by Ken Jennings
First published 2006
Ken Jennings transforms from anonymous computer programmer to trivia celebrity after winning 75 consecutive Jeopardy games and earning over $2.5 million. His journey began in 2003 when he and college friend Earl auditioned alongside hundreds of thousands of hopefuls. Jennings traces trivia's evolution from seventeenth century London coffeehouses through the Jazz Age quiz book boom, television's golden era of game shows, and the Trivial Pursuit craze of the 1980s. He ventures into America's trivia underground, battling college quiz bowl competitors, joining Boston pub trivia regulars, and participating in Wisconsin's massive annual contest. Between behind-the-scenes Jeopardy stories and encounters with dedicated trivia enthusiasts, Jennings examines deeper questions about knowledge, intelligence, and obsession. The book celebrates curiosity while asking whether mastering random facts represents genuine learning or elaborate mental collecting.
Genres: computers, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: underdog
Setting: America, Boston, London, Wisconsin
Period: Jazz Age, Seventeenth Century
288 pages · Hardcover · Villard