People speak through me, yet I do not make a sound. People can sell me, yet I have many clones. I can bring you laughter between breakfast and tea, Yet I can also break your heart easily. I cover the earth like trees of old, Whose leaves can blind and yet enfold.
A book. Authors can speak to you through a book, yet the book makes no sound. Books are sold and have many duplicate copies. A book can bring the reader to tears and laughter, they span the globe and the leaves of a book (a single sheet in a book is called a leaf) can get you wrapped up in the story that you’re unaware of what’s going on around you.
You are standing outside a closed door. On the other side of the door is a room that has three light bulbs in it. The room is completely sealed off from the outside. It has no windows and nothing can get in or out except through the door. On the outside of the room there are three light switches that control each of the respective light bulbs on the other side of the door.
Your assignment is to determine which light switch controls which light bulb. You are allowed to enter the room only once, and once you come out, you must be able to state with 100% certainty which light switch controls which light bulb.
Turn one light switch on, wait a few minutes, then turn it off and turn another light switch on. Go into the room and feel the light bulbs. The one that’s still warm is connected to the switch that you first turned on, the one that is on was the second switch you turned on, and the last bulb is controlled by the switch that you didn’t touch.
A potato. The roots growing out of a potato are called eyes, when you cut a potato in half it doesn’t produce any moisture and if you leave a poor potato to its own devices, it will die.
There once was a strange man who loved wordplay, he had a very important and successful business that would take insect shipments from all across the world and distribute them to zoos across the US.
Five kinds of flowers grow in separate gardens on five different streets. Here is what you know:
1. The Smiths do not grow violets. 2. The Morgans grow peonies and do not live on 2nd street. 3. The Parks live on 3rd street. 4. Begonias bloom on 4th street. 5. Roses do not grow on 5th street. 6. The Johnsons do not live on 1st street. 7. The Rosens do not grow daffodils 8. The Johnsons grow roses 9. Daffodils grow on 1st street
Which flowers grow on in whose gardens on what streets?
A variation of this brain teaser includes laser printers (they were invented by Gary Starkweather) and bulletproof vests (invented by Casimir Zeglen using silk, though modern vests use Kevlar, so it’s halfway right).