The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book: Lexical perplexities and cracking conundrums from across the globe

Review The only puzzle book I’ve seen that manages to befuddle both sides of the brain at the same time. -- Dara Ó Briain I am a sucker for Alex Bellos's books – they’re just such fun, full of unexpected ideas and charmingly written. If you like puzzles this is a delightful and original approach and you’ll pick up a lot of quirky delights along the way. -- Tim Harford The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book is exactly the sort of book I wish had been available to me as a budding linguist. I recommend it for all the language and puzzle fans in your life! -- Gretchen McCulloch ― New York Times–bestselling author of BECAUSE INTERNET A cornucopia of ingenious and insightful challenges, each with a bonus commentary about the fascinating diversity of the world's languages, all presented in a friendly and engaging style. The title is exactly right. It's the perfect companion for anyone who loves puzzles and languages. -- David Crystal Language is a puzzle, so this compendium of language puzzles is a great idea; and the great thing about puzzles is they give us problems that we didn’t even know were problems. -- Michael Rosen If you love a puzzle – and you love language – you’ll love what Alex Bellos has done here. -- Gyles Brandreth An irresistible linguistic workout - challenging and deeply satisfying. -- Gaston Dorren Alex Bellos is a dazzling polymath whose cleverness and ingenuity are on full display in this utterly brilliant and original collection of linguistic puzzles. This book is destined to be a classic for puzzle lovers. -- Joshua Foer, co-founder of Atlas Obscura and author of MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN Not just a puzzle collection, but an introduction to the science of distilling regularities from the weird ways in which languages behave . . . Many beginners, after the buzz of Mr Bellos's puzzles, may also fall in love with the joys of [linguistics] . . . tantalising. ― The Economist Blessedly voluminous . . . [it] will delight autodidacts: here we may acquaint ourselves with the Shavian phonetic alphabet, Jacob Linzbach’s universal writing system “Transcendental Algebra”, and more. ― Times Literary Supplement For those of us who love Countdown and crosswords, Guardian puzzler Alex Bellos’s newest book of puzzles is the perfect way to pass the time. ― BBC Science Focus You can probably think of someone who needs a present for these 'Oh my god it's getting dark early and the world is full of germs' times. This is it! This book has been our after-dinner entertainment for four nights now. The puzzles tickle my brain in nice ways. -- Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics, University of Sussex I'll be adding this to my department's recommendations for prospective students . . . I think it would work for someone who likes logic puzzles just as well as someone who likes language-related trivia, though, and definitely for someone who likes learning languages just for the sake of it. -- Laura Bailey, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, Kent University The variety of topics covered in the book is astonishing . . . the puzzles cover all aspects of the way humans use language to describe and interact with the world around us. If you or someone you know is curious and interested in how things fit together, whether into languages or logic or neither or both, this book would be a great investment. ― The Aperiodical I was hooked by the second page . . . This book would make an excellent present for the linguist in the family or for anyone with an interest in puzzles and language. It is certainly one which I will keep on the bookshelf and return to in the future to challenge my brain further. ― The Association for Language Learning Product Description From the bestselling author of Alex's Adventures in Numberland and Can You Solve My Problems? comes a fascinating, hugely entertaining collection of puzzles for crossword addicts and language-lovers of all stripes. ‘The only puzzle book I’ve seen that manages to