The Sweet Spot

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

"i often find taking something and trying to do the extreme version, you get a take away," he says. "I think we've got huge problems, and luckily, we have this instinct to want to solve them." He thinks it's helpful to frame big prob like the environmental crisis as a puzzle instead of calling it a crisis. The word problem is very thorny and off putting and intractable,. Whereas puzzles is like, solution oriented. And it's like, let's roll up our sleeves and solve these puzzles'

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.”

---

Want to get smart, fast? Want to hear hundreds of the world's leading authors share key insights from their books? Download the Next Big Idea app today: nextbigideaclub.com/app