Brainiac : Adventures in the Curious,
Competitive,
Compulsive World
of Trivia Buffs
by Ken Jennings
Overview
From the Publisher
One day back in 2003, Ken Jennings and his college buddy Earl did what hundreds of thousands of people had done before: they auditioned for Jeopardy! Two years, 75 games, 2,642 correct answers, and over $2.5 million in winnings later, Ken Jennings emerged as trivia’s undisputed king.
Brainiac traces his rise from anonymous computer programmer to nerd folk icon. But along the way, it also explores his newly conquered kingdom: the world of trivia itself.
My thoughts
I was at Barnes & Noble in Topeka, Kansas when I saw this book on the clearance table. I picked it up for a friend of mine who loves trivia, and then got home and wondered if it was on the clearance table for a reason. Unwilling to gift yet another book that I hadn't read, I went home, opened the cover and started reading. To my surprise and delight, I was hooked! The critics are right - Ken Jennings is a talented writer and storyteller as well as the greatest champion in Jeopardy! history!
The author tells the story of trying out for the game, being called to participate, starring in his first episode, and then continuing on for an almost obscene run at success! In-between the story, he talks about his upbringing and travels around to interview other trivia buffs and to research the history of trivia. He also throws interesting trivia questions into the text in a delightful manner!
VERY good book! I'm not a trivia buff but I enjoyed it a lot!
Favorite Passage
Jeopardy!, on the other hand, loves the Puzzler, especially for Final Jeopardy questions, where the contestants have a full thirty seconds to try to duplicate the writers' deductive process. Sometimes coming up with the right response in Final Jeopardy is a matter of reframing the clue in the right way. When I hear, as I do in my seventh game, "This title character, who debuted in 1999, was created by former marine biologist educator Steve Hillenburg,", I'm supposed to mentally rephrase this to, "What pop-culture icon is an obscure underwater creature?"
And in case you're wondering, the answer to the question is SpongeBob SquarePants!
