You probably know the phrase: A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. It was used to test typewriters, because it has all the letters of the alphabet.

I recently read a strikingly clever book based on that sentence that I think will appeal to many of my software buddies: Ella Minnow Pea (i.e., LMNOP) by Mark Dunn. It's about the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina where Nevin Nollop, the alleged originator of the "quick brown fox" sentence, lived and died and was deeply revered.

There's a statue of Nollop in the fictional town square, and it's affixed with the quick brown fox sentence, one letter per tile. One of the tiles falls off and smashes, and the town fathers determine that it's a message from the dear-departed Nollop that the fallen letter should no longer be used in any communication among the townfolks. Another tile falls, and then another, and each time, use of the letter on that tile is purged from use, with severe penalties for violations.

Here's the clever part: Each time a letter is purged from the residents' communication, it's also purged from the remainder of the book, and all subsequent chapters are written without it. And since, due to a plot device, the entire book is written in the form of letters and email messages among the townsfolks, you get to chuckle over the inspired ways they go about conveying their thoughts without resorting to the missing letters.

As tiles continue to fall and the number of remaining letters dwindles, the situation gets worse and worse—but better and better for readers who are word lovers. And then there are the plot twists—the townsfolks aren't blithely sitting back tolerating this worsening situation.

'Nuff said. Check it out.