Welcome to Litsy!

We‘ll I‘m excited to start this but apparently my dog isn‘t as enthused 😂

A different kind of swimming today. At our local Lido (the only grade 1 listed pool in the UK). Hubby is in the pool with toddler. Kids are warming up with a bag of crisps. I‘ve got my wine sippy cup and kindle- this heaven will only last 5 seconds.

I am one of those creatures who enjoys puzzles - perhaps not as much as A. J. Jacobs - but I definitely get a lot of satisfaction out of a good logic puzzle. I love his gentle, and easy to read, exploration of the varieties of puzzles and games out there and how he indulges his own nerdiness. This is definitely not a deep dive, but rather a fun exploration of the many types of puzzle activities out there and the people who enjoy them.

This was a fun, engaging read. It‘s easy to write about puzzles and make them sound boring. Jacobs, with his light tone, does a good job of capturing what makes puzzles thrilling. A breezy read, with some not always so breezy puzzles included.
#catsoflitsy

#weirdwords spotted in the tagged book. This was in the section about anagrams. I had never heard of this word but I love its specificity. It hints at conflict and drama in the world of literary scholarship. Imagine the fights that occurred which made this word necessary!

Chorizont: A person who believes the The Odyssey and The Iliad were written by two different people. More generally, someone who challenges the authorship of a work.
@CBee

The Puzzler sees Jacobs tackling various puzzles, from jigsaws to cryptics to sudoku. He talks a bit about their history and tries to find the most challenging of each type. I love puzzles, but am not a fanatic, and found this incredibly engaging and entertaining. Plus, I found a new puzzle to delve into! (Star Battle, if you‘re curious.)

I have read all of Jacobs books and enjoyed them all. I think his first (The Know-it-All) is my personal favorite. This book took his love for puzzles and not only explained them but engaged them too. Reading it lead me to doing a couple of crosswords and sudokus. And overall I am enjoying puzzles more after reading this book. It is a good fun read. I enjoy Jacobs personality and find him easily likable.