Brainiac

Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

by Ken Jennings, Ken Jennings

Paperback, 269 pages

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2007 by Random House Inc.

ISBN:: 978-0-8129-7499-7
OCLC Number:: 177247988

(7 reviews)

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 BrooksFrom the Hardcover edition.

4 editions

Ell reviewed Brainiac by Ken Jennings

Review of 'Brainiac' on Goodreads

4 stars

As a former knowledge bowl kid, this book was right up my alley. It didn't hurt that it was by the delightful Ken Jennings, and is in the same vein as [b:Word Freak|8954|Word Freak Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE Players|Stefan Fatsis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389250256s/8954.jpg|3163711] and [b:The Know-It-All|17562178|The Know-it-all Girl|Joanna Foreman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362834375s/17562178.jpg|24493822], both of which I loved.

If anyone is going to take your hand and whisk you through the history of trivia, it'd better be Ken Jennings. In addition to being the indisputably most famous trivia persona in the nation - admittedly, not a field with a lot of competition - he's smart as hell, has all the wit you could ask for, and is just a fun, funny guy who knows how to not take himself too seriously.

The book itself is well put together - wandering purposefully but amblingly through the history of trivia, from the first primordial question-answer games to the first of the great quiz shows, through the juggernaut that is Trivial Pursuit with all of its quirks and legal intricacies, up to the modern-day TV pushbutton trivia, quiz bowl, and crazy regional trivia contests. The book is chock full of fun facts and tidbits, but more enjoyably, a whole lot of interesting, quirky, and fun people that Ken meets along the way, gets to know, and introduces us to.

I'd totally recommend this book to anyone, but if you're a trivia fan - be it a pub trivia regular or a knowledge/quiz bowl alum - you definitely need to pick it up.