The Puzzle Instinct

One of the most famous anagrams of all time was constructed in the Middle Ages. The unknown author contrived it as a Latin dialogue between Pilate and Jesus. Jesus' answer to Pilate's question "What is truth?" is phrased as an ingenious anagram of the letters of that very question: Pilate: Quid est veritas? ("What is truth?") Jesus: Est virqui adest. ("It is the man before you"). The most obvious explanation for the popularity of puzzles is that they provide a form of constructive entertainment. But in The Puzzle Instinct Marcel Danesi contends that the fascination with puzzles throughout the ages suggests something much more profound. Puzzles serve a deeply embedded need in people to make sense of things. Emerging at the same time in human history as myth, magic, and the occult arts, the puzzle instinct, he claims, led to discoveries in mathematics and science, as well as revolutions in philosophical thought. Puzzles fill an existential void by providing "small-scale experiences of the large-scale questions that Life poses. The puzzle instinct is, arguably, as intrinsic to human nature as is humor, language, art, music, and all the other creative faculties that distinguish humanity from all other species". Marcel Danesi is Professor of semiotics and linguistics at the University of Toronto and Director of the Program in Semiotics and Communication Theory. He is also cross-appointed as a professor of education, having established a continuing studies mathematics program for students with difficulties in this subject. He has published widely on matters regarding learning and, more recently, on how problem solving can best be approached from the cultural angle. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1998. His publications include Vico, Metaphor, and the Origin of Language (Indiana University Press, 1993); Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence (1994); Increase Your Puzzle IQ (1997); Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to Semiotics (1999, with Paul Perron); Analyzing Cultures: An Introduction & Handbook (Indiana University Press, 1999, with Thomas A. Sebeok); The Forms of Meaning: Modeling Systems Theory and Semiotic Analysis (2000); and Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications (2000).