We were delighted by this 5-star review of our own This Book is a Cactus:

The enjoyably surreal experience of reading a book that is in process of being a cactus

This Book is a Cactus is something quite unique. A friend recommended it to me, and as I have coworkers that I enjoy discussing interesting books and puzzles with, I picked up a copy and did not regret it.

For those wondering about the format of the book, since the description mentions a 'virtual game board', the most similar concept (familiar to most people who grew up in the US after the 1970s) would be a 'choose your own adventure' book with more puzzles (not the content, only as a format reference).

Initially, my interest in the book was in the overall concept and the puzzles, but quickly I found myself drawn to the prose. It may be a matter of personal taste, but from my perspective the writing and pacing of this book is brilliant. For something that is broken up by decision trees and puzzles, the vignettes and more narrative text joining things together flow incredibly well, but strangely work well as discrete passages. It’s fairly difficult to describe, but it can work as a semi-long form experience, and also as series of short entries (similar to a chapbook of poems) that although are not always dependently connected to the next section of text, did keep propelling me forward. I would read a few (more than I had planned to) ‘pages’ or ‘make a few decisions’ each night before sleep and it would put a healthy amount of strangeness into my subconscious.

As a game, I’m not convinced that there is much ‘replay’ value in the book after you have encountered each of the pages or puzzles in a few different orders. As a mix of narrative and puzzles, replay value is largely irrelevant for the genre. As a work of art, ‘This Book is a Cactus’ is a real achievement. Aesthetically, this needs to be a physical book and the excellent illustrations accompanying the text fit perfectly. Conley’s writing has a unique tone that can mix warm humor, surrealism, literate references, with a touch of gray metaphysical and esoteric mystery. If I can employ a less-literary comparison, the feeling I was struck with when reading much of this book, was similar to viewing the first scene in episode 8 of Twin Peaks. It doesn’t shift into the wacky or caustic styles of some other texts dealing with the esoteric. ‘This Book is a Cactus’ employs a calm wit, for a warm mystery, in a foggy, endless bookshelf that might be a greenhouse or more.

I foresee and predict that after finishing each page that I will, every now and then, down the road, spot this book on my shelf and pick it up and explore again. By ‘explore’, I mean to give my cactus life.

"I’ll never finish this book, I think.  It is a succulent to carry through life.  It is so playful and smart and rhizomatic.  I love the virtual game structure:  just enough structure to give it a 'plot' but not enough structure to turn your cactus into a tree.  This Book is a Cactus is really inspired and excellent." —Lawrence Hass, Ph.D.

"What an intriguing, fun, lovely book with Oddfellow's usual quirky, oblique poetic, metaphysic dry humour and bibliophillic joie de livre. " —Gary Barwin, author of Yiddish for Pirates

Here's a connect-the-dots game for those who just can't be bothered, from Vegetable Staticks, 1727.

Can you guess the caption of this illustration from St. Nicholas magazine, 1876?  The answer is in black text on a black background; highlight it to view: "What my little brother thinks."

Q: Which teacup contains the tempest?  (You might wonder if it's the upside down cup, but then you might wonder whether the upside down cup is too obvious.)

A: (Highlight to reveal.)  It's the upside down teacup.

Apparently he only rolls his own.  From Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair by Henry Morley, 1892.

What do we like about this crossword-like design from The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by R. F. Burton, 1894?  Those squares for one-letter words!

How can you tell that these letters are for a newscaster?  Because they spell out ANCHORMAN BILLETS.  (The answer is in black text on a black background.  Highlight to view.)