Paperback reviewL Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? By William Poundstone

Well, are you smart enough to work at Google?

Try these questions: If you were shrunk to the size of a penny and thrown in a blender how would you escape? What comes next in this series: SSS, SCC, C, SC? When there's a wind blowing, does a round-trip by plane take more or less time? Here, William Poundstone reveals some of the real interview questions that Google uses and explores the thinking behind them. With around 130 applicants for each job, it can afford to be choosy.

But it's not just Google that forces applicants through intellectual hoops: Poundstone describes how "supertough interview questions" are becoming mainstream as high unemployment compels employers to be "hyperselective". That makes this book, for all its entertaining puzzles, a rather depressing reflection on our current circumstances.