Plus: Check out the movie puzzle game he created exclusively for EW.
EW: You’ve had a lifelong love of solving puzzles.
What compelled you to start researching these puzzles for the book?
Lem Lattimer; Crown
Jacobs:Well, like you said, I am a lifelong puzzler.
That’s not a bad deal.
They’re not a waste of time, they’re not a trivial pursuit.
Everett Collection
The little puzzles help us solve lifes big puzzles.
It’s a scientific fact.
The key is asking questions instead of having a predetermined opinion.
Tell me about the moment you saw that your name was a clue in theNew York Timescrossword.
And then my brother-in-law pointed out correctly that I appeared in theSaturdayNew York Timespuzzle.
And if you know anything about theTimespuzzles, Saturday is the hardest, harder than Sunday.
And all the answers, no one knows them.
So his point was, this is not a compliment.
This is actually proof that I’m completely obscure.
Cause that’s where you see Lady Gaga that’s a Tuesday clue, not AJ Jacobs.
What was the most enlightening or surprising thing that you learned on your journey completing that experiment?
I think it’s interesting because looking back, I can see that that was sort of a puzzle.
All of my books are puzzles in a sense that this was about the puzzle of religion.
Why do people believe it?
And as someone who grew up secular, am I missing something by having no religion?
And the answer was, it’s complicated.
Like everything, there are nuances, there are wonderful things I discovered about religion.
And then there are parts that I still think are extremely dangerous.
There’s also gratitude, that was a big part of the Bible.
Were any of your findings from that time particularly helpful when the pandemic rolled around?
I changed the way I ate and slept, went to the bathroom, and talked to my friends.
Eating real food instead of processed crap.
Also, moving as much as possible.
I wrote the book while walking on a treadmill and I walked a few thousand miles.
I still do that.
Tons of celebrities love puzzles.
Yes, if you’re grossed out, blame him, not me.
I could definitely relate though, there is a dopamine hit when you fit those pieces together.
I even went to the world jigsaw puzzle championship with my family as Team USA.
We did not do well.
We did not represent our country well, so sorry, Americans.
But many celebrities love puzzles, from Jon Stewart to Jesse Eisenberg.
Stephen Sondheim was a huge fan of very tricky British crossword puzzles.
And TV shows and movies feature many puzzles.
Right, there’s tons of anagrams in shows and movies.
Why do you think there’s such a fascination with that jot down of word play in entertainment?
Yes there’s “Redrum” inThe Shining.
InHarry Potter, “Tom Marvolo Riddle” is I am Lord Voldemort.
InThe Simpsons, Bart switches the letters for “cod platter” into cold pet rat.
Not to mention Bart, his name is an anagram for Brat.
I think it’s fun as a writer to put Easter eggs in.
I see puzzles sort of as a sub genre of entertainment.
It creates a sense of camaraderie between her and her fans.
I love celebrities who are really in to puzzles and I think there are a lot of them.
Well I’m going to need to send her a copy ofThe Puzzlernow.
Maybe to one of her 42 houses.
A man is picked up by a fishing boat, but has no memories.
