how many times must I fold it to reach the moon?", "Can history stop the next war?", "Where does honesty fit into law?", "What books are bad for you?", "What would happen if you drilled through the earth all the way to the other side and then jumped into the hole?", "Does a Girl Scout have a political agenda?", "What does it mean to be happy?", "Smith sees Jones walking towards a cliff. Smith knows Jones is blind but doesn't like him, so allows him to walk off the edge. Is this murder?", "How would you measure the weight of your own head?", "What is fate?", "How would you describe an apple?", "The stage : a platform for opinions or just entertainment - what are you thoughts?", "I am an oil baron in the desert and I need to deliver oil to four different towns which happen to lie on a straight line. I must visit each town in turn, returning to my oil tank between each visit. Where should I position my tank to drive the shortest possible distance? Roads are no problem, since I have sheikh friend who will build me as many roads as I like for free.", "Think of a painting of a tree. Is the tree real?", "Does a snail have a consciousness?", "Why is there salt in the sea?", "What is the point of using NHS money to keep old people alive?", "You have a 3-litre jug and a 5-litre jug. Make 4 litres.", "Was it fair that a woman's planning application for painting her door purple in a conservation area was declined?", "Do you think Chariman Mao would have been proud of the China of today?", "Why isn't there a global government?", "Is the Bible a fictional work? Could it be called chick lit?", "Is feminism dead?", "What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow?", "If you're not in California, how do you know it exists?", "When are people dead?", "Chekhov's great isn't he?", "What is the population of Croydon?", "Why are big, fierce animals so rare?", "Are there too many people in the world?", "How many animals did Moses take on the Ark?", "How many grains of sand are there in the world?", "Was Romeo impulsive?", "How would you describe a human to a person from Mars?", "What do you like most about the brain?", "Why do so few americans believe in evolution?", "How would you reduce crime through architecture?", "Would you say greed is good or bad?", "If my friend locks me in a room and says I am free to come out whenever I like as long as I pay 5 pound, is this a deprivation of liberty? ", "How would you travel through time?", "Can a computer have a conscience?", "What would happen if the Classics department burned down?", "Don't you think Hamlet is a bit long? Well I do.", "Is there such a thing as 'race'?", "Is nature natural?", "Is the environment a bigger crisis than poverty or AIDS?", "Why do the words 'God' and 'I' have capital letters?", "Is it more important to focus on poverty at home or poverty abroad?", "What makes you think I'm having thoughts?".

"Introduction by Libby Purvis" handler om ???
"Do you think you're clever?" handler om ???
"What happens when I drop an ant?" handler om ???
"Why is the pole vaulting world record about 6.5 metres and why can't it be broken?" handler om ???
"If you could go back in time to any period of history, when would it be and why?" handler om ???
"Are you cool?" handler om ???
"If there was an omnipotent god, would he be able to create a stone that he couldn't lift?" handler om ???
"Should someone sell their kidney?" handler om ???
"Is it moral to hook up a psychopath (whose only pleasure is killing) to a reality-simulating machine so that he can believe he is in the real world and kill as much as he likes?" handler om ???
"Should obese people have free NHS treatment?" handler om ???
"Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall?" handler om ???
"Why can't you light a candle in a spaceship?" handler om ???
"If I could fold this paper an infinite number of times, how many times must I fold it to reach the moon?" handler om ???
"Can history stop the next war?" handler om ???
"Where does honesty fit into law?" handler om ???
"What books are bad for you?" handler om ???
"What would happen if you drilled through the earth all the way to the other side and then jumped into the hole?" handler om ???
"Does a Girl Scout have a political agenda?" handler om ???
"What does it mean to be happy?" handler om ???
"Smith sees Jones walking towards a cliff. Smith knows Jones is blind but doesn't like him, so allows him to walk off the edge. Is this murder?" handler om ???
"How would you measure the weight of your own head?" handler om ???
"What is fate?" handler om ???
"How would you describe an apple?" handler om ???
"The stage : a platform for opinions or just entertainment - what are you thoughts?" handler om ???
"I am an oil baron in the desert and I need to deliver oil to four different towns which happen to lie on a straight line. I must visit each town in turn, returning to my oil tank between each visit. Where should I position my tank to drive the shortest possible distance? Roads are no problem, since I have sheikh friend who will build me as many roads as I like for free." handler om ???
"Think of a painting of a tree. Is the tree real?" handler om ???
"Does a snail have a consciousness?" handler om ???
"Why is there salt in the sea?" handler om ???
"What is the point of using NHS money to keep old people alive?" handler om ???
"You have a 3-litre jug and a 5-litre jug. Make 4 litres." handler om ???
"Was it fair that a woman's planning application for painting her door purple in a conservation area was declined?" handler om ???
"Do you think Chariman Mao would have been proud of the China of today?" handler om ???
"Why isn't there a global government?" handler om ???
"Is the Bible a fictional work? Could it be called chick lit?" handler om ???
"Is feminism dead?" handler om ???
"What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow?" handler om ???
"If you're not in California, how do you know it exists?" handler om ???
"When are people dead?" handler om ???
"Chekhov's great isn't he?" handler om ???
"What is the population of Croydon?" handler om ???
"Why are big, fierce animals so rare?" handler om ???
"Are there too many people in the world?" handler om ???
"How many animals did Moses take on the Ark?" handler om ???
"How many grains of sand are there in the world?" handler om ???
"Was Romeo impulsive?" handler om ???
"How would you describe a human to a person from Mars?" handler om ???
"What do you like most about the brain?" handler om ???
"Why do so few americans believe in evolution?" handler om ???
"How would you reduce crime through architecture?" handler om ???
"Would you say greed is good or bad?" handler om ???
"If my friend locks me in a room and says I am free to come out whenever I like as long as I pay 5 pound, is this a deprivation of liberty? " handler om ???
"How would you travel through time?" handler om ???
"Can a computer have a conscience?" handler om ???
"What would happen if the Classics department burned down?" handler om ???
"Don't you think Hamlet is a bit long? Well I do." handler om ???
"Is there such a thing as 'race'?" handler om ???
"Is nature natural?" handler om ???
"Is the environment a bigger crisis than poverty or AIDS?" handler om ???
"Why do the words 'God' and 'I' have capital letters?" handler om ???
"Is it more important to focus on poverty at home or poverty abroad?" handler om ???
"What makes you think I'm having thoughts?" handler om ???

Nogle tankevækkende spørgsmål, der har været brugt som en del af optagelsesprøven til Oxford og Cambridge. ( )

When entering either Cambridge or Oxford, a prospective student must have an oral interview where the examiners ask off-the-wall questions like "What percentage of the world's water is in cows?" or "How do you know I'm thinking thoughts?". This book is a listing of some questions with possible answers or ways of thinking about the question. I found it interesting, but only to a point. In a 2 to 3 page answer, I think he just barely scratched the surface most of the time. But still, entertaining and interesting. ( )

If this is what clever is then I guess I don't want to be clever. The questions proposed are interesting and could lead to an assortment of answers but in the majority of them the author ended up in a philosophical rant. Sometimes the answers were interesting and educational but mostly they were boring and predictable.

The point of the Oxbridge questions, as mentioned at the start of the book, are to provoke responses from people by putting them out of their normal frame of mind and gaining an insight into how they think. I would have much rather read good, and maybe some not so good, real responses given by people actually applying. Not answers from someone who's been able to sit and think and research each question before writing an answer.

An ok book that could have been much better. Thankfully I got it for cheap. ( )

Meh. The book purports to give answers to some of the trickier entrance exam questions at the UK's top universities. Initially I enjoyed seeing how the author tackles these questions, mapping potential directions, structuring his answers, larding them with a few historic quotes and dictionary definitions, and building up to the final flourish.
After a while, though, the mechanism becomes repetitive, and the reader will start spotting flaws in the author's logic or glaring gaps when certain obvious aspects are not being addressed in his replies. The questions aren't all as titillating as the one that made it to the book cover (for which the answer, unsurprisingly, is: "It depends what you define by clever". Yawn). The exhilarating ride that was promised quickly turns into the view of a flat landscape whizzing by, its dull features merging into one blurred impression. ( )

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 entry: this isn't it. The answers are rarely ones that someone without access to the Internet or previous knowledge of the topic could produce. ( )