I've always enjoyed AJ Jacobs's books, and this one is no different. Fun to read, informative on the history of various puzzles, plus plenty of puzzles for the reader to do themselves.

A. J. Jacobs is so fun to read, especially outloud. Another great foray into the realm of the enthusiast - and so compelling that I'm inspired to attend the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Spain after reading it.

I always love AJ Jacobs' witty, sarcastic writing style, and The Puzzler is no exception. Jacobs explores the world of puzzles, from different types to history, and manages to cover a lot of ground in the variety of the challenges he takes on: from Sudoku, to jigsaws, to escape rooms, to riddles and brainteasers. As a bonus, he includes a ton of original puzzles for you to try your hand at solving - and there is a contest where you can win $10,000 by being the first to solve all the puzzles in the book, which lead you to a mega puzzle! Highly recommend this to anyone who loves an escape room or puzzles of any kind.

Although puzzles in general stress me out, I love reading about other people solving them. Moonwalking with Einstein, and Crossworld both gave me the thrill of participating with experts without the fear of losing.
The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs takes a different approach but makes if fun for expert and novice alike. Giving his readers a personal account of his experience with mental challenges as diverse as crossword puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku and anagrams, Jacobs brings such enthusiasm to his reporting that the reader can’t help but have fun, no matter how skilled he might be. There is a chapter for each type of puzzle, and it contains rules, history and trivia with lots of examples to test your mettle and answers in the back to check your work. The best part of each chapter, however, is Jacob’s enthusiasm for his subject. I love reading about all the experts he tracks down for interviews and all the hints he wheedles out of them. And then there are the personal anecdotes he weaves in, recounting times when his wife or sons collaborated with him to solve a challenge, whether in his living room or a competition in Spain.
The best part of the book is tied up in the quote he shares with his readers, “Be curious, not furious.” Keep learning and enjoy the process. A great motto for Life in general, even for a non-puzzler like me.

I've loved every one of A.J. Jacobs's books so I was excited to get this ARC. I really enjoy the New York Times Crosswords so that section was my favorite, but I really enjoyed the whole book. If you liked Jacobs' earlier books, this will be another one to pick up.

Once again AJ Jacobs has written a fun and remarkably relatable book about a subject that I never thought I would be interested in.

I have always been fascinated with puzzles of all kinds, Jacobs presents an interesting insight into a variety of puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, etc.) and the obsession some people have with these mind bending activities.
Along with the history and descriptions of the puzzles, Jacobs includes a number of headache inducing puzzles to challenge your minds and to be “curious not furious” while solving.

Full disclosure: I love puzzles.

Specifically, I love crossword puzzles. As a bit of a word nerd, I love the process of working my way through a crossword, bringing together bits of trivia and deft wordplay to steadily fill in that black and white grid. I am a cruciverbalist at heart.

But puzzling is far more than just crossword puzzles. The world is filled with different sorts of puzzles – riddles and ciphers, cryptics and jigsaws and Rubik’s Cubes, chess problems and Sudoku grids – all with enthusiastic fans devoting their free time to discerning solutions.

A.J Jacobs loves puzzles too. So much so, in fact that he has written a whole book about them and the people who love them.

“The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life” is a fascinating journey through the puzzling world, a look at the many different varieties of puzzle and the people whose lives are shaped by them. All of it viewed through the eyes of one very dedicated – and very talented – chronicler.

Jacobs connects with iconic figures from the puzzling realm. He travels the globe, meeting legendary puzzlemakers and competing against some of the most gifted solvers in the world. And he digs into what it means to solve a puzzle, why we as humans are so fascinated with pushing ourselves toward difficult solutions, deriving pleasure from the intellectual pain.

Each chapter of the book is devoted to a different kind of puzzle. But while these puzzles might be wildly different from one another – as are the people who solve them – they all share that aspirational, inspirational quality. They want to be solved and we want to solve them, finding a singular solution in a world that sometimes feels a bit too crowded with gray areas.

He starts with his first love – crossword puzzles. His fascination with the form began at a young age; he comes from a family of puzzlers (there’s a lovely anecdote about how crosswords played into his parents’ relationship when they were separated by distance) and has long been a devotee.

A self-described word nerd, we venture down a variety of word puzzle paths alongside him over the course of the book. He digs into the verbal scramblings that are anagrams and the too-rich-for-my-blood crossover complexity of cryptics. Extending the word nerdery a bit further, we get chapters on riddles and ciphers as well.

But puzzles are more than words.

There are a couple of chapters that focus on mechanical puzzles. We spend some times with the foremost practitioners of the Rubik’s Cube, both the traditional cube and the Frankensteinian evolution of the puzzle, with 12-sided “cubes” and cubes whose sides change color as you solve them. He also spends a lot of time on Japanese puzzle boxes, a world with which I was unfamiliar, but that is absolutely saturated with brilliant craftspeople who have dedicated their lives toward the construction of meticulous and delicate boxes intended to please aesthetically as much as they do intellectually.

You might think of jigsaw puzzles and mazes as mere kid stuff, but those genres too have their makers who are as dedicated to the fiendish difficulty of their craft as any. Even Jacobs concedes he started off as a jigsaw snob before learning just how challenging they can be.

And on and on we go. Jacobs meets with Garry Kasparov to discuss the world of chess problems, one only tangentially connected to the games as it is meant to be played. He signs up for the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship with his family; they end up as the U.S. team. He takes on the legendary Kryptos, a sculpture puzzle located at CIA headquarters in Langley that has yet to be solved in 32 years. He takes part in the MIT Puzzle Hunt, a puzzle-based scavenger hunt so fiendishly difficult that participating teams enlist as many as 50 people to take part.

(One of my favorite chapters is the one simply titled “Infinite Puzzles.” I’m not going to tell you anything else because with a chapter heading like that, I don’t need to.)

And interspersed throughout – puzzles. What? You didn’t think someone would write a book about puzzles and not include puzzles, did you?

Some of the puzzles are pulled from history, offering a chance to see how various types have evolved over the years. Others are original to the book, with Jacobs teaming up with master puzzlemaker Greg Plishka to build a number of unique puzzles for readers to enjoy.

And then, of course, there’s the big one.

See, Jacobs – drawing inspiration from the 1979 book “Masquerade,” which contained puzzles that led to a golden rabbit statue that had been buried somewhere in Britain by author Kit Williams – has put a treasure hunt of his own in the pages of “The Puzzler.”

Beginning on May 3, a series of puzzles will be released on www.thepuzzlerbook.com. Those puzzles can only be accessed if you discern the clue hidden within the book’s introduction. It should be noted that the intro is free to access at the website – no purchase is necessary to play.

“The Puzzler” is an exceptional work of stunt nonfiction, a book wherein the author has placed themselves at the center of the story. It’s a continuation of the long history of participatory journalism – one in which Jacobs has already distinguished himself with earlier works such as the best-selling “The Year of Living Biblically.”

But while there’s a gimmickry at play here, the book doesn’t feel reliant on the gimmick. This is not a stunt for stunt’s sake. Jacobs is palpably passionate about his subject matter here, making his presence within the narrative not just acceptable but welcome. It’s impossible not to be swept up in his love of puzzles; we can’t help but experience that joy vicariously through him. And again, it doesn’t hurt that he’s given us plenty of ways to play along.

Indeed, it is the elements of memoir that elevate this book. By getting to know Jacobs, we’re given yet more insight into the world of puzzlers through the eyes of one of their own. It is a rich and idiosyncratic realm into which we’re being introduced; luckily, we have a deft and accomplished guide in A.J. Jacobs.

“The Puzzler” is an utter delight, a charming and informative work of nonfiction that evokes both the joys of its subject and the spirit of its author. If you’ve ever taken a shot at a Sudoku or done an escape room or just spent a few morning minutes with Wordle, you’ll dig this.

In short, if the puzzle is what to read next, Jacobs has given you the solution.

I have been a fan of A.J. Jacobs ever since I read his "The Know-It-All: One Man's Quest to Become the Smartest Man in the World" eighteen (18!!) years ago. That book is one of my favourites, a go-to comfort book. Since then, I've read every book A.J. has written and while I've enjoyed them all to varying degrees, none of them have replaced "The Know-It-All" as my favourite.

I just finished "The Puzzler" and while it doesn't replace "The Know-It-All" as my favourite either (we always go back to our first love), it is a close second. "The Puzzler" has A.J.'s classic writing style - open, breezy and accessible - which really draws me to his books. His interviews are excellent and I love the way he weaves the interviews with his own personal observations.

A.J. brings a genuine enthusiasm to the projects he undertakes and you can really feel his passion for the subject matter of "The Puzzler." When he was writing "The Know-It-All" he attended a conference for crossword puzzlers - I wonder if that is where the idea for this book gently germinated.

Personally, I'm not very good at puzzles, so I don't know if I'll attempt to solve the one that he and puzzle-contributor, Greg Pliska, created for this book. But even if I don't attempt that, I very much enjoyed the various examples of different types of puzzles that he included at the end of each chapter. There is a great blend of historical puzzles as well as modern - something I thought was a cool idea. An example of why A.J. is one of my favourite authors - he likes to give a 360 picture of whatever subject he is deep-diving on.

I read this as an ebook (thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC), but I have pre-ordered it as a hardback so I can attempt some of the crosswords and other puzzles included in the book.

"The Puzzler" is a lot of fun and one of A.J.'s best works. It will never replace the "Know-It-All" in my heart, but I can think of several people who will be getting it as a gift this holiday season :)

100% recommend!

I'm a longtime fan of A.J. Jacobs's informative and humorous memoirs, and this doesn't disappoint. I appreciate that it includes so many puzzles.

A.J. Jacobs always comes up with fun creative books that spark curiosity. This one is no different. It did lack cohesiveness but it was interesting reading about all the different histories and creators of the worlds best puzzles. I read an ebook from Netgalley which is appreciated but not recommended. You need to buy the book in paper format so you can do the puzzles and mark up the pages.

I've read several of Jacobs's books, and have found them entertaining but occasionally frustrating and bewildering. This is a great dive into the history of different puzzles, the quirky and unique people involved in competitons/industry/etc, and the popularity of puzzles throughout the ages. There are also many puzzles-including some original puzzles--throughout the book.

Librarians/booksellers: This should be popular with fans of Jacobs's previous books and puzzle fanatics.

Many thanks to Crown and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.