The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book: Lexical perplexities and cracking conundrums from across the globe
- Downloads：7160
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-12-11 09:51:34
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Alex Bellos
- ISBN：1783352191
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
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。
'Alex Bellos is a wizard。' - Tim Harford， author of The Undercover Economist
The Language Lover's Puzzle Book is a book of more than 100 surprising and entertaining puzzles that celebrate the amazing diversity of the world of words and language。
Featuring a huge variety of ancient， modern and even invented languages， this collection of problems will introduce you to unusual alphabets and scripts， curious vocabularies and phonologies， and global variations in simple behaviours like counting， telling the time， and naming children。
Whether you are a crossword solver， a code-breaker or a Scrabble addict， these puzzles are guaranteed to twist your tongue and sharpen your mind。
'Alex Bellos is a wizard。' - Tim Harford， author of The Undercover Economist
The Language Lover's Puzzle Book is a book of more than 100 surprising and entertaining puzzles that celebrate the amazing diversity of the world of words and language。
Featuring a huge variety of ancient， modern and even invented languages， this collection of problems will introduce you to unusual alphabets and scripts， curious vocabularies and phonologies， and global variations in simple behaviours like counting， telling the time， and naming children。
Whether you are a crossword solver， a code-breaker or a Scrabble addict， these puzzles are guaranteed to twist your tongue and sharpen your mind。
Reviews
Tfalcone
，
Way over my head。
Sue Em
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Perplexing puzzles starting at medium goi g to extra hard。 The text on the puzzle's creation was the most interesting。 I am sure I have enjoyed it much more in a print vs an ecopy ARC。 Perplexing puzzles starting at medium goi g to extra hard。 The text on the puzzle's creation was the most interesting。 I am sure I have enjoyed it much more in a print vs an ecopy ARC。 。。。more
Tuxali
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An excellent and exciting book that frequently forces you to think "out of the box"。 Hours and hours of fun and intense training for the little grey cells。 There are a few faulty （maybe due to typos） or ambiguous solutions and problem definitions， though。 An excellent and exciting book that frequently forces you to think "out of the box"。 Hours and hours of fun and intense training for the little grey cells。 There are a few faulty （maybe due to typos） or ambiguous solutions and problem definitions， though。 。。。more
Robert
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 I absolutely love this book。 It has 100 puzzles featuring all sorts of languages - ancient and modern， common and endangered， natural and constructed - as well as writing systems for the blind， a color labeling system， and much much more。 I highly recommend this book。There were 2 errors that I found in the book。 In the answers for puzzle 94， answer d should be Kuruwasi。 And in the answers for puzzle 100， it should say "The answer a） is correct。"All-in-all this is a phenomenal book。 I absolutely love this book。 It has 100 puzzles featuring all sorts of languages - ancient and modern， common and endangered， natural and constructed - as well as writing systems for the blind， a color labeling system， and much much more。 I highly recommend this book。There were 2 errors that I found in the book。 In the answers for puzzle 94， answer d should be Kuruwasi。 And in the answers for puzzle 100， it should say "The answer a） is correct。"All-in-all this is a phenomenal book。 。。。more
Richard Lewis
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Have been a fan of AB’s column in the Guardian for a while， so decided to use this actively in class to put Latin and Modern Languages students through their paces。 They love it and are totally engaged！
Claus
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Very interesting book。 The puzzles can be very challenging。
Laura
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I had lots of fun with this book。 Just a small note to the author - I'm pretty sure I found two mistakes in the answers just among the last ten puzzles （puzzles no。 94 and no。 100）。 I had lots of fun with this book。 Just a small note to the author - I'm pretty sure I found two mistakes in the answers just among the last ten puzzles （puzzles no。 94 and no。 100）。 。。。more
Marta
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This is， without any doubt， my all-time favorite book。 I absolutely adore it！It is not only fun and challenging but also educational and really interesting。I actually knew a few of the puzzles because one year ago， I discovered the International Linguistics Olympiad。And imagine my surprise when I read that the author had written the book while on lockdown last year 😮While everybody was bored out of their minds， he came up with and developed this amazing book。Furthermore， he is really nice， becau This is， without any doubt， my all-time favorite book。 I absolutely adore it！It is not only fun and challenging but also educational and really interesting。I actually knew a few of the puzzles because one year ago， I discovered the International Linguistics Olympiad。And imagine my surprise when I read that the author had written the book while on lockdown last year 😮While everybody was bored out of their minds， he came up with and developed this amazing book。Furthermore， he is really nice， because I wrote him an email thinking that I had found an erratum （I actually hadn't） and he answered back shortly after and clarified my doubt。So， yeah， all in all， a perfect book that combines two of my favorite things—linguistics and puzzles—and was written by an awesome human being 💯 。。。more
Alexander Labinsky
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I read about it in the Economist， figured that I would like this kind of puzzles and I wasn’t let down: A great collection of fascinating language and script puzzles。 Who loves both the quirks of languages and a good brain teaser won’t regret the time spent on it。 It contains 100 puzzles of varying difficulties。 The great thing: It doesn’t start easy and than gets gradually more difficult but more challenging problems and easier ones are mixed as the puzzles are orders by topics。 So if you feel I read about it in the Economist， figured that I would like this kind of puzzles and I wasn’t let down: A great collection of fascinating language and script puzzles。 Who loves both the quirks of languages and a good brain teaser won’t regret the time spent on it。 It contains 100 puzzles of varying difficulties。 The great thing: It doesn’t start easy and than gets gradually more difficult but more challenging problems and easier ones are mixed as the puzzles are orders by topics。 So if you feel lazy you can just skip the harder ones in a chapter and concentrate on the more accessible puzzles。 Another great feature are the very extensive solutions that help to understand even the most baffling puzzles。 I needed about two hours per chapter （10 puzzles）， although this meant that I would usually give up on the hardest puzzle in the chapter。 However， I had fun and learnt a lot。 Highly recommended！ 。。。more
Lisa
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You must have at least a passing interest in the quirks and weirdness of languages to appreciate this book。 I do and this was the best puzzle book I've read so far （and I have read a few over the years）。 I methodically went through each problem and sometimes spent whole evenings working them out， scribbling notes on paper over and over。Engaging， fun， never boring， it provides brief windows into populations and cultures you'd never hear about otherwise。 You must have at least a passing interest in the quirks and weirdness of languages to appreciate this book。 I do and this was the best puzzle book I've read so far （and I have read a few over the years）。 I methodically went through each problem and sometimes spent whole evenings working them out， scribbling notes on paper over and over。Engaging， fun， never boring， it provides brief windows into populations and cultures you'd never hear about otherwise。 。。。more
Tom Bower
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This book is composed of 100 language puzzles based on more than two dozen far flung as well as familiar languages， interspersed with preamble to give more background around how the different language features came about and how they work。While I enjoyed solving some of the puzzles， be warned that many of them （perhaps the majority） are fiendishly hard and with just a casual interest in languages you should expect to spend many， many hours working through them all。 My favourite aspect of the boo This book is composed of 100 language puzzles based on more than two dozen far flung as well as familiar languages， interspersed with preamble to give more background around how the different language features came about and how they work。While I enjoyed solving some of the puzzles， be warned that many of them （perhaps the majority） are fiendishly hard and with just a casual interest in languages you should expect to spend many， many hours working through them all。 My favourite aspect of the book was in fact the prose rather than the puzzles， and I would have loved if it had been more in-depth， because fitting it all in 250 pages （the remaining ~150 pages are taken up by answers） along with the puzzles resulted in many interesting looking concepts deserving of more discussion feeling a bit rushed。Because this book is aimed at a more general audience and not professional linguists， I would have enjoyed if the more difficult puzzles contained a bit more hand-holding or context beforehand， which would give a more realistic chance at solving some of the puzzles without resorting to reading the （detailed and thorough） answer section。 For example， some of the puzzles jumped to conclusions and made assumptions which didn't feel rigorous enough to me as a non-professional linguist， but I imagine are fairly common methods among professionals。 Perhaps a section dedicated to approaching this kind of puzzle would be welcomed in a future edition？ Despite this， I am still giving this book four stars because the answer section was still an interesting read， and I ended up learning about some wonderful and wacky languages and their features in the process。 。。。more
TechnicolorBri
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Absolutely loving this！ I'm a big fan of Alex Bellos， you should check him out in some of Brady Haran's Numberphile channel on youtube。This book really gets your brain going with unique and mind-boggling questions and puzzles。 You can get to know your own English a little more in-depth， and take a stab at recognizing patterns in other languages as well。 Alex is kind enough to place the answers in the back of the book， just like in school。 Absolutely loving this！ I'm a big fan of Alex Bellos， you should check him out in some of Brady Haran's Numberphile channel on youtube。This book really gets your brain going with unique and mind-boggling questions and puzzles。 You can get to know your own English a little more in-depth， and take a stab at recognizing patterns in other languages as well。 Alex is kind enough to place the answers in the back of the book， just like in school。 。。。more
Kitty Red-Eye
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Interesting and entertaining。 I haven’t done the puzzles yet， wanted to read first and then go back to work through them。 They do look a little difficult， will probably need some time for several of them。
LLDW
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