#18: A.J. Jacobs, The Puzzler [JRI]

[kareila]

An author with a word game habit decides to write a book about all types of puzzles, from crosswords to puzzle boxes to jigsaws to Sudoku to ciphers to escape rooms. What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in enthusiasm. He visits Will Shortz and attends a National Puzzler's League convention. He manages to talk his family into representing the United States at the first ever World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Spain. He receives permission from the CIA to see Kryptos up close. He joins Setec Astronomy for the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt (the same one I attended). Each chapter dips briefly into the evolution of each type of puzzle discussed and gives both historical and current examples. It's an entertaining overview, and it ends with its own series of puzzles representing each chapter.