My brother managed to figure it out, no books no cheating. He got so good at it (he was about 12 years old) that his best time was 1 minute 27 seconds. That’s getting close to those ‘That’s Incredible!’ dorks. You know, the same ones that had a PacMan / Defender competition on the show.
Lordy lordy…
“Well, roll me in eggs and flour and bake me for forty minutes!”
My calculus teacher once loaned me the book and I was able to solve it pretty easily after that 
Before owning the book, I would always buy a cube, after a few weeks decide it was a waste of money, lose it, and then a year or two later buy another one, decide it was a waste of money, lose it. . .
Well I’ve since lost the cube, but having solved it through the aid of the book, I no longer have the desire to waste my money on another one
“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight
Rubik’s Cube: Dismantle
Sliding Tiles: Dismantle
I can do the little golf tee puzzle you see in truckstops, though.
Funny you mention the Rubik’s cube because I saw one on sale the other day - used to be that you could not only buy the “original” but all the Taiwanese and Korean knock-offs too. Do kids still buy them? Or is the concept of a “non-video” game too bizarre?
I read the book and used to solve it pretty quickly. The Pyramid was much easier though, and I didn’t need the book for that one.
For those of you that read the book - do you agree that the worst part was “trying to mix it up again” enough so it wouldn’t be too easy to solve again?
I solved mine once. It took about three months. . .
But then, I knew a kid at school (don’t we all?) that could make the center square in each face a different color. Show-off.
– Sylence
And now, for my next trick, I will talk in spooky half-references.
Thanks, Satan! You made me snarf my popcorn!
I did solve it. But I read the book. Once you memorize the moves you barely even have to look at the cube.
Is that cheating?
I was the first in my class to have one. I could solve 2 sides at once but that was enough to make my classmates in awe of me.
My teacher, on the other hand, could solve it in less than 2 minutes. When I would give up trying to solve it I handed it over to him. I asked him how did did that, and he said, “I just analyzed it”. Oh.
MaryAnn
More woman than you’ll ever inflate!
Geez, and I thought I was the only sticker-peeler. Hated it! What about that stupid blue and white snake thingy? It wasn’t really a puzzle, I think you were just supposed to make designs and stuff with it. Once again…hated it!
“The world is not five hours old and evil has already entered it” - Aslan
The Magician’s Nephew
Anybody else remember Rubik’s Clock, where you had a bunch of clocks that all had to be set to 12? That was the only one I solved without a book–I had the book for Rubik’s Cube and Link (or whatever it was called).
You mean the Snake? It came in different colors (I have a light green/dark green one somewhere). I can still make: the ball, a cobra, a dog, a cross, I don’t remember what else we used to make out of them.
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.
I had one, and solved it with the book… then in 4th grade we had a “secret santa” thing at my school… we had to bring in a present worth around $5-10 and put them under the tree, then the teacher numbered them and we drew numbers to see who got what.
I didn’t have $5 and my mom wouldn’t fork over money for a gift, so I decided to wrap one of my own toys. I really liked my Rubik’s cube… (this was in their heyday) and figured that most kids would really love having one… so I wrapped it and took it to school. I didn’t know where the book was, so I couldn’t solve it first, so it was messed up.
Well David drew my number, and when he opened it, I held my breath. Instead of being happy, he started ranting to the whole class about what a lousy gift it was, how it wasn’t even new, etc. It was everything I could do to not cry.
The gift I got was a cheap address book.
>^,^<
“Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…”
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OK, I’ll gloat…
I solved it on my own, not reading any books. It took several months the first time, but eventually I could do it in under 3 minutes.
I eventually looked at a solution book, but I like my method better. I solve the corners first, then the top and bottom sides, then finally the middle ring. Not the fastest in time, because you have to think a bit, but I bet the number of moves is a lot less (just over a hundred, IIRC.
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
I was taught how to solve it over the summer and now do it whenever I’m bored. I have no life. 
I too managed to solve the cube without a cheat book. For those of you wondering how the heck it’s even possible, it works like this:
If you play with a cube long enough, eventually you figure out that there are patterns of moves that will move or rotate in place two pieces while leaving the rest of cube the way it was. Once you have a “collection” of memorized moves, you can shuffle the various pieces into place.
Now to be able to look at a completely scrambled cube, think a minute, and then go “clickity-click”, and do a time-reverse of scrambling the cube, THAT would require the hypothetical God’s Algorithm. To the best of my knowledge, no one’s come up with that yet; nor confirmed if the cube has a single “anti-state” that’s the maximum possible number of moves away from the start.