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"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... unlike his buzzer skills, his comic timing never fails"
-- The Wall Street Journal

"Pulls you in like a good sports story"
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"
-- New York Newsday

"A surprisingly touching memoir"
-- Entertainment Weekly

"Hugely funny"
-- Mental Floss

"Like Jeopardy! itself, it covers a lot of ground and in snappy and informative fashion"
-- Associated Press

"Down to earth and entertaining, even for non-Jeopardy! fans"
-- The New York Daily News

"A very funny writer... the book works like gangbusters."
-- Ken Jennings, 74-time Jeopardy! winner, holder of numerous other Jeopardy! records

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."
-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."
-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life

"Eccentric, energetic, and engaging"
-- Publishers Weekly

"The perfect gift for any Jeopardy! fan... I was thoroughly entertained"
-- USA Today, "Pop Candy"

"Surprisingly compelling... a funny and in-depth look at what it takes to win"
-- Long Island Press

"Wise, honest, and very funny... I wish I'd written it. Then again, I wish I'd won $127,000 and his-and-hers Camaros on Jeopardy!, too."
-- Jeff Greenstein, writer/producer, Desperate Housewives, Will & Grace, Friends

"Cleverly executed... solid entertainment"
-- Kirkus Reviews

"Answer: A hilarious, engaging and highly entertaining book. Question: What is Prisoner of Trebekistan? (All right... that was sort of a lame Jeopardy! joke. But what can I say? It's a great book.)"
-- Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks, author of Superstud and Kick Me

"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."
-- Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game

"Prisoner of Trebekistan is funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"
-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All

"If you don't buy this book -- this funny, learned, charming, and surprisingly moving book -- I will make it burst into flames in your hands."
-- Arthur Phillips, author of Prague and The Egyptologist

"A keeper for anyone who's even remotely a fan of Jeopardy!"
-- TVSquad.com

"If you enjoy... self-aware, geeky good humor, this could actually be your favorite book of the year."
-- The Stranger

"Highly entertaining... laugh-out-loud, absurdist funny... hilarious"
-- Akron Beacon-Journal

"Hilarious... a true treat for all Jeopardy! fans."
-- Strand Bookstore

"Everything you'd hope for... surprisingly compelling... deftly woven together... this sweet, fascinating book is a great read."
-- Book-blog.com

"If super-intelligent space aliens invaded our planet and demanded to interview one member of our species to ascertain whether or not we human beings were logical, bright, kind, and entertaining enough to be allowed to continue, I would nominate, with all my powers of persuasion, Bob Harris."
-- Emo Philips, comedian

"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew that Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."
-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history





Books I'm Getting





“Revelatory... wryly funny about some very serious subjects... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”
Boston Globe

“Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”
Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."
New York Observer

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”
John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Order now from Amazon—and pick up Prisoner of Trebekistan at the same time and save a few nickels.

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Main arrow Round the World
My Five-Continent Midlife-Crisis Around-The-World Adventure


This set of posts/letters home/panicked reports of wild animals/memoirs originally appeared on Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World in late 2003 and 2004.

To whet your appetite, here's the chart I compiled at the end of the various distances covered via various forms of transit... if you're not sure yet what a tuk-tuk or a travellator is, neither was I. To find out which one of them can easily get you killed, read on.

Airplanes32964 miles
Rental cars2958 miles
Taxis295 miles
Buses271 miles
Trains240 miles
Subways40 miles
Mountain bike28 miles
Hitchhiking10 miles
Cruise ship10 miles
Monorails7 miles
Elevated train5 miles
Ferry boat3 miles
Suspended gondolas5 miles
Bum boat5 miles
Motor scooter2 miles (?)
Elevators1.5 miles
Funicular cable train 1 mile
Kayak3/4 mile
Travellators3/4 mile
Tuk-tuk 1/2 mile
Street luge 1/2 mile
Chair lift 1/2 mile
Swimming1/2 mile
Water taxis1/2 mile
Escalators1/4 mile
Running from baboon, screaming50 feet
Falling off of things, various30 feet
Ostrich, attempting to ride, stupidly4 feet









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Date Item Title
Monday, 13 December 2004 London: Midlife Begins, Time Marches On
Monday, 13 December 2004 Cape Town: Just Like An American City... That Speaks Eleven Languages
Monday, 13 December 2004 Driving Across South Africa: Land Of Giant Obvious Metaphors Which Can Kill You
Monday, 13 December 2004 Singapore: Country Line Dancing & Mass Cleaning Activities
Monday, 13 December 2004 Malaysia: Burkhas in Starbucks
Monday, 13 December 2004 Bangkok: Mind Your Head
Monday, 13 December 2004 Bali: The Land That Isn't There
Monday, 13 December 2004 Sydney: Like A Prisoner Episode, But Better
Monday, 13 December 2004 New Zealand: Middle Earth, Middle Class, Middle America
Monday, 13 December 2004 Rarotonga: Screensaver Island
Monday, 13 December 2004 Los Angeles: My Life As Old Clothes
 
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Results 1 - 11 of 11
  • Almost Seven Wonders  ( 5 items )

    This series of posts was originally sent to This Modern World in the summer of 2004, as I visited the sites of six of Pliny's original "seven wonders" of the ancient world:

    The Temple of Zeus at Olympia
    The Colossus of Rhodes
    The Mausoleum at Helicarnassus
    The Temple of Artemis near Ephesus
    The Great Pyramids of Egypt, and
    The Pharos of Alexandria.

    The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which supposedly sat in what is now smack-dab in the center of Iraq, got a pass for now, thanks all the same.

    Along the way, I also got to visit the Acropolis in Athens, the excavation site which is supposedly ancient Troy, Istanbul, modern Cairo, and a whole bunch of neat stuff.

    The entries here aren't specific to the above sites (and barely even mention several), but are simply a few short notes sent home in the middle of all the running around. I'm still putting together all the notes and emails and photos from the main events, which I hope to get published as a book in the coming year.


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