Rating: 
Summary: A world where puzzles matter
Review: "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" is an easy, one-sitting kind of read. That is, unless you decide to try to solve all the puzzles in the book, in which case the time you will need to finish it will depend on your ability to solve puzzles (and your determination to maintain a normal life that is not overtaken by the need to solve every question).In essence, the book is separated into two parts. The first discusses the history of puzzles and their intellectual and academic standing. This section starts off by narrating the origin of puzzle-solving as a criterion for selecting people; then, it talks about how and why many companies use them in interviews. Mr. Poundstone talks about the general approaches to solving puzzles, and then closes on a note for employers on how to design puzzles that are useful. The second part of the book is the strict puzzle solving. The book has plenty of puzzles scattered through it and two chapters devoted solely to listing puzzles. From page 147 onwards, Mr. Poundstone discusses the puzzles he has listed and suggests thought processes about how to solve them. This exposition is more interesting than it sounds; for one, Mr. Poundstone explains his answers thoroughly; for another, he uncovers many layers of thinking, that show the complexity (and beauty) of the art of solving puzzles. "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" might give you a few tips and tricks, but is hardly a handbook of how to get the job of your dreams. Rather, it is an enjoyable book that will capture you in the world of puzzles for however long you decide to take to read through it.
Rating: 
Summary: awesome for people who love puzzles
Review: A book introduces you to a whole set of new and intriguing questions and problem solving techinques. Dont know how much it helps in the actual "Microsoft" interview but really gives an insight into the way the how few of the most creative people in the world at Microsoft think and solve problems. Great fun to go thru the whole book and just buy it for question bank and proposed solutions. Must buy for every computer programmer/software geek.
Rating:
Summary: If you are looking for answers, you are missing the point!
Review: As a Lead Software Architect, I have to interview candidates to join my technical team. This book seemed interesting from many different perspectives. William Poundstone is an author I have admired for many years, from his book on Philosophy - Labyrinths of Reason, to his biography of John Von Neuman in "Prisoner's Dilemma". So when I saw that he had written a book about Microsoft and their fabled interview technique, my interest was piqued. I actually got a lot more out of the book than I was expecting. If you are looking to read this book to get the answers to some challenging puzzle-type interview questions, than you are probably going to be a little disappointed, since the people interviewing you are going to be aware of this book and hence won't be asking you the same questions as covered in the book. But if you are looking to learn techniques that will help you perform better on puzzle type questions, then you can gain a lot from this book.
Poundstone covers a lot of ground; he tackles the history of interviewing for high tech companies, touching on the different types of high-pressure interviews that are employed in financials services as well as top notch software and consulting companies. He goes into the details of the fabled Microsoft interview as an example of some of toughest interview questions and the most high-pressure tactics. Challenging puzzles, and techniques to help you solve them are covered, but don't expect just to learn some answers to tough questions, be prepared to learn techniques to help you solve challenging puzzles. He does give people a peek behind the puzzle genre curtain, and explains the different types of puzzles and how to tackle them. Unless you are a puzzle buff, you are definitely going to be at disadvantage when it comes to these types of questions. The puzzles that use the concept of "truly logical beings" is probably the most baffling to most people. The type of puzzles that involve a structured answer to a very open ended question are also covered i.e. how would you move Mount Fuji, the insight that you don't need to know the details of Mount Fuji or have to know some trick to answer this question is an eye opener to most. The type of puzzle that involves a breakthrough of assumptions, and uses all the information provided to you, and nothing else is required will also give people some insight. Poundstone does cover a lot of ground in looking into Breakthrough thinking (if you are looking for a book that goes into more detail, Poundstone's bibliography includes a great book - "Eureka Effect" or "Archimedes in the Bathtub" - the same book; just different titles for the hardback and paperback; by David Perkins). This is a fascinating book, which will give interviewers insights into what kind of questions to ask, and why. It will also give prospective interviewees some of the background to the puzzle genre and help them tackle these puzzles on a equal footing with puzzle buffs. As stated in the subtitle, "Microsoft's Cult of Puzzle" this book also gives insights into Microsoft and looks at depth into why they employ the tactics that they do, and how this is part of the plan to look for the next "Bill Clone". An interesting aside is to think about if a 'Bill Clone' would even want to work for Microsoft. My guess is that he/she would probably want to setup up their own company to topple Microsoft. So employing tactics to try and find 'Bill Clones' is probably a waste of time, the best they will achieve are "Bill Wannabe's", which their type of interview will help find. You should probably read this book if you fall into one of the categories below: 1) Prospective interviewees for High Tech, consulting or financial services companies. It won't give you all the answers to memorize, but it will let you in on the puzzle genre and some of its 'rules".
2) Interviewers/HR - If you are looking to employ puzzles type questions to hire creative employees, this will give you some insights into what questions to use and why. There are probably better books on the intricacies of interviewing, but this will give you background needed to use puzzles in the interview process (if you work out that's what you need).
3) People interested in problem solving, puzzles and creativity. This covers a lot of ground in these areas and it gives you a few references for further reading. If you are just looking to get the answers to some puzzle questions, then you can find them in this book. But I am not sure this worth the price of the book. Unfortunately, I think there is going to be a large audience who fall into this category.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting, but not altogether relevant
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Job Seekers
Review: I am a great puzzle fan and that is why I bought this book after seeing it reviewed in one of my game and puzzle magazines. The book is much more than just puzzles. I loved the history of the IQ test and the interview hints. I just loved the book and couldn't put it down. I think that anyone facing a job interview should definitely read this book and am now recommending it to several people in this position. Of course, the puzzles were great fun, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Do NOT buy the Adobe digital copy of this book
Review: I bought a digital copy of this book and was hoping I could read it from my notebook. The problem is the stupid Adobe ebook can only be installed in one computer, and once the computer has problem, your book gone. The worse is after I tried to open this book after couple weeks, the stupid Adobe reader asked me to activate the software again, and even after I activated it, it still don't allow me to open it. A dialog box with message "Would you like to learn more about documents protected with Adobe DRM?" kept poping out. I have no idea why Adobe can sell such immatured software and why Amazon use such stupid software to hurt her customers???
Rating:
Summary: Depends on what you're looking for...
Review: I bought and read this book thinking it was focused on solving puzzles. Looking back it was probably my mistake. This book focuses mainly on the recent history of puzzles, and to an extent the merit of IQ tests. Focusing mainly on Microsoft, the book goes through their previous hiring rituals. There are few puzzles directly talked about in the book, most of which puzzle buffs will likely have come across in some form or another. Like I said, it's not a bad book, I finished in about 2 days, but don't expect too much material directly related to puzzle solving.
Rating:
Summary: A fun book that makes you think
Review: I found this book off the Movers and Shakers list one day, I read the sample pages and was immediately intrigued with the book. My excitement did not wain after the purchase. HWYMMF is filled with insightful questions along with an answer section that leaves you feeling like, " I should have thought of that". If you are a fan of puzzles, like to workout your brain, or just want to see how Microsoft interviews their potential candidates, then this is the book for you.
I had a chance recently to talk with some Microsoft employees, who admit that many of these questions are no longer used during the interviewing process.
Many of these questions can be found at the sellsbrothers website
Rating:
Summary: irrelevant
Review: I just finished interviewing at Microsoft. They do not use the brain teasers any more. So while the book may be "interesting", it's dated and irrelevant.
Rating:
Summary: Good potential - mediocre execution
Review: I liked 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji?' I really did - until about the middle of it. It starts with a very thorough and interesting survey of the history of the technical interview and continues to make a nice analysis of its purpose and several of the techniques used in conducting interviews. But that's where the good stuff ends.
A vast part of the book is dedicated to listing dozens of brainteasers of various levels of difficulty and describing their solution (sometime in an excruciating level of detail). This might be fun if you're a first-time riddle solver, but it has almost nothing to do with the topic of the book - how does Microsoft conduct their selection process.
I bought this book as part of trying to become a better technical interviewer. Not that I would ever use brainteasers in an interview (I think that's wrong for O so many reasons), but I wanted to get a deeper understanding of the way the people from Redmond do it. And that's exactly what I didn't get. Instead, I got a list of questions that, by publishing this book, became unusable even if I had intended to use riddles in my interviews. Besides, if you want to read sample interview questions asked at Microsoft, turn to Google.
So if a list of riddles is what you're after - go ahead and buy this book (although there are better brainteaser books out there). If you want to learn how to give or pass interviews, this book is not the one for you.
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