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You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed Or you are the only animal

Who can think, who can reason, who can read

Hi, welcome to Bookworm on KCRW

This afternoon we have an unusual show.

It's more of a quest or saga story than the usual interview program,

but it will include poems by James Merrill,

sections from a novel by George Perrek,

and a fascinating interview with the puzzle maker from Vermont,

Steve Richardson of Stave Puzzles.

In fact, my subject is literature and puzzles.

It's one that's fascinated me probably all my life

from the very first day my mother bought me my first copy of Alice in Wonderland. When I was a student at the State University

of New York at Buffalo, and like most students always moving, one day I was moving the things of my

friend Marilyn. She had many boxes and trunks. We loaded them into a truck, and I found among her possessions one rattling, noisy, black box, and I asked Marilyn what was in it.

She said, oh, that's just a jigsaw puzzle. My grandmother gave it to me. I inherited it from her. I said, a jigsaw puzzle, but there's no picture on the box.

I opened the box there,

hand carved, out of wood,

was the most beautiful puzzle, all in pieces that I'd ever seen. Even the pieces were special.

...