My Word Game Books When I'm doing Word-Buff Stuff, some word game books get consulted over and over again. So I've organized these extra-important books into a kind of miniature library. Here it is in our lounge room, right next to the wine cabinet...
And speaking of your library...
American Bee  "As Samir steps to the microphone after Aliya's misspell, he knows that only one speller stands between him and the trophy that gleams to his left... Samir's word is Roscian, meaning 'of, relating to, or skilled in acting.' 'Roscian?' Samir asks, making the word a big question. He looks, for the first time in this competition, a bit uneasy. Instead of his usual panache, the uncertainty in his voice reveals that he's going to be gambling..." pp. 348-9 And so, the author of American Bee The Art of ScrabbleNow, I don't use the following words lightly here at Word-Buff, so I want you to listen carefully... If you want to get seriously good at Scrabble, you must lie, beg, or steal to get hold of a copy of The Art of Scrabble , sometimes sold under the alternative title, How to Win at Scrabble. As a matter of fact, jokes aside, you might actually have to do one of those things, because this book is now as rare as hens' teeth. Hopefully, the links I've provided in this brief review (the text link above, and the image on the right) still lead you to an available copy. At 160 pages, The Art of Scrabble looks like a lightweight rather than a seminal treatise, but I can assure you it's the latter. This book contains the most detailed and up-to-date results in strategic analysis available, and walks you through everything from the very basics. It is especially strong on word-learning techniques, and even has a powerful chapter on the psychology of Scrabble. Even expert Scrabble players admit they learned a great deal from this book. I liked it so much, I decided to track down one of the authors. You can read my interview with Andrew Fisher here.
How to Spell Like a ChampThis book is indispensable for spelling bee participants, spelling bee coaches, and teachers who are planning to run a spelling bee.  Basically, How to Spell Like a Champ is your spelling bee bible.The whole thing is masterfully constructed from a learning perspective, with loads of short punchy sections, anecdotes from previous bee champions, sample word lists, spelling strategies, and spelling games. In fact, you can flip this book open at just about any page and you'll have a fascinating read. Read more...
Idiot's Guide to Crossword PuzzlesMatt Gaffney, the author of Idiot's Guide to Crossword Puzzles , is a renowned crossword constructor, and a very natural teacher. I've bought a lot of books that claim to be about crossword-solving, but shortly after they arrive on my doorstep I discover that they are little more than an excuse to wrap up yet another collection of a hundred puzzles between two covers, and throw on a $20 price tag. Although there are certainly loads of practice puzzles in this book, the aim is genuinely to teach the reader how to solve puzzles, by revealing the devious tricks and ploys of evil crossword constructors. I learned a ton of useful tips in this book, and also enjoyed the many Quick Quad puzzles strewn throughout it. I don't enjoy many of the Idiot's Guide series, because I find them condescending and a bit disorganized in their attempts to over-simplify things. But this is one of a very small number of exceptions.
Word Freak  One day, a sports journalist by the name of Stefan Fatsis rolled up to a North American Scrabble club, hoping to observe the culture of competitive Scrabble for a book he was writing. Instead, he became a part of it. Word Freak Know of a Good Book about
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Go on. Tickle my whiskers ;-)
Test Yourself!
This selection comes from an impressive vocabulary program I started playing around with a year or so ago. It's based on a huge dictionary of 150,000 words taken from all the 'big name' vocabulary courses and exams.
This Is Two Time
USA Memory Champion
Ron White
To see Ron in action
Click Here