| | |  | Job Search Books | Home » » How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers | | | | | | | Description: | | For years, Microsoft and other high-tech companies have been posing riddles and logic puzzles like these in their notoriously grueling job interviews. Now "puzzle interviews" have become a hot new trend in hiring. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, employers are using tough and tricky questions to gauge job candidates' intelligence, imagination, and problem-solving ability -- qualities needed to survive in today's hypercompetitive global marketplace. For the first time, William Poundstone reveals the toughest questions used at Microsoft and other Fortune 500 companies -- and supplies the answers. He traces the rise and controversial fall of employer-mandated IQ tests, the peculiar obsessions of Bill Gates (who plays jigsaw puzzles as a competitive sport), the sadistic mind games of Wall Street (which reportedly led one job seeker to smash a forty-third-story window), and the bizarre excesses of today's hiring managers (who may start off your interview with a box of Legos or a game of virtual Russian roulette). How Would You Move Mount Fuji? is an indispensable book for anyone in business. Managers seeking the most talented employees will learn to incorporate puzzle interviews in their search for the top candidates. Job seekers will discover how to tackle even the most brain-busting questions, and gain the advantage that could win the job of a lifetime. And anyone who has ever dreamed of going up against the best minds in business may discover that these puzzles are simply a lot of fun. Why are beer cans tapered on the end, anyway? | | | Features: | |
• Paperback with design of a puzzle
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| William Poundstone | | Paperback:
| 288 pages | | Publisher:
| Little, Brown and Company | | Publication Date:
| April 02, 2004 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0316778494 | | Product Length:
| 5.5 inches | | Product Width:
| 0.75 inches | | Product Height:
| 8.25 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.59 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.19 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.43 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.87 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.57 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 36 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 36 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 28 found the following review helpful:
 Intriguing, but incomplete.Oct 21, 2005
By Rolf Dobelli
"getAbstract"
We recommend this book to people trying to get hired at Microsoft or companies influenced by its hiring practices; people who want to think critically about how hiring practices work; and people who want to see how smart they are. The last group includes those who enjoy puzzles, and will relish the fun, challenging questions presented here. The book's core is a collection of entertaining brainteasers from job interviews. Given the high level of competition, most people who are trying to get hired at Microsoft probably need the edge it provides. Readers can work methodically through the questions, and the reasons behind them, to build a general approach for dealing with most puzzles. Readers who want to reflect on hiring practices - such as human resources personnel or scholars of corporate culture - will find the book intriguing but incomplete. Author William Poundstone is incredibly useful when discussing the gaps between what these questions do and what they are intended to do, but he delivers only quick sketches of explanations about how corporate culture retains these approaches despite their relative lack of function. His suggestions for alternative approaches are equally brief. Even after reading this entertaining book, readers are likely to find that perfecting their companies' interviewing processes will continue to be something of a puzzle.
20 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Microsoft is not doing it anymoreDec 13, 2005
By Joaquin A. Aguilar
I had my interview yesterday. Microsoft is no longer doing questions like the ones in this book. If you want this book to train for the interview you might want to get instead "Programming interview exposed". Other than that, the book is well written and has a good history of microsoft... No, they will not ask you anything about the history of MS
19 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Interesting, but not altogether relevantDec 15, 2004
By Christian Buckley
As someone currently interviewing at MS, I was interested in reading several of the books on the subject, and someone recommended this one. The content focus is spread between historical data on various management styles and use of puzzles in interviews, and many of the now famous brain-teasers once used at MS. This wasn't exactly what i was hoping to read - it would have been nice to get more of an insight into other aspects of their hiring practices, because puzzles are just one little piece of it.
I found a much better book for those keen on understand how MS managers think - epsecially when hiring: "The 12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management: How to Think and Act Like a Microsoft Manager and Take Your Company to the Top" by David Thielen, while positioned as a book for management in other companies, is actually a fantastic resource for people interviewing - or hoping to interview.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Not bad, but not as interesting as one might expectAug 29, 2005
By ServantofGod
A month ago a colleague of mine threw me two puzzles and asked me to finish it within 5 minutes. I got one right and one wrong. He told me that the puzzles came out of a book named "How would you move Mount Fuji?" "What an interesting puzzle book!" I thought to myself and urged him to lend it to me. So I read it and am now writing this review.
Unexpectedly, this book is more than only puzzles, but recruitment process and strategies of Microsoft which used puzzles extensively in job interviews. However, puzzle fans need not be disappointed because answers to puzzles or actually "means to reply interview questions logically" still occupy page 147-244 of this 244 page content book.
Though I am not a true enthusiast of puzzles, I still think this book is quite an interesting read if you have the leisure, or the desire to prepare yourself for a job interview in Microsoft or equivalent. Anyway, below please find some puzzles in it for your consideration:-
How would you weigh a jet plane without using scales?
Why are manhole covers round rather than square?
Why do mirrors reverse right and left rather than up and down?
How do they make M&M's?
How many piano tuners are there in the world?
How would you design Bill Gate's bathroom?
How would you test a saltshaker/toaster/elevator/kettle?
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Excellent set of puzzlesJul 06, 2006
By K. Scott Proctor
This book provides a good assortment of intellectual "puzzles" in the context of interview questions utilized in technical, financial and consulting interviews. The puzzles range from straightforward to challenging in terms of their level of difficulty.
For those individuals interested in a compact, well-written and interesting book that sheds some light on the role of puzzles in today's working world, this book offers a compelling read.
See all 36 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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