I've never known much about the competitive world of playing Scrabble... now I do. A fascinating look at all the details and training that goes into competitive play, along with the history and portraits of successful players over time. I liked that the author's interest in the game progressed from one of an outside journalist to someone who felt accepted and competent at playing with some of the longtime players. All in all, the book was a bit long and overly detailed - I found myself occasionally zoning out as the author described various plays and use of words during gameplay. However, this book did inspire me to get the board game out again... but just for fun.

A very slow read but well done.

This is a world I know nothing about at all (seriously I've never even played living room Scrabble) & it was fascinating to go "behind the curtain" & get to know not only the rules of the game but also the players that make it their passion. There was a fascinating cast of characters & drama but the lengthy explanations got me a little bogged down in the details.

If you have a love of languages, board games, or human idiosyncrasies this is the book for you.

As a long time board game player, this book made me want to compete in national Scrabble competitions. It was cool to witness the experience of the reporter falling into the depths of nerdy competition, though unfortunate he fell to the same problems as many of the other bad sports that throw boards or storm out of the room after a healthy loss. The author talks about how few women win the tournaments and agrees that perhaps women had lives outside of proving themselves over a bunch of tiles (the main response women gave when questioned).

If you like Scrabble, you'll like this book.

If you're a hardcore Scrabble fan, fascinated with bingo words, strategies, and how to use up all the vowels, then this book is for you, but if you're among the rank amateurs (as I am), the text can be fairly tedious or over-long at times. To me, the most interesting aspects were learning more about the often insane lives of the serious, competitive players, and marveling at how insular, argumentative, and sometimes hilariously petty these folks can be when it comes to their game and its rules. Fatsis is a skillful writer, but some judicious editing would definitely improve the pace.