The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube
AuthorJames G. Nourse
IllustratorDusan Krajan
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBantam Books
Publication date
June 1981
Media typePrint Paperback
Pages64
ISBN0-553-14017-5
OCLC7627746

The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube by James G. Nourse is a book that was published in 1981. The book explains how to solve the Rubik's Cube. The book became the best-selling book of 1981, selling 6,680,000 copies that year. It was the fastest-selling title in the 36-year history of Bantam Books.

Writing

Nourse wrote the book at the age of 33 while on the staff of the Chemistry Department at Stanford University.[1] Shortly before Christmas 1980 he bought a Rubik's Cube intending to give it away as a present.[2] Instead he spent the holiday season working out a solution (a "Layer by Layer" method), which he published as a 32-page pamphlet for the university bookstore.[2] It reached the hands of a publisher at Bantam who persuaded Nourse to expand the guide into a 64-page book.[2]

Publication

The book was published June 1981.[2] It became the best-selling book of 1981, selling 6,680,000 copies that year.[1] It was the fastest-selling title in the 36-year history of Bantam Books.[1]

In November 1981 Nourse published a sequel, The Simple Solutions to Cubic Puzzles, as an aid to the numerous puzzles that were spawned by the Cube-craze.[2]

Content

The book begins with a summary of the history of the development of the Rubik's cube by Ernö Rubik and apparently independently by Terutoshi Ishige. The James Nourse method has several features that distinguish it from others:

  • It is guaranteed to work
  • It offers clear and steady progress
  • It presents few and uncomplicated decisions
  • It allows for error
  • It features a low number of easy to memorize sequences of moves
  • It is independent of colour

The book's solution to the cube was considered to be one of the easiest, simplest, and most straightforward solutions to solving the cube.

Other Methods

Many later solutions to Rubik's Cube published on the internet seem to be based at least in part on the solution in this book.

The relatively few sequences one is required to memorize makes it one of the easiest solutions to remember — but this incurs the cost of a relatively high number of moves for a solution — about 100 moves average according to the book on page 54. The author claims he can solve random cube problems by this method in about 2 1/2 minutes (IBID p.54).

However, this ease and simplicity involves a tradeoff in that this solution takes longer than other solutions that are harder and more complex.[3]


Nomenclature

In his book, Nourse used an original notation different from that of David Singmaster, which was not yet widely known in 1981. What Nourse called T and B (for Top and Bottom), became popularly known as U and D (for Up and Down). To avoid single-letter ambiguity, the rear face is called Posterior, represented by P (although none of the algorithms presented in the book actually uses the posterior face in its move sequences).

Clockwise and counterclockwise moves are made explicit with + and − (instead of relying on primes to denote counterclockwise, and their absence to denote clockwise).

Thus, for example, Nourse gives the algorithm for rotating three corners of the bottom face anticlockwise (solving the position Lars Petrus named the "Sune"[4]) as follows:

 R− B− R+ B− R− B2 R+ B2

In Singmaster's notation, the same move sequence would be written: 

 R' D' R D' R' D2 R D2

Speed Cubing and Erata

The book mentions speed cubing on page 56 — citing the following times:

  • 20 minutes - whiz
  • 10 minutes - speed demon
  • 5 minutes - expert
  • 3 minutes - master of cube (M.C.)

Given the method requires an average of 100 moves for a solve (IBID p.54), this would be fairly reasonable for the time. However as better methods (i.e. more complex but faster), and better cubes have become available — in 2023 this would have to be revised:

  • 60 seconds - whiz
  • 40 seconds - speed demon
  • 15-25 seconds - expert
  • 3-5 seconds - world champion

The better methods allow solves in 50-70 moves, and optimal solutions exist at around 20 moves — this greatly improves the ability to solve a cube quickly independently of how dexterous a cuber may be.


Cube Games

The book ends with a section detailing various patterns one can create with the cube, including: Shooting Star, Boxes, spelling the words 'OHIO', and 'JACK', and a cubic alphabet to form 3x3 letters of the alphabet from A-Z. (IBID p.59)

HelpCard

The following HelpCard provides a one-page synopsis of the solution detailed in the book.

A one page solution to the rubik's cube.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hanauer, Joan (5 January 1982). "The man who wrote the best-selling book of 1981". United Press International.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Ray Walters (10 January 1982). "Paperback Talk". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ A Comparison of Various Methods
  4. ↑ "Sune". speedsolving.com.
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