What is it about puzzles that drives us to figure them out? In this unique and innovative book, Bret L. Rothstein explores how mechanical problems delight and frustrate us, distracting our attention from recognizably useful activities and directing it toward something that may be even more important.
All too often puzzles can seem like some kind of cruel test to be beaten or passed. But according to Rothstein, they really want nothing more than for us to drop what we are doing and play. In that way, they can actually enhance consciousness, as we are perhaps never more aware than when we grapple with an object that refuses to satisfy our expectations. The Shape of Difficulty is an ode to and exploration of these unruly objectsRubik's cubes, geometric dissections, secret-opening boxes, string disentanglements, and so many morethat bring interpretive failure out of the shadows and allow it to take center stage in physical ways. While many puzzles may offer perceptible expressions of mathematical concepts, logical propositions, and logistical problems, this book urges readers to dwell for a while with objects that, built specifically to be misunderstood, demand that we reconsider our approaches to understandingand, in the bargain, how we conceive of the interpretive self.
Drawing on landmark theories of play, Rothstein's richly illustrated meditation on our fascination with objects reveals the lasting allure of puzzles while underscoring the intellectual worth of doubt, failure, and idle time.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Some Potentially Useful Terms
Introduction: What We Talk About When We Talk About Difficulty
1 Simplicity and the Perils of Common Sense
2 Complexity and the Problem of Finding Your Way
3 De-emphasis and the Force of Mental Rumor
4 Misdirection and the Question of Interpretive Congruence
5 Subject and Not-Subject in Enigmatology
Conclusion: Why Bother
Notes
Bibliography
Index
“Embracing difficulty rather than avoiding it, Rothstein reveals a rich landscape of feints and foils, challenging chokepoints and seductive passageways. From classic burr and disentanglement puzzles to elegant puzzle boxes and even more baffling devices, come explore the pleasures of tactility, dexterity, geometry, problem-solving, but also the tantalizing appeal of misdirection and defeat, however temporary. This book will appeal to puzzlers seeking a more sophisticated philosophy of their art form, but also to anyone interested in the scholarship on play and games.”
—Alexander R. Galloway, author of Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture
