Word Freak: A Journey into the Eccentric World of the Most Obsessive Board Game Ever Invented - Softcover

Fatsis, Stefan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224060600 ISBN 13: 9780224060608

Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press, 2001

Synopsis

For many, Scrabble is merely a board game. For others it is an intellectual pilgrimage, a balancing act between language and mathematics, simultaneously joyful and frustrating. In Word Freak Stefan Fatsis charts the history and theory of the game alongside his own rise from livingroom player to competitive shark, and affords us a glimpse into the extraordinary world of the brilliant geeks and misfit savants who populate the highest ranks of the game. The top Scrabble players marshal the weird, hidden forces of the mind in their quest for greatness; they form cliques and petty jealousies; schadenfraude is a popular sensation; their favourite noise is that of a shaking bag of small tiles. In an effort to understand the depth of obsession plumbed by the players, Fatsis meets experts in neurochemistry, memory, linguistics and probability, as well as those players who form Scrabble's darker underworld. Witty and profound, Word Freak is about sports and competition, the human mind and its interior workings, drive, desire and loneliness. And huge lists of words with no meaning at all.

About this title

Review

Like a cross between a linguistic spy and a lexicographic Olympic athlete, journalist Stefan Fatsis gave himself a year to penetrate the highest echelons of international Scrabble competition. His aim was to progress from the casual living room player to get into the elite club of international Scrabble pros. Word Freak is the account of his journey. It's a wacky grab bag of travelogue, history, party journal and psychological study of the misfits and goofballs whose lives are measured out in Scrabble tiles.

Fatsis gives us all the facts about Scrabble--from the story of the down-on-his luck architect who invented the game in the 1930s to the intricacies of individual international competitions and the corporate wars to control the world's favourite word game. He is a good storyteller and keeps the reader turning the pages as we get involved in the lives of the Scrabble obsessives: men and women who have a point to prove against the world and have chosen Scrabble as their playground and their pulpit. As Fatsis goes on his own quest to attain the coveted 1600 rating we actually get obsessed with him as he lies awake at night pondering moves and memorising lists of words. For anybody who is interested in words and has ever been captivated and fascinated by Scrabble, Word Freak provides a compelling, entertaining and absorbing read. --Dwight Longenecker

Review

"This book has come close to ruining my life... Within two pages I was hooked. This is an enthralling and wonderfully written elegy" (Daily Telegraph)

"A remarkable book" (Independent)

"A quirky account of a very peculiar practice" (Herald)

"A very funny book" (Lynn Barber)

"An amiable memoir of self-inflicted obsession" (Times Literary Supplement)

Edition details

• Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0224060600
• ISBN 13: 9780224060608
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384