Rating: 
Summary: NOT A BLUE-HAIR
Review: I enjoyed Word Freak tremendously. It is not the kind of book that you have trouble putting down or can't wait to pick up again, but, nonetheless, informative and entertaining. While I do not have blue hair (although I'm probably in that age category), I took offense to his obvious abhorrence of blue-hairs (I don't think I've seen blue hair since the early '50s)and the connotation was used all through the book. I almost trashed it 20 times, but being such a good read, decided to finish it, and glad I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Well told.
Review: This was about scrabble, but it could just have easily been about chess or horseracing or even golf. The portraits of personalities are fascinating. I hope that someday he'll write a follow-up book, a whatever-happened-to accounting of the participants. I don't play scrabble either; but I understand the universal compulsion toward obsession. A great read!
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Summary: A Biblical comfort to Scrabble addicts
Review: This book lets you know you're not alone in your addiction to Scrabble. It soothes your soul by sharing stories of others' addiction to the game and how they went on to win worldwide championships and now play the game with whatever they can get to sit opposite them at the cement picnic tables in the parks. It reveals how the Hasbro Scrabble game is bent against the human player, hence, after an eight-hour battle with Maven you can walk away knowing the odds were stacked against you in the end. It's a book a Scrabble addict will be amazed even exists, which will bring to question how Fatsis came to tear himself away from the game long enough to write the book...(but he was doing "research" only). It will be hard for a true Scrabble addict to stop playing long enough to read this book. In the end, Fatsis is just a messenger from another world...A world that makes sense perhaps only to the "Scrabblites" within its orbit.
Rating:
Summary: Word Freak
Review: What a great book! A hobbiest in the world of Scrabble, I picked this book up thinking I might learn a thing or two. Boy was I impressed. I really had no idea how intense things got. Fastis got into the world of Scrabble while learning about it first hand. You have wonderful glimpses into the quirks of the dedicated players who will do anything for the glory of being the highest ranked Scrabble player. He brings snapshots of the competition and dedication of players who will receive no great monetary prizes or front headlines for their accomplishments, but who do it for the personal accomplishment. Scrabble is a fascinating combination of math, word knowledge, startagy and the luck of the draw. We are shown how individual players succeed and learn their personal stratagies for becoming an expert. As Faustis himself becomes intrenched in the world of Scrabble, we witness first hand the personal drive involved with winning and the frustrations of having missed a hook, anagram, bingo, etc., Anyone interested in Scrabble or linguistics will be interested in this book. I highly reccommend this books for anyone looking for a good read!!
Rating:
Summary: Rack it up
Review: I love this book. Fatsis lives the world of the Scrabble elite while taking us on his own journey to Scrabble greatness. For two years Fatsis turned tiles, travelling around the country and across the world to the Nationals. People who play this game for a living are very weird and seem to have great trouble fitting in anywhere but in this game world, but even among other word freaks they still maintain a kind of distance.I would have loved this book a lot more if I enjoyed the writing, which I mostly didn't. I simply don't like Fatsis's style. His tone is uneven, he seems to write for teenagers, and the book is not well organized or conceived. But he's a remarkable researcher and is not afraid to tell it like it is, so I admire him for that. Reading this book sent me back to my own Scrabble board, which had been gathering dust for some time. Thank you, Mr. Fatsis, for that. Until the obsession again dies down, the words will swirl in my head, and I'll be daydreaming, looking for tags and triple-triples.
Rating:
Summary: Superb....If You're A Word Freak, Or Want To Understand One
Review: Are you the type of person who looks at a newspaper or magazine headline and silently calculates what its score would be on a Scrabble board? Do obscure words and word games fascinate you? If you answered yes, you should love this book. I've been a kitchen table Scrabble player for more than 30 years now, so found this impossible to resist. The author takes us inside the world of competitive Scrabble, where a colorful cast of characters compete for cash, and often, for something deeper...a sense of self-worth, a personal validation. For some of these people, Scrabble is an avocation; for others, who do little but prepare for and compete in these tournaments it's become a way of life. Fatsis manages to portray the eccentricities of his subjects in a sympathetic, non-condescending way. This makes the book quite entertaining...but its also informative as well. You can learn quite a bit about Scrabble strategy, as well as the history of this remarkable game.
Rating:
Summary: This is a real page turner, Hillarious,!
Review: I am waiting for the sequel to this funny and engaging book portraying the world of scrabble. You can also hear Steven Fatsis on NPR about sports, I wish he would drop a word about how his scrabble career is going now!
See you online playing scrabble I hope!
Liz McBride
Rating:
Summary: Super Freak ¿ Super Freaky!
Review: Stefan Fatsis' "Word Freak" is a fascinating, if at times intense, look into the world of competitive Scrabble. As a "living room" Scrabble player, I looked forward to the insight that the book might give to my game. What I quickly learned was that I will never be a Scrabble pro - and after reading about those who are, I determined that maybe that is not a bad thing. To call these players quirky is a huge understatement. Most have made Scrabble their life quest - traveling to tournaments all around the country (and the world!) and re-programming their brains to the point where words like "djinny" and "elorst" jump off their racks for big points. At first, the inhabitants of the Scrabble sub-culture are endearing, however over the nearly 400 pages of this account, Fatsis' title tag of "freak" ultimately (and truthfully) rises to the surface. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is the author's own personal journey - from an outsider and Scrabble neophyte (how's that for a word!) to an "expert" ranked player whose obsession with the game nearly rivals the top pro players. It is truly a case of the reporter becoming an integral part of the story as Fastis becomes a full-fledged citizen of this peculiar world. I would guess that this Wall Street Journal sports reporter is still playing competitively these days. Whether readers who do not have a passing knowledge and interest in Scrabble would enjoy this book is hard to say. For a Scrabble fan such as myself, even I was overwhelmed at times with the minutiae of tournament life and word play. Nevertheless, this is a quite entertaining and readable book. That said, I will happily return to the ignorant bliss of amateur Scrabble where ditching a "z" to spell "zoo" for a measly 12 points is a cool move.
Rating:
Summary: Word Freaks, indeed
Review: I must qualify the star rating on this review. If you're not into board games, eccentrics, people with obsessive-compulsive disorders, or niche hobbying, you won't find this book to be all that entertaining; it reads fast, so for those who don't I'd give it three stars. If you *do* like that sort of this, this book is dead-on. Fatsis does an excellent job drawing out the personalities that make the game. But he also delves brilliantly into just enough information about just enough topics to cover the game's beginnings, the corporate ownership battles (and how it changed the success of the tournaments), and the major personalities in the gaming field. At times it seems like the author draws a bit too much on the personalities of the players; I have a vague feeling that the ten contenders or so he profiles are joined by 90 others with no eccentric behavior at all, magnifying the odd behavior. But then I thought about it, and realized the people he's talking about are, indeed, the National and International champions over the past few years. You won't be bored often in his travails, as he talked to the communist, the black-pride activist, the hypochondriac, the ex-Veitnam vet, the stuffed-animal enthusiest, the insecure stand-up comedian, and so on...
Rating:
Summary: Uncovering Scrabble
Review: ALOPRSTY. DJINNI. JINNEE. AVGOLEMONO. ZYZZYVA. Imagine a world in which these words have meaning. They have meaning in the sense that they are words that result in bingos, high scores, and the chance to beat out the opponent. Apparently, competitive Scrabble does exist, run by the National Scrabble Association. In Fatsis' quest to become an expert Scrabble player, he lets us in on the trials of his struggle. What brings Fatsis' quest to life are the experts of the game. No alias names. No lies. Their lifestyles, dreams, failures, quirks, and obsessions are uncovered. Fatsis informs readers that while the obsession with the game may become a detriment to their health and sanity, they are human-beings who have found their way to each other and have been able to bond, forming a social group when they have could not fit in another. The game makes them who they are and winning allows them to feel as if they too exist.
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