Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days is a full year's worth of quiz fun for even the most voracious trivia nut. Nine thousand questions! That's almost an entire season of
Jeopardy!, or two whole boxes of Trivial Pursuit. In fact, it's the largest single collection of trivia ever produced in this country in
any form. It's a veritable clown car of trivia, unpacking questions and answers endlessly from between its covers, long after you would have thought possible, even though you're begging in hysterical fear for it to stop, stop, please, just stop!
Every day of the year, from January 1 to December 31, the
Trivia Almanac lists some historical oddities that you can celebrate on that day--the first hot-air balloon pistol duel, on June 22, 1808, for example, or Los Angeles choosing the official pronunciation of its name (September 12, 1953) or the day
The Breakfast Club met (March 24, 1984). Each tidbit is followed by a passel of similarly themed trivia questions. Winston Churchill's famous "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" inspires a quiz on bodily fluids. "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" provokes a quiz on famous pick-up lines from history. The Warren Commission Report introduces a quiz on celebrity one-man shows (people "acting alone"--get it?) Aaaand so on.
You've never seen a trivia book like this one before. Match wits with the record-setting
Jeopardy! know-it-all--you could have the satisfaction of besting Ken in a one-on-one trivia joust. But even when he stumps you, you can treasure the oddball facts you'll pick up along the way, perfect for annoying friends and relatives all year long.
Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac is available in hardcover from
Random House (on their Villard Books imprint). Order it from
Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, or
Powell's Books.
Find additions and corrections to the book
here.