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The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life
by
64/99
Critics
58/99
Readers
n/a
Scholars
50/99
Rating
77/99
Volume
41/99
Rating
76/99
Volume
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About This Book
The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world.What makes puzzles--jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus--so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they're among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A. J. Jacobs--four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder--set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik's Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world--including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America's top puzzle-makers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle that will earn the first reader to crack it a $10,000 prize*--The Puzzler will open readers' eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you're puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you'll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker--for these are certainly puzzling times.
Preview
Reviews
"a romp, both fun and funny."
"timely and entertaining ..."
"In a way, The Puzzler is a self-help book that assures us there's good reason to spend an hour in the bathtub with a pencil and a Sudoku or months fiddling with the world's largest Rubik's Cube (a task he farms out to a college student)."
"mainly shows that we make too much of puzzles as vehicles for our betterment."
"He makes us think without making a big deal about it, telling us what puzzling came to mean to him and inviting us to join him in his voyage of discovery."
"The inclusion of tools to crack the code to all sorts of puzzles, and a section of original work by famed puzzler Greg Pliska, only add to the infectious charm."
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