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Cubed

The Puzzle of Us All

Erno Rubik

Flatiron Books

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ISBN10: 1250217776
ISBN13: 9781250217776

Hardcover

208 Pages

$25.99

CA$34.99

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Erno Rubik was a child when he first became obsessed with puzzles of all kinds. “Puzzles,” he writes, “bring out important qualities in each of us: concentration, curiosity, a sense of play, the eagerness to discover a solution.” To Rubik puzzles aren’t just games—they’re creativity machines. He encourages us to embrace our inner curiosity and find the puzzles that surround us in our everyday lives. “If you are determined, you will solve them,” he writes. Rubik’s own puzzle, the Cube, went on to be solved by millions worldwide for over forty years, become one of the bestselling toys of all time, and to be featured as a global symbol of intelligence and ingenuity.

In Cubed, Rubik covers more than just his journey to inventing his eponymous cube. He makes a case for always being an amateur—something he has always considered himself to be. He discusses the inevitability of problems during any act of invention. He reveals what it was like to experience the astonishing worldwide success of an object he made purely for his own play. And he offers what he thinks it means to be a true creator (hint: anyone can do it). Steeped in the wisdom and also the humility of a born inventor, Cubed offers a unique look at the imperfect science of creation.

Reviews

Praise for Cubed

"A playful examination of the process of invention."—Kirkus Reviews

"Hungarian architect and entrepreneur Rubik delivers a quirky memoir of a man and his eponymous creation . . . Describing his memoir as a 'meta' work, echoing the chaotic cube-solving experience itself, he reflects on the joys and challenges of design in general, and his eventual achievement, the Rubik’s Cube: 'Its core is like that of the earth’s, we’re drawn to it by gravity,' he writes. And as the Cube’s success proves, 'in the rare cases when the harmony of function and design miraculously come together, beauty is achieved.'"—Publishers Weekly

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

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INTRODUCTION

My official name is the Rubik’s Cube. “Cube Rubik” sounds more natural to me, but nobody has really asked me about my feelings. If I were of noble blood, you could call me the “Hungarian Magic Cube von Rubik,” but I’m...

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