Brain Teaser 3

Find 40 Books of the Bible

This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a Mr. Valdez Raburn, in an airplane seat pocket, while on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. John Hess, who owns a beauty salon in N.J., ere... MI? Ah, it was N.Y.! He found it tucked in one of his beauty magazines. He spent so much time on this puzzle while eating at the local Deli, Saia Hess, his ex-wife, had no choice but to buy out Hess’ salon! I answered quite a bit of email from people that have seen this puzzle. A famous comic, a hilarious musician, sent an email that he studied the puzzle while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor was so mesmerized by this puzzle, she wrote a poem telling people not to fall victim; “O thy hidden books, which fail to be found, I look so hard and futile, I cannot put this puzzle down!” She judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some books that are really easy to spot, others near impossible! In fact, some people will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to find some of them! At the worst, one should be able to find at least half of them. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books hidden in this paragraph. The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons, including Jude Raj, a local seminary professor. They agree this puzzle is one of the most difficult they have ever seen. Prof. Raj, on a Holy Bible, vowed to find all the books; rumor has it he’s still looking. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record in sales. At an auto auction, where one HEMI, ahead of all other vehicles sold, received a record bid due to the buyer preoccupied with this puzzle while bidding! As Daniel Sherman, a humble priest at St. Luke’s medical center puts it, “The books are all right here in plain view, hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown where the books are found. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their preceding numbers. Also, keep in mind two things, punctuation and spaces... some proclaim these two bad. I, ahead of the game, knew that spaces and punctuation in the middle of a book would be normal! A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim they can find the hidden books faster. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 40 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this text waiting to be found. God Bless and good luck!