Books! Actual books!
"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... 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
"Snappy and informative"
-- Associated Press
"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
"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."
-- Orson Scott Card, 4-time Hugo Award winner, author of Ender's Game
"Funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"
-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All
"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew 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
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“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”
— Boston Globe
"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."
— New York Observer
"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
“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
"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."
— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review
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Main  Book Blog Greetings, Google video visitors!
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Greetings, Google video visitors! |
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Tuesday, 25 July 2006 |
Whoa. Thought I'd peek in at the site traffic before heading off to
bed, and holy crap — there are suddenly hundreds of people showing up
in the middle of the night. Hmm. People are bopping over from the Google video, apparently. Probably including you. Neat!
So, um, hi. The site's not really dressed yet, at least the
PrisonerOfTrebekistan.com part you were aiming at. Didn't realize
you'd be here so early; I just posted that video a day or two ago. (The Internet
is one great set of tubes, is it not?) The Trebekistan pages will look a lot like this, with the menus all pointing at Trebekistan-related stuff:
What this is about is this: I've just finished an upcoming humor book about (believe it or not) the five times I've managed not to win on the quiz show Jeopardy!, and all the strange crap I learned and new friends and complete screw-ups that came along the way.
By the end, I eventually do not win over $3.1 million. Not a lot of people can say that, you know. Or would.
Along the way, I also get chased by baboons, say the wedding vows near a religious
statue that looks like an enormous penis, and find almost two dozen
interesting uses for rubber.
You might imagine it's kind of a fun book. I like to think so.
This blog is usually a snarky political humor thing, but of late the
book has sort of taken over for a while. So I'm building a whole
separate Trebekistan section, with more videos, sample chapters, stuff
that got cut, and even a recording of the index over some cool lounge
music. (You can measure the tone of the book from the fact that
"Jennings, Ken" comes exactly halfway between "Jesus Christ" and
"Jell-O Shooters." As do a lot of us, really.)
So far, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus just love the book, and even
better, a lot of people I truly admire (Joss Whedon, Ira Glass, Paul
Feig, Emo Philips, etc.) also seem to think the book is pretty good.
So that's exciting.
But that won't do any good if people don't find out about it, and (dare I dream?) even order up a copy
here and there. So if you laughed at the video enough to want see what
the Trebekistan-related site is like, well, I'm still building it, so enjoy what's here and pop back in now and again as the new section fleshes out. Maybe eventually, you'll even
decide to get the book for yourself or a family member who enjoys the show, but meanwhile you might find other stuff you like, too.
Incidentally, feel confident that the video is pretty much what the book is
like, only with less actual throwing of medicine. Really. You like one,
you'll like the other, I imagine.
So while you're here, poke around, and see if you like the sense of
things. And hey — if you do, tell some people, would you, if you can
find a minute? Email them the first video, at least, and see if they laugh, too. I'd appreciate it.
Anyhow, I'm thrilled you liked the video enough to go looking for
more. I actually shot that while the apartment window was
half-obscured with various boxes and stuff, and I just sort of needed
to record the weirdness of it. Eventually, I shot a whole short
comedic film called Thumbs Of Steel, some clips from which I'll be uploading next.
So, um, hi. Thanks for coming by.
PS — Anybody with ideas for more cool stuff on those pages, please share.
If there's time, I'll put up my favorite mnemonics,
chats with many of the game's best players (and you'd be
appalled at just how normal and funny these brilliant people actually
are), and whatever else seems like a good idea.
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