Minute Mystery: Library Shelving Puzzle

Bite-sized brain teaser to solve in a minute or less.

 

 

Library Shelving Puzzle

At the library, five books are placed on a shelf in a random order. Each book belongs to a different genre: Mystery, Romance, Fantasy, History, and Science Fiction.

Using the clues, can you determine the order of the books from left to right?

  1. The Romance book is immediately to the left of the History book.
  2. The Mystery book is two spots to the right of the Fantasy book.
  3. The Science Fiction book is not at either end of the shelf.
  4. The Fantasy book is at one of the ends.

 

 

Solution

  • From Clue 4, the Fantasy book must be at one of the ends, so either Position 1 or 5. From Clue 2, the Mystery book is to its right, so the Fantasy book has to be in the Position 1 - two spots to the left of the Mystery book, which would then be in Position 3.
  • From Clue 3, the Science Fiction book cannot be at the ends, so it must be in Position 2 or 4 (the Mystery book is in Position 3).
  • From Clue 1, the Romance book is immediately to the left of the History book. These two must occupy consecutive positions. Since Positions 1 and 3 are occupied by the Fantasy and Mystery books respectively, the remaining two consecutive spots would be Positions 4 and 5. So, given the Romance book is on the left, it would occupy Position 4 and the History book would occupy Position 5.
  • By the process of elimination, the Science Fiction book would be in Position 2.

Position

Book

1

Fantasy

2

Science Fiction

3

Mystery

4

Romance

5

History

 

 

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