The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book

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 befuddle both sides of the brain at the same time.' DARA Ó BRIAIN 'Such fun, full of unexpected ideas and charmingly written.' TIM HARFORD 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 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 Moonwalking with Einstein 'An irresistible linguistic workout - challenging and deeply satisfying.' GASTON DORREN , author of Lingo and Babel 'For all the language and puzzle fans in your life!' GRETCHEN McCULLOCH 'A cornucopia of ingenious and insightful challenges.' DAVID CRYSTAL 'This compendium of puzzles is a great idea.' MICHAEL ROSEN 'You'll love what Alex Bellos has done here.' GYLES BRANDRETH 'Tantalisting.' THE ECONOMIST 'The perfect way to pass the time.' BBC SCIENCE FOCUS

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 befuddle both sides of the brain at the same time.' DARA Ó BRIAIN 'Such fun, full of unexpected ideas and charmingly written.' TIM HARFORD 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 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 Moonwalking with Einstein 'An irresistible linguistic workout - challenging and deeply satisfying.' GASTON DORREN , author of Lingo and Babel 'For all the language and puzzle fans in your life!' GRETCHEN McCULLOCH 'A cornucopia of ingenious and insightful challenges.' DAVID CRYSTAL 'This compendium of puzzles is a great idea.' MICHAEL ROSEN 'You'll love what Alex Bellos has done here.' GYLES BRANDRETH 'Tantalisting.' THE ECONOMIST 'The perfect way to pass the time.' BBC SCIENCE FOCUS

Whether you're a crossword solver, cryptogram fan, Scrabble addict, or Sudoku savant, The Language Lover's Puzzle Book is guaranteed to tease your brain and twist your tongue. Puzzle master Alex Bellos begins in Japan, where we can observe some curious counting: 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 Bellos finds the intrigue--and the human element--in a dizzying array of ancient, modern, and even invented tongues, from hieroglyphs to Blissymbolics, Danish to Dothraki. Filled with unusual alphabets, fascinating characters, and intriguing local customs for time-telling, naming children, and more, this is a bravura book of brainteasers and beyond --it's a globe-trotting, time-traveling celebration of language. *The word endings depend on shape: Flat things end in -mai and spherical things end in -ko. Cucumbers are long things (like ropes and legs), so they end in -hon. The answer is (a)!

Whether you're a crossword solver, cryptogram fan, Scrabble addict, or Sudoku savant, The Language Lover's Puzzle Book is guaranteed to tease your brain and twist your tongue. Puzzle master Alex Bellos begins in Japan, where we can observe some curious counting: 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 Bellos finds the intrigue--and the human element--in a dizzying array of ancient, modern, and even invented tongues, from hieroglyphs to Blissymbolics, Danish to Dothraki. Filled with unusual alphabets, fascinating characters, and intriguing local customs for time-telling, naming children, and more, this is a bravura book of brainteasers and beyond --it's a globe-trotting, time-traveling celebration of language. *The word endings depend on shape: Flat things end in -mai and spherical things end in -ko. Cucumbers are long things (like ropes and legs), so they end in -hon. The answer is (a)!