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

by Stefan Fatsis

ONE LINE SUMMARY: The author sets out to become an expert-level Scrabble player, and takes us behind the scenes at various Scrabble tournaments.

Who knew that Scrabble could be so complicated and fascinating? I admit that the last time I played Scrabble, Chris and I probably had a total of ten words on the board before we ran out of space. The tournament players described in Fatsis’s book would probably fall off their chairs laughing if they saw our board. Fatsis presents a nice mix of his personal struggle to improve at Scrabble (involving memorizing a vast selection of words), the big players in Scrabble tournaments, and the history behind Scrabble.

Some of the Scrabble techniques and explanations get a little too mathematical and involved, and I had to skim those sections. But overall, the book was fascinating.

Posted by: ssjane | November 29, 2006 | 1:53 pm
Posted in: Books | Nonfiction Other