Brainiac
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Brainiac by Ken Jennings
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . A witty, charming, and engaging dive into trivia's colorful history, from America's highest-earning game show contestant of all time and host of Jeopardy!"Insightful, informative, and written with a strong dose of humor and humility. . . . I loved this book."-Will Shortz, crossword editor, The New York Times
Ken Jennings is trivia's undisputed king-and as he traces his rise from anonymous computer programmer to nerd folk icon, he explores his newly conquered kingdom- the world of trivia itself.
Trivia, he has found, is centuries older than his childhood obsession with it. Whisking us from the coffeehouses of seventeenth-century London to the Internet age, Jennings chronicles the ups and downs of the trivia fad- the quiz book explosion of the Jazz Age; the rise, fall, and rise again of TV quiz shows; the nostalgic campus trivia of the 1960s; and the 1980s, when Trivial Pursuit again made it fashionable to be a know-it-all.
Jennings also investigates the shadowy demimonde of today's trivia subculture, guiding us on a tour of trivia across America. He goes head-to-head with the blowhards and diehards of the college quiz-bowl circuit, the slightly soused faithful of the Boston pub trivia scene, and the raucous participants in the annual Q&A marathon in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, "The World's Largest Trivia Contest." And, of course, he takes us behind the scenes of his improbable 75-game run on Jeopardy!
But above all, Brainiac is a love letter to the useless fact. (Who knew that there's a crater on Venus named after Laura Ingalls Wilder? Ken Jennings, that's who.) Engaging and erudite, Brainiac is an irresistible celebration of nostalgia, curiosity, and geeky obsession-in a word, trivia.
Because I Said So! and Because I Said So! are Ken Jennings' critically praised New York Times bestsellers. Sinbad was his favorite comic as a kid.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780812974997 |
| ISBN 10 | 0812974999 |
| Title | Brainiac |
| Author | Ken Jennings |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Random House USA Inc |
| Year published | 2007-10-30 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |