Puzzles Are Close Cousins of Puzzles

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Jokes are just another form of puzzle, says the author. Jokes have a punch line that kind of subverts the meaning you thought it had. Any good story is about provoking your curiosity and then solving it. You want to give people a little crumbs along the way but still reward them with an outstanding result.

For the last 25 years, writer A.J. Jacobs has attempted to live his life as a human guinea pig.

“I’ve engaged in a series of experiments on my mind and body,” he says, “some of which have been fruitful, some humiliating failures. I’ve tried to understand the world by immersing myself in extraordinary circumstances.”

His book “The Know-It-All” chronicled his experience reading the encyclopedia from cover to cover. To write “The Year of Living Biblically,” he followed every commandment in the Old Testament, including the edicts stone adulterers and avoid shaving the corners of your beard. Now A.J. is back with a new immersive memoir, “The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life.”

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