Games!

Last night I met mabfan and gnomi at the Card Games night sponsored by Eureka! Games and Puzzles at the Brookline Marriott. It was fun; I learned a few new games.

After half a hand of Quiddler all three of us were hooked. NPL people, if you haven't heard of this (I hadn't), check it out!

Killer Bunnies (no link on their site) felt overly complex to me; however someone told me that there's a more straightforward version called Kinder Bunnies that's a lot of fun (and age-appropriate for a six-year-old). I'll have to look for that.

There was a game whose name I unfortunately didn't catch, and which I can't find on their website, in which the goal is to swap cards until you can build a picture of your particular monster. That looked cool for the kids.

I played a round of cribbage. Ah, the classics.

Back at the store, not only did I buy Quiddler, I also treated myself to Pick Two, which bills itself as The Definitive Crossword Game. A misleading subhead, since definitions are not involved, but it looks like a rapid-play tile-based crossing-words game and, more importantly, it looks like a lot of fun. So that's my reward for Sunday's Times crossword.

Games!

Last night I met mabfan and gnomi at the Card Games night sponsored by Eureka! Games and Puzzles at the Brookline Marriott. It was fun; I learned a few new games.

After half a hand of Quiddler all three of us were hooked. NPL people, if you haven't heard of this (I hadn't), check it out!

Killer Bunnies (no link on their site) felt overly complex to me; however someone told me that there's a more straightforward version called Kinder Bunnies that's a lot of fun (and age-appropriate for a six-year-old). I'll have to look for that.

There was a game whose name I unfortunately didn't catch, and which I can't find on their website, in which the goal is to swap cards until you can build a picture of your particular monster. That looked cool for the kids.

I played a round of cribbage. Ah, the classics.

Back at the store, not only did I buy Quiddler, I also treated myself to Pick Two, which bills itself as The Definitive Crossword Game. A misleading subhead, since definitions are not involved, but it looks like a rapid-play tile-based crossing-words game and, more importantly, it looks like a lot of fun. So that's my reward for Sunday's Times crossword.

Reminder: I have Sunday's NYTimes puzzle!

A reminder that this Sunday will be my NYTimes debut puzzle, in a 4-way collaboration.

Even if you're not a regular solver, I think this puzzle will be fun and not too difficult. I hope you'll give it a try and, more importantly, I hope you enjoy it.

As a memento of the occasion, I'm hoping to gather photographs of people solving the puzzle. (I'm used to performing in front of an audience; it's weird to realize that people across the country will be solving the puzzle but I won't be able to see them!) So if you happen to be at a Starbucks, say, with your cell phone camera, and can grab some snaps of folks working on the puzzle, I'd appreciate it! (I've set up a special email address for incoming messages about the puzzle: My first name dot nytpuz at my home domain, which is my last name properly spelled followed by the word "house" and ".com")

Reminder: I have Sunday's NYTimes puzzle!

A reminder that this Sunday will be my NYTimes debut puzzle, in a 4-way collaboration.

Even if you're not a regular solver, I think this puzzle will be fun and not too difficult. I hope you'll give it a try and, more importantly, I hope you enjoy it.

As a memento of the occasion, I'm hoping to gather photographs of people solving the puzzle. (I'm used to performing in front of an audience; it's weird to realize that people across the country will be solving the puzzle but I won't be able to see them!) So if you happen to be at a Starbucks, say, with your cell phone camera, and can grab some snaps of folks working on the puzzle, I'd appreciate it! (I've set up a special email address for incoming messages about the puzzle: My first name dot nytpuz at my home domain, which is my last name properly spelled followed by the word "house" and ".com")

Book

Finished Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein . While it's thorough and well-written, it's not as good as his outstanding biography of Benjamin Franklin. I had two problems with it: first, certain anecdotes or pithy quotes were repeated in more than one place, without even a nod to the reader that one might remember this from 100 pages ago. As Einstein is quoted as saying in the book, "A good joke should not be repeated too often."

Second (and this is a problem that most readers might not share) I found myself frustrated by the physics sections of the book, because I already know the physics. Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe was much more engaging when covering physics that I already understand. Isaacson is great at writing history of science, but as a science writer he lacks a certain spark.

Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed this book greatly and learned a lot about the social context in which Einstein developed his physics. Highly recommended.

Book

Finished Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein . While it's thorough and well-written, it's not as good as his outstanding biography of Benjamin Franklin. I had two problems with it: first, certain anecdotes or pithy quotes were repeated in more than one place, without even a nod to the reader that one might remember this from 100 pages ago. As Einstein is quoted as saying in the book, "A good joke should not be repeated too often."

Second (and this is a problem that most readers might not share) I found myself frustrated by the physics sections of the book, because I already know the physics. Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe was much more engaging when covering physics that I already understand. Isaacson is great at writing history of science, but as a science writer he lacks a certain spark.

Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed this book greatly and learned a lot about the social context in which Einstein developed his physics. Highly recommended.