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
eBook - ePub
The Language Lover's Puzzle Book
Lexical perplexities and cracking conundrums from across the globe
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Language Lover's Puzzle Book
Lexical perplexities and cracking conundrums from across the globe
About this book
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Information
Subtopic
LanguagesTable of contents
- Cover
- Landing Page
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Lingo Bingo: Vocab Test A–L
- 1: Ok-Voon Ororok Sprok: Computer Talk
- Lingo Bingo: Loan Words
- 2: Celts, Counts and Coats: The Languages of the British Isles
- Lingo Bingo: Polish Phonetic Spelling
- 3: All About That Base: Words That Count
- Lingo Bingo: Chinese Compound Words
- 4: Decipher Yourself!: Cracking Ancient Codes
- Lingo Bingo: Portmanteau Words
- 5: Relative Values: The Language of Family
- Lingo Bingo: Animal Sounds
- 6: Aiding and Alphabetting: Words That Give a Helping Hand
- Lingo Bingo: Vocab Test M–Z
- 7: Treacherous Subjects: Languages on the Edge
- Lingo Bingo: Special Letters
- 8: Games of Tongues: Invented Languages
- Lingo Bingo: Pseudo Loanwords
- 9: Script Tease: Confessions of an Alphabet Addict
- Lingo Bingo: Untranslatables
- 10: Oh My Days: Calendars and Compasses
- Answers
- Appendix
- A List of the Puzzles and their Sources
- Acknowledgments
- Index of Languages
- About the Author
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access The Language Lover's Puzzle Book by Alex Bellos in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.