I have no idea where I stumbled across this book. At first, I thought it was The Allusionist or 99% Invisible podcasts, but can’t find any mention of it on their sites and there’s nothing on NPR, aside from a review which I usually avoid, points to where it came from. I also didn’t purchase it from Amazon or any other online book retailer, so I must’ve randomly picked it up in a physical store and not tracked the purchase.
I’m glad I picked it up though! Not because I play SCRABBLE, because I’m not great at it, but because it just had a great title and subtitle and I figured it’d be an interesting read and it truly was.
Word Nerd is basically the history of tournament/competitive strategy from the former executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association. And it’s a fascinating meandering story that crosses multiple continents and numerous decades.
Williams did a great job of weaving his story and journey as a grammar nerd and novice SCRABBLE player to his time heading the entire association and basically being THE press person for all things SCRABBLE into the history of the tournaments and the unique players and their personalities. There were so many stories around the tournaments that made me grin because it was such a tight-knit community that looked for each other and was full of wonderful weirdos that loved the game.
The most fascinating part for me was the portion Williams saved till last and I think really didn’t do justice: women champions and players. He talked about math versus literacy and how that could be it, he interviewed two of the top female players and the only female champion, but no one had a real explanation. I’m sure there are other works out there that go into this and why there has only ever been one female adult and one female school champion. And maybe one day I’ll go read them.
Recommendation: This was a fun, totally random book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I’m still baffled about where or when I picked this up, but that doesn’t really matter. I read this in one sitting (heck yeah, vacation poolside reading) and really enjoyed Williams’s conversational tone and meandering stories that all tied together over his roughly 25-year career with the National SCRABBLE Association.
Opening Line: “When I was sixteen years old, my parents summoned me into the small den of our suburban home on Long Island.”
Closing Line: “I knew everything was going to be okay.” (Not whited out as this is a work of nonfiction.)