A.J. Jacobs

It really encourages what I call the puzzling mindset, which is a mindset of deep curiosity and looking for solutions.

Because we are, the media, as you point out, is so problem-oriented.

And it's just, you're hit with this relentless stream of negative news without...

solutions being presented, I love it when you can look for solutions.

There's a great quote I like by Quincy Jones, the late music producer, and his philosophy of life, he said, I don't have problems, I have puzzles.

And it's just that simple reframe

of being like, I can solve this.

I'm going to roll up my sleeves.

It's a challenge, but it's not a crisis.

I'm not going to curl up in the corner in a fetal position.

I'm going to try to make this happen and get to the solution.

I love it.

And I was listening to Hello Puzzlers the other day, and I was noticing what my brain was doing as I was going through one of your puzzles.

And just to, if anyone wants to try it here, it was that there is a South American country

that if you rearrange the letters of the capital, we'll give you the name of another country.

And of course, when you hear that, so then I'm like going through my list of, you know, South American countries, which I probably haven't thought about that much.

But of course, that has to pull back from somewhere in the back of my brain that I had to fill out that geography thing in 10th grade.

And so I'm going back through it like, OK, where is the capital?

Where's the capital?

Hmm.