Synopses & Reviews
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
"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
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
Synopsis
A Wall Street Journal reporter recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble "RM" players while exploring the game's strange power.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [368]-370).
About the Author
Stefan Fatsis is a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a regular commentator on NPRs All Things Considered. He has written for the Associated Press, the Village Voice, and P.O.V. magazine and has appeared on Good Morning, America to discuss the 2000 National Scrabble Championship. His first book, Wild and Outside, about minor-league baseball in Iowa, was described as "an altogether balanced, revealing, and enjoyable study" by Kirkus Reviews. In search of a story idea in 1997, Scrabble amateur Fatsis challenged the head of the National Scrabble Association to a game and won. He has since traveled the country playing in Scrabble tournaments and achieved "expert" status, and he currently ranks in the top 10 percent of tournament Scrabble players nationwide.
Table of Contents
Contents
Authors Note vi
1. The Park 1 2. The Best 10 3. Unrated 20 4. 1005 36 5. Edley 58 6. 1191 75 7. Alfred 89 8. G.I. Joel 109 9. 1291 127 10. The Words 141 11. Matt 154 12. The Owners 165 13. 1461 180 14. Lester 201 15. The Club 214 16. The World 230 17. The Worlds 247 18. 1416 264 19. 1501 285 20. 1574 306 21. 1601 322 22. 1697 340
Epilogue 363 Appendix 367 Sources 368 Acknowledgments 371