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