The Language Lover's Puzzle Book

Pros: I often work Sunday NYT crosswords and sudoku puzzles, but I was curious to learn what other puzzles are out there. The puzzles in this book were unique, and I love how they incorporated different languages and cultures. At times I felt like an archeologist trying to crack a code in an ancient language, which was lots of fun. This puzzle book truly is for language lovers--I had many opportunities to look up definitions and learn new words. I was pleasantly surprised at how many puzzles are in this book and how long the book is! I also appreciated that these are tricky puzzles because most puzzleworkers want a challenge, not a Monday crossword.

Cons: This isn't a con but more a note on book format--I did not love this book in an ebook form. I think it would be great as a spiral-bound paperback so the reader can work the puzzles on paper.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Experiment for the opportunity to read this book and work these puzzles!

The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book delivers completely on what the title suggests. Each section covers linguistic concepts and history with time and theory put into it. I feel like “Puzzle” is a soft word for the activities in this book, it feels more along the lines of code breaking. And beyond interactive puzzles, there is so much linguistic history to learn about in this book!

Quite Frankly, I could spend so much time with this book, it feels like a professor would use it for academic material, and I mean that in the highest form of compliment. The tone is fun, cheeky and the reader is given the opportunity to learn so much and think in a critical, challenging and satisfying way. Five stars for what it is meant to be even if it felt a bit out of my own logical capabilities.

The Language Lover's Puzzle Book is a wide ranging mixed bag of wordplay and linguistic puzzles by Alex Bellos. Originally released in the UK in 2020, this reformat and re-release by The Experiment is 416 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This book is full of thematically grouped word puzzles to solve and as well as a multiple choice test (lingo bingo). The puzzles range from very easy to quite difficult and they will provide readers with hours of solving fun.

One of the things I liked about these puzzles in particular was that they've got a linguistic twist. Many of them are set up particularly to allow readers to use given information to logically extrapolate an answer by using patterns and language to build from A to B. Here's an example from the book blurb:

boru niko = two balls
tsuna nihon = two ropes
uma nito = two horses
kami nimai = two sheets of paper

ashi gohon = five legs
ringo goko = five apples
sara gomai = five plates
kaba goto = five hippos

Now, how do the Japanese say “nine cucumbers”?*
a) kyuri kyuhon
b) kyuri kyuko
c) kyuri kyuhiki
d) kyuri kyuto

The book includes word chains, acrostics, crosswords, and other variations more difficult to describe and further outside the standard puzzle fare.

Four stars. Due to the nature of the puzzles (and because writing in library books is a big no-no) this would probably be less than ideal for library acquisition. It will, however, delight language and word-puzzle fans.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is definitely for hardcore language nerds. Broadly organized by theme, there are dozens of very, very challenging word and language puzzles that will take quite a bit of mental brawn to figure out. This is perfect for puzzle lovers bored of pedestrian challenges and the usual brain-teasers.

Answers are explained well at the end of the book. I might have preferred them to be at the end of each section instead of all grouped together, but this wasn't an insurmountable obstacle.

Pick this up for someone who enjoys a real brain workout!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Manna from heaven for many a bookish type, this is both a regular non-fiction book about how we humans communicate and a wide spread of rather difficult puzzles based on similar issues. By the time you've gone through it all you'll have had to count in Manx, named Burmese Buddhist babies, and gained a wider appreciation for both Benedictine and Cistercian monks and Abkhaz speakers alike.

If the deep thought needed for all the puzzles is not to your taste there are easier (ha, ha) multiple choice quizzes here and there, but the core of the book could also be seen to be several, diverse essays about our world's languages, number systems, and so on. The first chapter is about how computers are a long way off fully understanding the Queen's English and how wot she is wrote. We soon get to how English came to be in the first place, the history of the alphabet and writing systems, Pitman shorthand – there's a heck of a lot here. Perhaps there are more in-depth books covering similar information, but they won't have the testing side to these pages, and they will rarely be done with this much fun and clarity. And in how the Portuguese managed to define colours in an infographic system ideal for the colour-blind, it shows us a lot about how we as a species use different means of communication the regular Joe would never ever have considered.

I definitely identify as a language lover, so I was excited to take a look at this book. It's filled with a number of different puzzles, each challenging in their own way. I definitely learned a few new words and was stumped more that once. It's definitely something that can keep you busy and help keep your linguistic skills sharp.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Thank you to the author and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback. I am not skilled at these sort of games, but I really loved giving it a go. I think there is a great range of skill set involved in this book. In fact, I know of a handful of people that would like to give this book a go, particularly those who are into language, logic puzzles, linguistics, etc. Overall, this book would make for a great gift. It's unique and not just like all the other puzzle game books out there rehashed.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked it more as a personal puzzle book to keep at home, just because I tend to scribble in books like this or need to fill them in, so I'm not sure this would be the best book for a library. However, as a lover of languages, linguistics, and puzzles, I really enjoyed thinking through these activities. I think it was good at testing already established vocabulary as well as good at teaching new words!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

It you have any sort of interest in linguistics, puzzles or language in general and are looking to challenge yourself then you should give this a read. This contains 100 puzzles that increase in difficulty as you move along.
I'd see myself using some of the simpler puzzles with my students to challenge them from time to time.