Earlier today weheardfrom quiz - show whiz Bob Harris – now we ’ve got Ken Jennings , who is famous for give ourfavoriteJeopardy!answer of all time(we also consider he might have gain ground a few games ) . Here ’s what he had to say about the resplendency of geekiness , 4,700 - year - erstwhile true pine Tree , and his neat new Quran , Brainiac :
In the Word you write that " trivia " is n’t of necessity trivial . So how do you define " trivia , " and what bring in for a good piece of it?you may always define " trivia " downward so that it ’s restricted to only truly " trivial " material : different color of kryptonite from oldSupermancomics , or plot of land point from installment of F Troop . But I think , intuitively , most of us do n’t define triviality that way . We see small beer as unusual niggling factoids about any issue , whether it ’s chronicle or skill or hip - hop or college football . And when you count at it that way , you might as well call trivia " ethnic literacy " or " general noesis . " It ’s the hooey that we all should get it on , disregardless of our various upbringing and life history niches , and so it ’s often the shared knowledge that bring in masses together socially . It sparks plane gabfest and first - appointment conversation and kick downstairs the ice at parties .
Also , because trifle incline to be the playfulness , approachable gratuity of the knowledge iceberg , on any subject , it tend to make any open tone likable . You may not think you ’re interested in phytology , but it ’s still sort of cool to know that there ’s a bristlecone pine tree in California that ’s over 4,700 geezerhood old . Maybe you could n’t care less about opera house , but it ’s interesting that the the legendary composer Puccini love fast cars and was , in fact , nearly killed in one of Italy ’s first car clank . Trivia can be the pes in the room access that makes you require to learn more about a new and perhaps forbidding subject .
You and Stephen Colbert are on the room to coining a new word:“Poindexterity . “Colbert ’s kind of a geek himself , but he ’s staggeringly popular – so are nerd / geek / etc becoming the popular kids ? Can " Poindexterity " be cool?InBrainiac , I draw obscure my trivia light under a bushel sometime around puberty , when I started to see how society at large regarded trivia nerds . There ’s no ground to be a graceless know - it - all , but I agree that the stain against swot / geeks is on the way out , for a couple reasons . One is that we ’re all " geek " ( i.e. encyclopedic experts ) about some subject , our own pet depicted object , today . It might be James Bond or hockey or food trivia orLost , but everyone ’s a trivia " eccentric " about something . Secondly , the decades - old jock / nerd battle has sort of petered out latterly . The young technical school bazillionaires today are all nerds . All the biggest hit movies are about hobbit and boy wizards and superheroes and other grind icons . In a way , the wonk acquire .
You ’ve said that fan seem to keep spare - hard trivia on bridge player just for you . How often do you get stumped ? And why do you remember people have this urge to essay you?I’m genuinely stamp pretty often , mostly because it ’s hard to forge honorable trifle than most citizenry think . Ideally trivia question should be both interesting and attainable , but a more common layperson ’s approach is , " Let me ask the most unnoticeable thing I can think of about the 1959 Detroit Tigers " or whatever their preferred interest is . I cheerfully get these questions wrong , and felicitate them on their noesis , but I do n’t feel too bad about it .
I conceive the impetus to dais is pretty common among trivia buff . It ’s not enough to know something : you have to show that you know more of something than someone else . I ’d care to see trivia as more collaborative enterprise – I always love hear new weird titbit from other people . There ’s a camaraderie that come from that form of shared cognition which is , to me , more rewarding than the free-enterprise kick of merely show off .
One of your earmark onJeopardy!was moving systematically down the control board . Why do it that way ? And what do you think were your most important get ahead strategies?Moving methodically downJeopardy!categories is n’t uncommon – in fact , the show recommend it . It ’s sluttish to fall out at home , and it also helps actor acclimatize to a class before obtain to the really hard clues . I would say my recommendedJeopardy!strategy comes down to two things : at - dwelling house preparation , and conservative wagering . Watching the show religiously at home will avail you see your strong and weak points , and what mutual areas ofJeopardy!knowledge ( world capitals , president , Shakespeare ) you need to bone up on , but it also helps you seek to internalize the timing of the famously trickyJeopardy!signaling gadget . And I ca n’t say enough about not betting too much on Daily Doubles , if you ’re happy with your position . In fact , I lost my last secret plan because of two too - high Daily two-fold bet .
You ’re mold on a new show , which I ’ve seen look up to variously as1 vs. 100andKen Jennings Versus the Rest of the World . I’m gon na imagine the first title is the real one – what else can you narrate us about the show?These are two unlike show . I tap an coming into court for the first episode of NBC ’s upcoming quiz show1 vs. 100because they were inviting preceding secret plan show winner stories onto their show , and I was skip to meet some of my fellow quiz show millionaires . Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the Worldis a quiz show thatWho Wants to be a Millionaire?producer Michael Davies and I were modernize for Comedy Central . Comedy Central liked the show , but did n’t really have a timeslot for it anymore , so we ’ve been shopping it around elsewhere . I do n’t hump if it ’ll ever see atmosphere , but , as a big secret plan show lover myself , I ’d love to do my part to revive the American game show . It ’s sort of a struggling genre at the second .
I know you really enjoyed writing this book and you ’ve said you desire to drop a line another one . Where do you want to go with that?I’m not 100 % sure yet . Now that I ’ve write a book about trivia , I ’m tempt to write another bookoftrivia . I stack away up so many great facts working onBrainiacthat it would be outstanding to get them all out of my organisation and cease annoying my wife with them . Also , I ’ve been ask so often about my own freakish memory that I ’ve started to wonder why I do n’t infer the phenomenon of retentivity better . I ’d like to pen a book on the mystery of human memory and how it might actually go .
