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Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players
by Stefan Fatsis

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players Cover

About This Book

ISBN13: 9780142002261
ISBN10: 0142002267
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Stefan Fatsis, a Wall Street Journal reporter and National Public Radio regular, recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game's strange, potent hold over them — and him. Scrabble might truly be called America's game. More than two million sets are sold every year and at least thirty million American homes have one. But the game's most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of "living room players." Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earn him the nickname "G.I. Joel"; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore's inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and Fatsis himself, who we see transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut.

He begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments socializing — and competing — with Scrabble's elite. But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even further, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us.

Review:

"Despite an occasional overload of detail, this is a provocative look at the world of games and the way the mind works with words." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It's a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I'll never achieve!" Will Shortz, New York Times Crossword Editor and Puzzle Master of NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday"

Review:

"Fatsis gives an in-depth Scrabble history....Journalistic, expressive prose helps transform this potentially dry account of some word-obsessed oddballs into a funny, albeit vertical, glimpse at one of America's quirkiest special-interest groups." Publishers Weekly

Synopsis:

Fatsis introduces readers to the underground world of colorful characters for which the Scrabble game is life--playing competitively in tournaments across the country. It is also the story of how Scrabble was invented by an architect during the Great Depression and how it has grown into the hugely successful game it is today.

Synopsis:

Scrabble may be truly called America's game. But for every group of "living-room players" there is someone who is "at one with the board." In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis introduces readers to those few, exploring the underground world of colorful characters for which the Scrabble game is life-playing competitively in tournaments across the country. It is also the story of how the Scrabble game was invented by an unemployed architect during the Great Depression and how it has grown into the hugely successful, challenging, and beloved game it is today. Along the way, Fatsis chronicles his own obsession with the game and his development as a player from novice to expert. More than a book about hardcore Scrabble players, Word Freak is also an examination of notions of brilliance, memory, language, competition, and the mind that celebrates the uncanny creative powers in us all.

"Fatsis . . . writes with affectionate zeal about the game and the fraternity of brilliant, lonely, and otherwise dysfunctional oddballs it attracts." (The New York Times)

"Word Freak has an impassioned subtitle, and it lives up to every word." (People)

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About the Author

Stefan Fatsis is a sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a regular contributor to NPR's All Things Considered. His first book, Wild and Outside, is about minor-league baseball in the Midwest.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Jenn, September 2, 2006 (view all comments by Jenn)
This is an excellent book about the world of competitive Scrabble. Fatsis doesn't just write about these people, but he becomes one of them and starts playing in tournaments. He gives a wonderful inside look at the people who know obscure words, know where to place words on the Scrabble board for the most points, and do anagrams in their spare time for fun!
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780142002261
Subtitle:
Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabbleplayers
Author:
Fatsis, Stefan
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Subject:
Popular Culture
Subject:
Puzzles
Subject:
Scrabble (Game)
Subject:
Tournaments
Subject:
Board
Publication Date:
July 2002
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
384
Dimensions:
8.44x5.47x.82 in. .82 lbs.
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