What does everyone who becomes a pop culture phenom experiencing his/her 15 minutes do? Of course, write a book. And I usually roll my eyes as I see them on the "New Releases" shelf, envisioning them several months later on the "Discounted so you can buy them as gifts for people who will never read them" shelf. Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings, record setting Jeopardy! winner, is a notable exception!
This book was passed along to me by Vicky, of the Vicky/Donnie team of Curious, Competitive, Compulsive Trivia Buffs. If you are into trivia, Vicky is the Mom of Taylor who won the Teen/Tween Division of my BAFAB contest last week. Regardless of the fact that Stacy's husband Michael and I beat them at Trivial Pursuit (the end result is still a matter of contentious debate), I defer to them as the King and Queen of Trivia...until Hurley and I get them on a level playing field and knock them on their asses!
I expected Brainiac to be the typical "Capitalize on the Notoriety" book...quick bucks, little substance...but was most pleasantly surprised. Ken Jennings, whose Jeopardy! run I had heard of but not witnessed as Jeopardy! hour is dinner hour at our house, is a self-deprecating, self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for trivia. He wrote a book that was not a self-promoting account of his 75 appearances on Jeopardy! but instead an interesting analysis of trivia, an exploration of its history and a gentle-but-candid description of the geeks who love it (I use the word "geek" with the fondness of one who aspires to be one). Jennings intersperses (has anyone noticed that "intersperse" is a prevalent word in my book reviews? synonyms anyone?) details of his Jeopardy! experience with descriptions of his meetings with trivia gurus, travels to marathon annual trivia contests, memory-lane trips to the College Bowl years, participation in a pub trivia challenge and a steakhouse NTN experience leaving him in NTN ignominy and his handset covered in steak sauce.
Jennings' total winnings are mentioned only a few times in the book while the words "geek" and "nerd" appear frequently and with pride. The most fun aspect of the book is that in each chapter trivia questions are mentioned with a superscript number relating to the answer at the end of the chapter. So we fellow trivia geeks and nerds can play along. Yes! I totally knew that a cloche (French for "bell"...I knew those 7 years of French were going to get me more than a glass of wine and as many chocolate croissants as I wanted in Paris!) was a brimless hat popular in the '20's. And what drugs were replaced by penicillin in WWII? Duh, did I not just recently review The Demon Under the Microscope by Tom Hager which detailed just that? (I love mentioning his book in later posts, because it usually elicits an e-mail from the author with some new tidbit...and makes me feel important in my very small world of book reviewing!)
So, if you are a trivia nerd or geek, relax...you are in good company. In addition to the humble millionaire Ken Jennings, you share a passion with Tom Hanks, Chief Justice Rehnquist, Bill Clinton, Thomas Edison and Maya Angelou. Now there is a group I would love to have around my dining room table for a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit! Brainiac is a truly enjoyable surprise from an author who you just have to love!
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