Last night I attended a Publishing Party for my puzzle friend A.J. Jacobs. It was attended mostly by people in the publishing industry but a few core puzzlers also came.
A.J. Jacobs is funny! I read his introduction on the train home. I also skimmed what I think is the most important chapter: Rubik's Cubes & Variations. I particularly liked page 39!
A.J. had very ambitious goals: there's a lot of history, a lot of new puzzles, and a lot of 'story'. This is not the type of book to pore through in a week. Rather, it needs to be savored.
At the publishing party, there was a cake with icing depicting a Rubik's Cube. Yum. I had seconds.
Judith Newman of the NY Times wrote a great review.
I think this book is going to turn many semi-puzzlers into hard-core puzzlers.