At Google Inc., interviewers might ask you to cite the world’s most beautiful equation*. JP Morgan Chase & Co. may expect you to recite the value of pi in more than six digits. And the folks at Amazon.com Inc. might ask what you would charge to wash all the windows in Seattle.

    This is just a sample of the questions, logic puzzles* and riddles packed into William Poundstone’s funny and sometimes creepy* guide to interviewing, “Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? Trick Questions, Zen-like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You Need to Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy.”

    Interviewers today are no longer wowed* by a strong curriculum vitae*, a Harvard diploma* and a clever answer to the now-familiar poser*, “Why are manhole covers round?”

    At AT&T Inc., Poundstone says, applicants are asked what superhero they would choose to be. Morgan Stanley sometimes requests the square root of 0.01. Many questions amount to screening: Apple Inc., for example, may ask, “What happened in 2001?” No points for saying 9/11; we’re talking about the year the iPod was introduced.

    The book addresses a wide audience. For those in the job market, Poundstone provides a handy survey* of killer questions and how to answer them. For others, he offers the challenge of matching wits* with people at America’s most innovative companies. As for employers, he presents a warning about creative thinking and why job interviews don’t work.(SD-Agencies)