Snag Brainiac: Adventures In The Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World Of Trivia Buffs Chronicled By Ken Jennings Listed As Digital Copy
about Ken Jennings and the subject of trivia! Jennings' gentle, nerdy, selfdeprecating humor is a soothing balm for an overexposure to Chicago snarkiness present Chicago buds excluded, of course :o.
He reads like I fear I sound, although I don't have close to the knowledge base he draws upon, Good grief, I hope I'm not as knowitall as that, Entertaining look into the history of trivia, it's current forms and festivals, and a behindthescenes viewpoint of Jeopardy!, Enjoyable read and endorsed by Will Shortz, I really enjoyed reading this book! As a frequent viewer of Jeopardy and a minor trivia nerd, how could I not It was fun to hear about Ken Jennings' experience during his historic run on Jeopardy, but it was nice that the book wasn't just that.
The history of trivia was fun to read about as well, This book was written just a few years after Ken Jennings' initial appearance on Jeopardy, so I wish that he would come out with a new edition that included his experiences during champion tournaments, producing, and guest hosting the show.
Great read! InKen Jennings wongames in a row on Jeopardy, answered,questions correctly, and won,million dollars. He is the King of Trivia,
This book takes you behind the fascinating scenes of Alex Trebec and the Jeopardy subculture,shows are taped all in one day, Jennings barely had time to catch his breath between shows, . oh and put on a new outfit to look like it is a new day Alex is very good at saying "Yesterday our champion Ken won," when really it wasminutes ago.
Always double check your math, . it has happened in final jeopardy that someone lost because they bet the wrong amount, Jennings of course prefers when games are lockedthat is when you have more than double your competitors at time of final jeopardy, Ken once hadlocked games in a row, You are not allowed to tell anyone except your spouse the results of the show often it is not on TV for anothermonths, Jennings a computer programmer who lives in SLC and attended BYU had to make elaborate stories for why he was missing work and flying to LAX every Wednesday, You can study for jeopardyknow your presidents, world capitals, and mixed drinks even if you are Mormon,
Halfway through Jennings run, . the producers became nervous and wondered if ratings would fail if Jennings just kept winning, They changed the buzzer system, Jennings felt like returning champions have a large advantage knowing just when to "ring in" watch the light not the wordswhen it flashes wait just a moment and then hit the button like crazy.
Jennings also felt that within Jeopardy there was some gender preference Jeopardy almost always has one female playing each game even though trivia buffs are mostly men, Jennings tried out and it tookmonths to get on the show, . it usually took female competitors about one month,
The book also highlights other trivia competitions, . it turns out Carleton College my father's alma mater is known to be annual trivia champions, For fun Jennings interspersestrivia questions in each chapter for fun: Papua New Guinea is the only country besides Australia with Kangaroos, The philtrum is between the mouth and nose, Barbie's full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts,
stars. Fun book at Jennings comes across unassuming and very likable, I started watching Jeopardy again when Austin a quirky bartender from NYC went on a good run, I'm not sure how I missed Jennings streakmaybe I had no TV or cable at the time, Did anyone else watch Jenning's run, . it would have been captivating, I wonder if it will ever happen again, I liked learning about Ken Jennings' trivia journey specifically, as well as the world of trivia in general, If you're any kind of a Jeopardy geek, this is required reading, as uberwinner Ken Jennings tells the tale of how he came to be on the show and win his historicgames.
But beyond that, Brainiac is a thoroughly entertaining history of trivia or, of the universallyaddictive pastime of asking and answering obscure general knowledge questions, Jennings did great research, and writes with a denselypacked brevity and wicked sense of humor,
And best of all, there are great trivia questions sprinkled throughout the narrative, so you can test your knowledge, Цікава розповідь про квізи та телевікторини в США на тлі спогадів про знамениту серію перемог Кена Дженнінґза в Jeopardy. Як виявилось, любителів "свояка" та інших задротів вистачає і в усіх інших країнах світу, хоча ми про це дуже мало знаємо. "Brainiac" by Ken Jennings has been at the top of my list for over a year and I was on the waiting list at the library for almost as long.
Why Because I idolize the man, Only Ken Jennings would understand my need for a daily fix of trivia, I wasn't disappointed by the book, although I did find myself skipping large portions about the history of trivia and college quiz bowl formats, etc, I was delighted to find that my Ken jennings was every bit as intelligent as I imagined, and an incredibly entertaining writer, Several times, I found myself laughing out loud as he poked fun at himself and his self proclaimed geekiness, That being said, I also discovered that he is just an average guy, and Mormon to boot!
I also loved to read about Jeopardy!: the audition and tsting process, and the way the show is run.
I was surprised to see the level of noncomraderie that exsisted between Jennings and Trebek, I always thought that they were so buddy buddy,
I loved the book, though for some reason it took me quite a while to finish, It was so fun to answer the questions that were scattered throughout the book, For example, did you know that Descartes had a fetish for crosseyed women Did you know that opossums havenipples Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented the flexible urine catheter Did you know that the carrot was bred by Dutch growers to honor their royal family, the House of Orange Did you know that California, not Utah consumes more JellO than any other state It was also quite exhilarating to find that I knew the Final Jeopardy answer that finally caused Jennings's elimination after more than six months on the show.
You'll have to read the book to find out what it was,
Anyway, the book is great and I think all you geeks out there should give it a try, Enjoy!!! Remember Ken Jennings, the guy who wonconsecutive games on Jopardy!and over,million dollars in the process Well, this is his story, But it's more than just the story of how he got onto the show and won its a history of trivia, From the quiz books of the Jazz Age to the college bowls of thes to Trivial Pursuit in thes, it's all here, And guess what Ken is a funny guy! This was actually enjoyable to read, An added bonus are the trivia questions interjected into each chapter, Finally, the book asks the reader to consider some broader philosophical questions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence, Are there really such things as useless facts Does trivia serve some purpose Maybe it's just because I'm a nerd, but I really enjoyed this book, He talks about trivia a lot, I guess that makes sense, it wasn't really a memoir, Maybe I thought it'd be more memoir, Some of the trivia sections are good, some are way too clearly bought and paid for by Trivial Pursuit, My editor usually asks "Are they paying you" when somebody uses a corporations name in their work, Ken Jennings was definitely getting paid,
Kinda a funny dude though, I found Ken Jennings a positively delightful author despite the fact that I was predisposed to love him with the loyalty of someone who watched nearly all of his JEOPARDY! appearances.
This work is far more than theminutes of fame bargain book dead weight it could have easily been, Instead, Jennings has carefully penned a masterful yes masterful overview of Trivia in American popculture and interspersed the narrative of his JEOPARDY! experiences in a clever and unassuming way, Plus, there are trivia questions throughout every chapter answered in the endnotes: interactive fun for those of us who grew up with dads that alternately challenged us to yell out more correct answers than they could and vocally abused Mr.
Trebek in ways too obscene to repeat here, Ive had on and off love affair of the mind with Jeopardy for ages, I always enjoy it, but dont always watch it for practical uninteresting reasons, although this year Ive watched every episode thus far, I play along on Jeopardy, com and once a year completely mess up the Jeopardy test due to inexplicable inability to perform under strict time limit, The pinnacle of this decades long passion has certainly been Ken Jennings, the player extraordinaire with his uncontestedappearances back inwow, its been that long, scary how time moves andwins.
Defeated in the final game by Nancy Zerg and a Final Jeopardy question so easy, I figured it out right away, But then again no ones heard of Zerg or me for that matter and Ken Jennings remain a legend, At least among the trivia lovers who are the subject of and the target audience for this book, Jennings recollection of his time on Jeopardy and his travels in the land of random knowledge geeks, something of a memoir, something of a love letter, entertaining, informative and laden with fun facts readers can try to puzzle out.
Jeopardys been around for a long time, its a veritable institution and with tv getting progressively dumber, it has always been the shining light of major broadcasting, Trivia isnt as popular in the US as it is in UK or some other countries, then again this is the land that actually sees stupidity as a sort of folksy virtue and among all the rampant anti intellectualism, its always such a pleasure to tune in and see a few bravely smart souls and test your knowledge against them.
I mean, its one thing to suspect youre kinda smart and entirely another to have it be confirmed by national television and the
national treasure that is Alex Trebek, Sure, trivia doesnt precisely equate with intelligence, but as Jennings puts it, they certainly live in the same neighborhood, Im decent at trivia, Jennings has made himself a millionaire through it, a feat positively magical in its improbability, Thats genuinely awesome as in awe inspiring, Of course, Id wanna read a book he wrote, In fact did in the past, the one about maps, a very good one, No idea what took me so long with Brainiac, The guy can actually write pretty well, hes erudite and funny and pleasantly self effacing, not just a witty face, forgive the terrible attempt at a pun, Plus it was fascinating to peek behind the proverbial curtain at one of my all time favorite shows, check out how the it all works warningits a pretty disappointing experience, far from a romanticized version one might have in mind.
But stillso interesting. And Jennings went on to have a fun life, it seems like, and a decent career as an author, Wish hed write more books for adults, though, Surely kids ones are easier, quicker and financially lucrative, but selfishly I would just love to read more of his books, Theres something very enjoyable about the way he writes, probably because his passion for his subjects and general geekiness comes through so plainly, If you dont care about Jeopardy or trivia, this isnt for you, But for those who get the thrill of knowledge for the sheer sake of knowledge and excitement of storing and producing at the opportune times random facts about random things this is a must.
Very enjoyable read and a great way to spend a rainy Sunday, Really loved it. Some of the parts about trivia groups around the US got a little dry, but a lot of them were fascinating, I found the parts comparing trivia knowledge to intelligence very interesting, Kind of in the same vein as sitelinkMoonwalking with Einstein comparing memory to intelligence, Not the same thing, but they live in the same neighborhood,
Of course I really loved all of the sections on Jeopardy, giving a better context on background of the game, and why Ken has been the only one to have such a long streak.
my high school academic bowl team gets mentioned! a mustread for all academic bowl fiends, I received this as a birthday gift from my mom, which says that she that she probably thinks of me as a "trivia buff" of some sort, That's flattering, particularly since she hardly ever buys me stuff because she's so uncertain of what I'll like,
I liked this book a lot, because it's not just about Ken Jennings experience as a Jeopardy champ, It's really a historical and cultural study of trivia, The books includes a "trivia timeline" and the end, even indentifying the first use of the word "trivia" to refer to esoteric but interesting facts,
I found in Jennings own experience an echo of my own propensity to collect bits of information, not because I want to win on a game show, but because such things might come in handy some day and also because I just can't help myself.
I had a colleague of mine in the English department accuse me of just making stuff up am I the Cliff Clavin of the English Department but honestly I'm not.
I just have a lot of what Dave Barry calls "brain sludge, "
This book is well written, which I'm pleased to see, since Ken Jennings is a graduate of BYU's English Department, We are still waiting for those big donations to our writing program, Read most of this on a trip for work, and it was great airplane reading, very chill, I'm a huge fan of trivia and play pub quiz regularly, so I liked Jennings' history and investigation into trivia in America it really is great to read it coming from a guy who loves trivia and is respectful of all the other kinds of folks who do, too.
Jennings's story of playing Jeopardy! is also a fun, interesting frame, He's a quippy, fun writer, and his casual style was great to read,
As a trivia hound, I appreciated that Jennings peppered the whole thing with trivia, and included the answers at the end of each chapter, As one of those who obsessively watched Ken Jennings meteoric rise to nerdenvied fame on Jeopardy, I thought I'd give this book a shot,
It was really great and entertaining, He tells the tale of his Jeopardy experience, obsession with trivia, the history of trivia and trivia and more trivia and it's a really fun ride, There are parts to skim more quickly than others certainly, but overall, I really enjoyed,.stars.