Monthly Archives: October 2014

My New Book

Acrostica

If you’re looking for Acrostica XIII — volume thirteen — here’s a link to purchase it directly from the printer!

https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=jmdNK1LexoWx6KZh1Cpt0J3oYty26IWe9Sk4K7LiSq

They say any idiot can publish a book these days, and to prove that’s true, my books of “double acrostics,” or “anacrostics,” are available to order from bookstores or on Amazon. “What’s a double acrostic?” you ask. Well, funny you should ask because I’m here to tell you.

Everybody knows about crossword puzzles but acrostic puzzles are a bit more obscure. Invented by Elizabeth Kingsley in 1934, there has been a small but devout following ever since.

Acrostic puzzles start with a quote from a book. The letters of the quote are rearranged to form words, with the restriction that the first letters of those words will spell the name of the author and the title of the book. Those words must then be guessed from clues given, and once guessed, the letters filled in to form the quote. It might be relatively difficult to start solving the puzzle, but by the end of the process the words come more quickly as the quote becomes clearer.

Acrostic puzzles today can be found periodically in newspapers like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on the weekends. I began writing them in the early 2000’s, and then started a website to display them and allow visitors to solve them. The website is gone now, replaced by the first four (out of thirteen) volumes of puzzle books (titled “Acrostica”), each volume containing fifty puzzles. I like to find unusual words and use them in the puzzles, hence the slogan “Puzzles for Logophiles.” If you enjoy word puzzles and especially if you like to find unusual words, give them a try!

 

Who?

General Information

I grew up thinking that “Michael Dickman” was an unusual name. So in the late 1970s when it was time to publish my first paper, I went with my first name and last name only. A short time later the professor who was submitting the paper called me into the office. “There’s another chemist named Michael Dickman,” he informed me, “an organic chemist in Canada, who has published papers before you. We need to change your name.” So I added my middle initial, and from then on published as Michael H. Dickman. But, what an odd coincidence, I thought. Both of us chemists, publishing papers. It gave me an undeserved feeling of pride in my name, a feeling that us Michael Dickmans weren’t just nobodies, we were making a difference in the world.

Fast forward a couple of decades to the advent of the internet and searching with Google or various predecessors. Another Michael H. Dickman author popped up, involved with learning or leadership or both. And then there was a Michael Dickman who published poetry, and one who was in Minority Report, the movie based on a Philip K. Dick story. Oh, wait, those last two are the same person, and he has a twin brother Matthew.

Well, at least the twin wasn’t also called Michael. So now I’m like, “Get off my lawn, you kids!” Because middle initial.