Author: David B. McKinney
Publisher: XinXii
ISBN: 3966330644
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
When Kenny Boone, 84, becomes the subject of a Silver Alert after abandoning his truck and wandering on foot for hours, his daughter moves him to a senior living community in Galveston, Texas. Lonely, confused, and battling dementia, Kenny finds comfort solving puzzles in the facility’s game room, and quickly earns the nickname Puzzle Man. One morning Kenny opens the newspaper and sees “Help Me” written in the squares of the puzzle. Over time, a dozen more messages make a convincing cry for help. Puzzle Man is in a race to identify the mystery puzzler and render assistance before his own diminishing memory takes him out of the game.
The Puzzler
Author: A.J. Jacobs
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0593136721
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world. “Even though I’ve never attempted the New York Times crossword puzzle or solved the Rubik’s Cube, I couldn’t put down The Puzzler.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before Look for the author’s new podcast, The Puzzler, based on this book! What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacobs—four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder—set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world—including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America’s top puzzle-makers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle—The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker—for these are certainly puzzling times.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0593136721
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world. “Even though I’ve never attempted the New York Times crossword puzzle or solved the Rubik’s Cube, I couldn’t put down The Puzzler.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before Look for the author’s new podcast, The Puzzler, based on this book! What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacobs—four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder—set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world—including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America’s top puzzle-makers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle—The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker—for these are certainly puzzling times.
The Jigsaw Man
Author: Nadine Matheson
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 1488075883
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Book Description
"A heart-pounding roller coaster ride."—Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boy *A Crime Reads Most Anticipated Book of 2021* A serial killer and his copycat are locked in a violent game of cat and mouse. Can DI Anjelica Henley stop them before it’s too late? On the day she returns to active duty with the Serial Crimes Unit, Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley is called to a crime scene. Dismembered body parts from two victims have been found by the river. The modus operandi bears a striking resemblance to Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer, who has spent the past two years behind bars. When he learns that someone is co-opting his grisly signature—the arrangement of victims’ limbs in puzzle-piece shapes—he decides to take matters into his own hands. As the body count rises, DI Anjelica Henley is faced with an unspeakable new threat. Can she apprehend the copycat killer before Olivier finds a way to get to him first? Or will she herself become the next victim? Drawing on her experience as a criminal attorney, debut novelist Nadine Matheson delivers the page-turning crime novel of the year. Taut, vivid and addictively sinister, The Jigsaw Man will leave you breathless until the very last page.
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 1488075883
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Book Description
"A heart-pounding roller coaster ride."—Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boy *A Crime Reads Most Anticipated Book of 2021* A serial killer and his copycat are locked in a violent game of cat and mouse. Can DI Anjelica Henley stop them before it’s too late? On the day she returns to active duty with the Serial Crimes Unit, Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley is called to a crime scene. Dismembered body parts from two victims have been found by the river. The modus operandi bears a striking resemblance to Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer, who has spent the past two years behind bars. When he learns that someone is co-opting his grisly signature—the arrangement of victims’ limbs in puzzle-piece shapes—he decides to take matters into his own hands. As the body count rises, DI Anjelica Henley is faced with an unspeakable new threat. Can she apprehend the copycat killer before Olivier finds a way to get to him first? Or will she herself become the next victim? Drawing on her experience as a criminal attorney, debut novelist Nadine Matheson delivers the page-turning crime novel of the year. Taut, vivid and addictively sinister, The Jigsaw Man will leave you breathless until the very last page.
Puzzle Man
Author: David B. McKinney
Publisher: XinXii
ISBN: 3966330644
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
When Kenny Boone, 84, becomes the subject of a Silver Alert after abandoning his truck and wandering on foot for hours, his daughter moves him to a senior living community in Galveston, Texas. Lonely, confused, and battling dementia, Kenny finds comfort solving puzzles in the facility’s game room, and quickly earns the nickname Puzzle Man. One morning Kenny opens the newspaper and sees “Help Me” written in the squares of the puzzle. Over time, a dozen more messages make a convincing cry for help. Puzzle Man is in a race to identify the mystery puzzler and render assistance before his own diminishing memory takes him out of the game.
Publisher: XinXii
ISBN: 3966330644
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
When Kenny Boone, 84, becomes the subject of a Silver Alert after abandoning his truck and wandering on foot for hours, his daughter moves him to a senior living community in Galveston, Texas. Lonely, confused, and battling dementia, Kenny finds comfort solving puzzles in the facility’s game room, and quickly earns the nickname Puzzle Man. One morning Kenny opens the newspaper and sees “Help Me” written in the squares of the puzzle. Over time, a dozen more messages make a convincing cry for help. Puzzle Man is in a race to identify the mystery puzzler and render assistance before his own diminishing memory takes him out of the game.
The Man Puzzle
Author: Phillip Petree
Publisher: Petree Publishing
ISBN: 0996402527
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Are you confused by men? Written in an open, honest and straight forward manner, The Man Puzzle starts at the beginning and covers what goes into making a good man (and what goes wrong) and then moves through how men communicate, how men argue, what male emotions look like, how men test you during dating, what men really think about sex and all the way through what happens when men break-up including how men grieve. Based on interviews with 1000's of men, the author opens the door, peels back the curtain and shows you the heart, mind and soul of men.
Publisher: Petree Publishing
ISBN: 0996402527
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Are you confused by men? Written in an open, honest and straight forward manner, The Man Puzzle starts at the beginning and covers what goes into making a good man (and what goes wrong) and then moves through how men communicate, how men argue, what male emotions look like, how men test you during dating, what men really think about sex and all the way through what happens when men break-up including how men grieve. Based on interviews with 1000's of men, the author opens the door, peels back the curtain and shows you the heart, mind and soul of men.
Puzzleman: A Macabre Thriller
Author: Christopher Alan Broadstone
Publisher: BCP/Texas POĒtrope
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 431
Book Description
If you love POE, BARKER and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, you'll love “PUZZLEMAN”! “It’s impossible,” Erik told Amanda. “Ya can’t kill him. Not even God can do that.” Fall into a world of Grumemonsters––hideous zombie-like creatures that thrive in a living hell created by the Puzzleman––where no one is sane down a drain, and down a drain no one is sane. Follow Amanda Zimmerman, a young sculptress despondently searching for understanding after the tragic death of her infant son... John Rainbow (a professor of classical history) and Jeannette Orfèvre (a beautiful French vintner) still longing for the love they shared during World War II... The legless man, seeking retribution and escape from a horror worse than death... And Ben Henfry, a retired detective itching to get back in the game... Disparate lives, yet each are meticulously woven together over time to play a special part in the Puzzleman’s twisted vision of eternal life. Into the black Cathedral Fleur du Sang and into the pipes they must go––into a terrifying world of Grumemonsters, where the inaccuracies of accepted history and the gruesome future of mankind are laid bare. For Amanda, Professor Rainbow, Jeannette, the legless man, and Detective Henfry, the Puzzleman is a personal demon awakened into a living nightmare––and it’s up to them alone to wage their fight for sanity and salvation. A fight that swells into a harrowing escape, spanning two continents and the supernatural perversion of time and dimension. Welcome to the Pipeworld. Welcome to truth and eternity. Welcome to the world of the Puzzleman...where no one is sane down a drain. And down a drain no one is sane.
Publisher: BCP/Texas POĒtrope
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 431
Book Description
If you love POE, BARKER and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, you'll love “PUZZLEMAN”! “It’s impossible,” Erik told Amanda. “Ya can’t kill him. Not even God can do that.” Fall into a world of Grumemonsters––hideous zombie-like creatures that thrive in a living hell created by the Puzzleman––where no one is sane down a drain, and down a drain no one is sane. Follow Amanda Zimmerman, a young sculptress despondently searching for understanding after the tragic death of her infant son... John Rainbow (a professor of classical history) and Jeannette Orfèvre (a beautiful French vintner) still longing for the love they shared during World War II... The legless man, seeking retribution and escape from a horror worse than death... And Ben Henfry, a retired detective itching to get back in the game... Disparate lives, yet each are meticulously woven together over time to play a special part in the Puzzleman’s twisted vision of eternal life. Into the black Cathedral Fleur du Sang and into the pipes they must go––into a terrifying world of Grumemonsters, where the inaccuracies of accepted history and the gruesome future of mankind are laid bare. For Amanda, Professor Rainbow, Jeannette, the legless man, and Detective Henfry, the Puzzleman is a personal demon awakened into a living nightmare––and it’s up to them alone to wage their fight for sanity and salvation. A fight that swells into a harrowing escape, spanning two continents and the supernatural perversion of time and dimension. Welcome to the Pipeworld. Welcome to truth and eternity. Welcome to the world of the Puzzleman...where no one is sane down a drain. And down a drain no one is sane.
An Old Man's Game
Author: Andy Weinberger
Publisher: Prospect Park Books
ISBN: 1945551658
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
"Andy Weinberger has done something extraordinary with his first novel: he’s written a truly great detective novel that is fresh and original, but already feels like it’s a classic. In the tradition of Walter Mosley, Raymond Chandler, and Sue Grafton, semi-retired private eye Amos Parisman roams LA’s seedy and not-so-seedy neighborhoods in pursuit of justice. I don’t want another Amos Parisman novel—I want a dozen more!” — Amy Stewart When a controversial celebrity rabbi drops dead over his matzoh ball soup at the famed Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, retired private eye Amos Parisman— a sixtyish, no-nonsense Jewish detective who lives with his addled wife in Park La Brea—is hired by the temple's board to make sure everything is kosher. As he looks into what seems to be a simple, tragic accident, the ante is raised when more people start to die or disappear, and Amos uncovers a world of treachery and hurt that shakes a large L.A. Jewish community to its core.
Publisher: Prospect Park Books
ISBN: 1945551658
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
"Andy Weinberger has done something extraordinary with his first novel: he’s written a truly great detective novel that is fresh and original, but already feels like it’s a classic. In the tradition of Walter Mosley, Raymond Chandler, and Sue Grafton, semi-retired private eye Amos Parisman roams LA’s seedy and not-so-seedy neighborhoods in pursuit of justice. I don’t want another Amos Parisman novel—I want a dozen more!” — Amy Stewart When a controversial celebrity rabbi drops dead over his matzoh ball soup at the famed Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, retired private eye Amos Parisman— a sixtyish, no-nonsense Jewish detective who lives with his addled wife in Park La Brea—is hired by the temple's board to make sure everything is kosher. As he looks into what seems to be a simple, tragic accident, the ante is raised when more people start to die or disappear, and Amos uncovers a world of treachery and hurt that shakes a large L.A. Jewish community to its core.
Dead Man's Puzzle
Author: Parnell Hall
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 1429951176
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 334
Book Description
With Dead Man's Puzzle, Parnell Hall delivers another stellar, puzzle-packed entry in his entertaining Puzzle Lady series. Sherry is off on her honeymoon when Chief Harper comes to Cora Felton, asking her to solve a crossword puzzle found on the body of Old Man Overmeyer. Small problem. Cora is the Milli Vanilli of cruciverbalists. Her niece, Sherry, writes the crossword puzzle column for her. Cora pokes into Overmeyer's death, hoping to prove he died of natural causes. She learns the cranky hermit was the sole surviving member of a forty-year-old stock pooling agreement, and before she can say "capital gain," the town is full of heirs. Complicating things is Sherry's ex-husband, Dennis, who is playing detective in the hopes of impressing his ex-wife. With Sherry out of town, her restraining order against him is moot, and he is taking full advantage of the fact.
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 1429951176
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 334
Book Description
With Dead Man's Puzzle, Parnell Hall delivers another stellar, puzzle-packed entry in his entertaining Puzzle Lady series. Sherry is off on her honeymoon when Chief Harper comes to Cora Felton, asking her to solve a crossword puzzle found on the body of Old Man Overmeyer. Small problem. Cora is the Milli Vanilli of cruciverbalists. Her niece, Sherry, writes the crossword puzzle column for her. Cora pokes into Overmeyer's death, hoping to prove he died of natural causes. She learns the cranky hermit was the sole surviving member of a forty-year-old stock pooling agreement, and before she can say "capital gain," the town is full of heirs. Complicating things is Sherry's ex-husband, Dennis, who is playing detective in the hopes of impressing his ex-wife. With Sherry out of town, her restraining order against him is moot, and he is taking full advantage of the fact.
One Man’S Life and Thoughts
Author: Charles T. Johnson
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1466938099
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Teardrops in My Coffee is a poem that I wrote when I was bored. I was thinking about the subject matter that is heard in country and western music. The songs are often about the hard things in life, like love and broken hearts. So I tried to write something that would poke fun at those kind of topics.
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1466938099
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Teardrops in My Coffee is a poem that I wrote when I was bored. I was thinking about the subject matter that is heard in country and western music. The songs are often about the hard things in life, like love and broken hearts. So I tried to write something that would poke fun at those kind of topics.
Tamám Shud: How the Somerton Man’s Last Dance for a Lasting Life Was Decoded -- Omar Khayyam Center Research Report
Author: Mohammad H. Tamdgidi
Publisher: Ahead Publishing House (imprint: Okcir Press)
ISBN: 1640980245
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
In this OKCIR Research Report, hermeneutic sociologist, Khayyami scholar, and founding director of Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research (OKCIR), Mohammad H. (Behrooz) Tamdgidi, Ph.D., reports having solved the mystery of the code associated with the so-called “Somerton Man” or “Tamám Shud” case. The mysterious code appearing on the back page of a first edition copy of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam -- found months following the death of The Somerton Man (TSM) in South Adelaide, Australia, on Dec. 1, 1948 -- was a suicide contemplation and planning note he was poetically drafting for himself in the form of a quatrain on the back of his copy of The Rubaiyat, giving a gist of why and how he planned to carry out a deliberately mystery-laden suicide as his last dance for a lasting life. The code was the creative DNA of his suicide plot. It was written in the ‘Tamám Shud’ transliteration style -- in this case not from Persian, but from Arabic with which he must have been familiar, either natively due to coming ancestrally from the ethnically diverse and widely multilingual Russian Caucasus and/or by training and education. In other words, the ‘Tamám Shud’ torn-out piece found in TSM’s fob pocket not only served as a bread crumb lead to his suicide note, it also offered the key to the code’s deciphering. DNA is a self-replicating matter that reproduces the basic structure of a substance. TSM’s ‘code’ offers the DNA of his last dance performance in public hoping of a lasting life, one that was sketched amid his medical suffering. He was reflecting on his life, terminal illness, and expected imminent death, while reading the meanings conveyed about life and death in FitzGerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat -- a work of art that offered TSM a practical and proven example of how one can physically die but endure in human memory and spirit forever. This report mainly focuses on deciphering TSM’s code, but the findings are then used to shed brief new light on one and/or another alternative wider story of what took place in Adelaide in 1948, in the years leading to it, and in the decades thereafter. The report invites readers to rethink the relevance of Omar Khayyam’s poetry to the case, and also asks a pertinent question about another fold of the mystery, that is, why did it take so long to decipher a code that could have actually been decoded much earlier? The Somerton Man or Tamám Shud case has important lessons for us beyond the confines of the personal troubles of a man and those he knew, inviting us to use our sociological imaginations to explore such troubles in relation to the public issues that concern us all beyond the shores of Australia, and beyond the national and disciplinary walls fragmenting our lives, universities, and scientific methods in favor of transcultural and transdisciplinary modes of inquiry. The report ends with a dancing celebration for deciphering the code as a new window to learning the true story and possible identity of the Somerton Man. CONTENTS About OKCIR—i About the Author—ii Notes this Report—iv Preface—1 1. Introduction: The Somerton Man Case—3 2. The Code: Preliminary Observations—6 3. Preliminary Interpretive Considerations—11 4. Using Online Resources to Illustrate the Decoding—12 5. ‘Tamám Shud’ Is Also the Decoding Key—13 6. The Language Environment of the Code—17 7. Strategies for Making the Code Difficult to Decipher—20 8. Starting with the Last Main Line of the Code—23 9. The Third Main Line of the Code—29 10. The Second Main Line of the Code—38 11. The Crossed-Out Line of the Code—45 12. The First Main Line of the Code—47 13. Interpreting the Code as a Whole—50 14. The Relevance of Omar Khayyam’s ‘Rubaiyat’—58 15. The Wider Story—62 16. An Alternative and/or Additional Wider Story?—68 17. Why Did It Take So Long to Solve the Puzzle?—71 18. Conclusion: The DNA of A Last Dance for A Lasting Life—78 19. A Dancing Celebration—82 Endnotes (Reference Links)— 83
Publisher: Ahead Publishing House (imprint: Okcir Press)
ISBN: 1640980245
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
In this OKCIR Research Report, hermeneutic sociologist, Khayyami scholar, and founding director of Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research (OKCIR), Mohammad H. (Behrooz) Tamdgidi, Ph.D., reports having solved the mystery of the code associated with the so-called “Somerton Man” or “Tamám Shud” case. The mysterious code appearing on the back page of a first edition copy of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam -- found months following the death of The Somerton Man (TSM) in South Adelaide, Australia, on Dec. 1, 1948 -- was a suicide contemplation and planning note he was poetically drafting for himself in the form of a quatrain on the back of his copy of The Rubaiyat, giving a gist of why and how he planned to carry out a deliberately mystery-laden suicide as his last dance for a lasting life. The code was the creative DNA of his suicide plot. It was written in the ‘Tamám Shud’ transliteration style -- in this case not from Persian, but from Arabic with which he must have been familiar, either natively due to coming ancestrally from the ethnically diverse and widely multilingual Russian Caucasus and/or by training and education. In other words, the ‘Tamám Shud’ torn-out piece found in TSM’s fob pocket not only served as a bread crumb lead to his suicide note, it also offered the key to the code’s deciphering. DNA is a self-replicating matter that reproduces the basic structure of a substance. TSM’s ‘code’ offers the DNA of his last dance performance in public hoping of a lasting life, one that was sketched amid his medical suffering. He was reflecting on his life, terminal illness, and expected imminent death, while reading the meanings conveyed about life and death in FitzGerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat -- a work of art that offered TSM a practical and proven example of how one can physically die but endure in human memory and spirit forever. This report mainly focuses on deciphering TSM’s code, but the findings are then used to shed brief new light on one and/or another alternative wider story of what took place in Adelaide in 1948, in the years leading to it, and in the decades thereafter. The report invites readers to rethink the relevance of Omar Khayyam’s poetry to the case, and also asks a pertinent question about another fold of the mystery, that is, why did it take so long to decipher a code that could have actually been decoded much earlier? The Somerton Man or Tamám Shud case has important lessons for us beyond the confines of the personal troubles of a man and those he knew, inviting us to use our sociological imaginations to explore such troubles in relation to the public issues that concern us all beyond the shores of Australia, and beyond the national and disciplinary walls fragmenting our lives, universities, and scientific methods in favor of transcultural and transdisciplinary modes of inquiry. The report ends with a dancing celebration for deciphering the code as a new window to learning the true story and possible identity of the Somerton Man. CONTENTS About OKCIR—i About the Author—ii Notes this Report—iv Preface—1 1. Introduction: The Somerton Man Case—3 2. The Code: Preliminary Observations—6 3. Preliminary Interpretive Considerations—11 4. Using Online Resources to Illustrate the Decoding—12 5. ‘Tamám Shud’ Is Also the Decoding Key—13 6. The Language Environment of the Code—17 7. Strategies for Making the Code Difficult to Decipher—20 8. Starting with the Last Main Line of the Code—23 9. The Third Main Line of the Code—29 10. The Second Main Line of the Code—38 11. The Crossed-Out Line of the Code—45 12. The First Main Line of the Code—47 13. Interpreting the Code as a Whole—50 14. The Relevance of Omar Khayyam’s ‘Rubaiyat’—58 15. The Wider Story—62 16. An Alternative and/or Additional Wider Story?—68 17. Why Did It Take So Long to Solve the Puzzle?—71 18. Conclusion: The DNA of A Last Dance for A Lasting Life—78 19. A Dancing Celebration—82 Endnotes (Reference Links)— 83
An Anthropology of Puzzles
Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1350089877
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
An Anthropology of Puzzles argues that the human brain is a "puzzling organ" which allows humans to literally solve their own problems of existence through puzzle format. Noting the presence of puzzles everywhere in everyday life, Marcel Danesi looks at puzzles in society since the dawn of history, showing how their presence has guided large sections of human history, from discoveries in mathematics to disquisitions in philosophy. Danesi examines the cognitive processes that are involved in puzzle making and solving, and connects them to the actual physical manifestations of classic puzzles. Building on a concept of puzzles as based on Jungian archetypes, such as the river crossing image, the path metaphor, and the journey, Danesi suggests this could be one way to understand the public fascination with puzzles. As well as drawing on underlying mental archetypes, the act of solving puzzles also provides an outlet to move beyond biological evolution, and Danesi shows that puzzles could be the product of the same basic neural mechanism that produces language and culture. Finally, Danesi explores how understanding puzzles can be a new way of understanding our human culture.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1350089877
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
An Anthropology of Puzzles argues that the human brain is a "puzzling organ" which allows humans to literally solve their own problems of existence through puzzle format. Noting the presence of puzzles everywhere in everyday life, Marcel Danesi looks at puzzles in society since the dawn of history, showing how their presence has guided large sections of human history, from discoveries in mathematics to disquisitions in philosophy. Danesi examines the cognitive processes that are involved in puzzle making and solving, and connects them to the actual physical manifestations of classic puzzles. Building on a concept of puzzles as based on Jungian archetypes, such as the river crossing image, the path metaphor, and the journey, Danesi suggests this could be one way to understand the public fascination with puzzles. As well as drawing on underlying mental archetypes, the act of solving puzzles also provides an outlet to move beyond biological evolution, and Danesi shows that puzzles could be the product of the same basic neural mechanism that produces language and culture. Finally, Danesi explores how understanding puzzles can be a new way of understanding our human culture.