Skip to main content

Features

A.J. Jacobs, author of The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life

What makes puzzles --- jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus --- so satisfying? A.J. Jacobs --- 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.

Week of April 24, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of April 24th include NO PLAN B by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the chilling 27th installment in the Jack Reacher series, in which two homicides are part of something much larger and more far-reaching than Reacher ever suspects; THE LIFEGUARDS, a gripping novel from Amanda Eyre Ward that sees the bonds between three picture-perfect --- but viciously protective --- mothers and their close-knit sons tested during one unforgettable summer; Debbie Macomber's THE BEST IS YET TO COME, an intimate novel about two lost souls who have a new chance at belonging when a woman alone in the world bravely chooses to open her heart; THE PUZZLER, A.J. Jacobs' account of the rollicking journey he embarked on to understand the enduring power of puzzles --- why we love them, what they do to our brains and how they can improve our world; and ALL IN by Billie Jean King, an inspiring self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice.