Product Description

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.

Jennings had always been minutiae-mad, poring over almanacs and TV Guide listings at an age when most kids are still watching Elmo and putting beans up their nose. But 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 hotspots 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. What marsupial has fingerprints that are indistinguishable from human ones?* What planet has a crater on it named after Laura Ingalls Wilder?** What comedian had the misfortune to be born with the name “Albert Einstein”?*** Jennings also ponders questions that are a little more philosophical: What separates trivia from meaningless facts? Is being good at trivia a mark of intelligence? And is trivia just a waste of time, or does it serve some not-so-trivial purpose after all?

Uproarious, silly, engaging, and erudite, this book is an irresistible celebration of nostalgia, curiosity, and nerdy obsession–in a word, trivia.

* The koala
** Venus
*** Albert Brooks

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #353115 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-12
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Did you know that Trivia was a Roman name for the goddess Hecate or that Jeopardy! tapes a week's worth of shows in a single afternoon? Jennings's record-setting 2004 six-month stint on the syndicated TV quiz show won him $2.5 million and instant fame as he landed on Letterman, Leno, Sesame Street and Barbara Walters's "Ten Most Fascinating People" list. Sprinkling trivia questions throughout his first book, the former computer programmer is a charmingly self-deprecating guide to the subculture of esoterica as he relates how he answered his first trivia question about the Wright brothers at four and made his chops on the ego-driven college quiz bowl circuit; confides how he mastered the "tricky" Jeopardy! buzzers; bonds with professional trivia writers; and describes being bested by the puzzler "Most of this firm's seven thousand seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year" (Jennings answered FedEx; H&R Block is correct). You don't have to be a couch potato to answer this: what's an eight-letter word for a highly entertaining, fast-paced read that demystifies "America's most popular and most difficult quiz show" while pondering how trivia is a cultural phenomenon that offers a tidy alternative to life's messiness as well as instant camaraderie between people from different walks of life? (Sept. 12)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Although reality shows and other mindless drivel seem to dominate the TV landscape, it's reassuring that Jeopardy! still remains as a last vestige of academic pursuit in a sea of pop culture. This book provides a behind-the-scenes look at this holy grail of trivia contests.Jennings, perhaps the most famous Jeopardy! winner of all, completed a record 74-game winning streak over a six-month period in 2004, shortly after the five-game limit was lifted. Steeped in the world of trivia, he offers an in-depth history of the young sport, with its roots in English pub contests, the quiz shows (and accompanying scandals) of the 1950s, and the collegiate quiz-bowl circuit, where nerds reign supreme. Jennings informs and astounds us and manages to cram in enough fun facts to keep any trivia nut happy. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Ken Jennings was born in Seattle but spent much of his childhood in Seoul, South Korea. A graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, he worked as a computer programmer until becoming an unlikely celebrity due to his unprecedented record-breaking streak on the television quiz show Jeopardy! He lives outside Salt Lake City with his wife and son. For more information, visit www.ken-jennings.com.

To schedule a speaking engagement, please contact American Program Bureau at www.apbspeakers.com  

Customer Reviews

Ken Jennings Rocks!!!
Ken Jenning's writes as if he is talking with you. He is humble, modest, and yet you know, how bright he really is. His conversational style of writing reminds me of Stephen King. Even Ken's (and Stephen's) forewords and afterwords are interesting and fun to read. I was fascinated by the inside information Ken provided about Jeopardy and his incredible run as champion on the show. That was probably the best part of the book for me. He went into great detail about a huge radio trivia contest held in Wisconsin (I believe) every year. That was somewhat interesting, but I didn't really need quite as much detail as he provided. I, myself, participate in the interactive Buzztime trivia game which is available at many bars throughout the country. Ken gave a brief mention of some of those afficianados of the bar trivia game, but personally I thought he could have spent more time on that. These are people who play trivia year-round, competing with other people throughout the country, sometimes individually, sometimes on teams. They don't just spend one weekend a year doing it. I have since discovered Ken's blog, where he writes almost daily. It is great reading. He is a fascinating, multi-faceted individual, much more than the quiet un-assuming trivia-geek you might assume he is. I would recommend this book highly to anyone who is a Jeopardy or trivia fan.

Ken does a good job
It is a nice read. Lighthearted and really cool to have the little trivia inserted within the body of the text. I very much liked the way it was written and enjoyed it very much.

Fantastic read...highly recommended!
Let's face it: Ken Jennings is a trivia genius, a god of sorts (like Apollo, but not Zeus, a.k.a. Brad Rutter). What surprised me is that Ken is also an excellent writer. He weaves an engrossing tale of childhood gameshow fascination and information obsession that develops into a vehicle for fame and fortune. Yet Ken's modesty about his abilities suggests to me that he hasn't been changed much, if at all, by his successes.

Note that Brainiac is more of a history of trivia competitions and America's preoccupation with quizzes than it is the endeavors of a single Jeopardy champion. Ken's own efforts are indeed detailed throughout the book, but that story is embedded in a larger tapestry that shows the blooming of trivia-related activities over the decades. The humor and interspersed trivia questions make this book one of my very favorites I've read in a while. Be sure to read this one, folks!