How Would You Move Mount Fuji? - William Poundstone

Catchy title, ain’t it? Well the title is one reason I did pick up to see what the book is about… I know… I know… you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover… or the title for that matter. But that’s not what I am doing. Just saying that the title piqued my interest. Plus, there is also “How the world’s smartest companies select the most creative thinkers” as a subtitle on the cover, with Microsoft being referred to as a smart company (which I endorse whole heartedly, not getting into the debate of the quality of their software). And since I am an active member of the job market currently I had a somewhat personal interest in this book.

Having said that, I also loath the preachy self help books that teach you how to win friends, or how to get rich, or how to change the channel on the TV with the minimum effort. Thankfully, this book stays miles clear from being preachy. It is like a person who knows his stuff come and give his acquired knowledge to us in the 15-min coffee break. It educates, but does not bore; which is quite a task to achieve.

The book primarily focuses on the proliferation of puzzles in recruitment interviews, especially for the young, ready-to-take-on-the-world college pass outs. It covers pretty much all the aspects on the subject: the history of puzzles in interviews, the objective of puzzles, their effectiveness, ways to tackle them, and even what companies should do while using puzzles as a technique for hiring along with a handful of puzzles thrown in. None of the topics in the book make you feel like you have read a heavy duty chapter on “.Net” technology. And the tips in the book are actually quite practical.

But don’t read this book if you want a treasure of puzzles. There are a plenty of websites dedicated to them. The book is about a very narrow subject: “Puzzles in interviews”. But the audience for this book is not narrow. Obviously the kids who are gonna pass out of their colleges next term could make good use of the book. But you could read the book for plain fun and some pretty neat insights into the hiring practices in some companies. And by the way, to give the answer to the title puzzle, if you tried, you can move Mount Fuji in 30 million years, give or take a few million.

- Himanshu

PS: A little anecdote: A friend was interviewing candidates for a position in his company. He asked one candidate, “If you are in a race, and if you overtake the guy who is third, what position would you be in.” The candidate promptly said, “Second”… It took some time before the catch sunk into him and he sheepishly said while leaving the room, “That should be third, it was a trick question!”
A couple of candidates later, my friend asked the question, “If you are in a race, and if you overtake the guy who is SEVENTH, what position would you be in?” And the candidate blurted out, “Third…”