The Puzzler, AJ Jacobs

I read all of his books just because the subjects and themes he picks are interesting and different. He’s a devotee of all things puzzles (the cult of puzzlers as well) so it makes sense he’d pick this topic to write a book about. Life is a puzzle.. who you should marry? What job should you take? With those puzzles, it’s hard to know if you got the best answer. But with such puzzles as crosswords, there is only one correct answer. Visual puzzles encourage us to look more closely at the world and admire the details. The Puzzlers find that comforting. Puzzles cause the solver to experience a period of difficulty and struggle, followed by relief. They provide us with an aha moment. The tension leading to a pleasant ending Jacobs is thorough, he covers them all - crosswords, hiveminds, anagrams, ditloids, jigsaws, math and logic puzzles, cryptics, Japanese puzzle boxes, easy and difficult, historic, memorable… all and everything puzzles with examples, challenges of every kind. His advice on puzzles and life – don’t be furious, get curious…. on all life’s and societal problems, on parenting, on politics to health to romance to friendship.