The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life
by A.J. Jacobs
updated 1d ago
by A.J. Jacobs
updated 1d ago
Psychologist Adam Grant uses a different schema in his bestseller Think Again. He categorizes thinkers into scientists, preachers, prosecutors, and politicians. Only one of them, the scientist, is open to changing her mind; the others are using motivated reasoning.
Eli added 4mo ago
After being rejected by more than a dozen toy companies—the major complaint was that the cube was too hard to solve—Ernő finally sold it to Ideal Toy Company.
Eli added 4mo ago
English, in short, is a total mess. This has a lot to do with its sloppy origins—a mishmash of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and words snatched from dozens of other languages. I have mixed feelings about
Eli added 4mo ago
“Essentially, there’s a universal way to model anything and to struggle through a solution for it, and then come up with rules of how to solve it,” says Jeff. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s dance, piano, making a sandwich, or learning how to walk.”
Eli added 4mo ago
have no moral problem with S&M, though I do find the prospect of it tiring. It involves too much equipment for me. It’s the same reason I don’t like skiing.
Eli added 4mo ago
The word “anagrams” itself is an anagram for “ars magna”—the “great art”—so there’s your proof right there.
Eli added 4mo ago
Puzzles came to the rescue. Will Shortz asked Ben—a lawyer who has written cryptograms for The Enigma—if he could hire him to create ciphers for the Times. “I felt like a winning lottery ticket landed in my lap,” Ben says. “I would have paid them!” (Ben tweets puzzle-related thoughts at @BenBassBeyond.)
Eli added 4mo ago
Maybe when walking down the street, we should picture what’s in front of us as a two-page spread in Where’s Waldo and just relish the hundreds of glorious details. Who knows what we’ll find?
Eli added 4mo ago
Consider Riddle Number 4. Based on the amount of bickering it has produced, it might qualify as the hardest riddle in history. Academics have proposed at least thirteen solutions, ranging from a bucket of water to the devil to a phallus (yes, again with the smut and horse-laughter). The riddle is on the next page, and the proposed solutions are on
... See moreEli added 4mo ago