BobHarris.com - Apparently I'm on TV right now

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

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“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

Main

Juan Cole

Apparently I'm on TV right now

Tag it now -

Sunday, 18 February 2007

"Right now" being Sunday evening, about 5:30 Los Angeles time.

Just got a call from a friend watching TV. GSN, the former Game Show Network, is airing a special called "The Insider's Guide to Winning Game Show Millions." Which is something I've never done. But I chatted with some producers for about 20 minutes last summer. After a few bits aired in December, I figured that was it. Guess not.

Flipped it on... and hey, I'm getting my butt kicked again on national TV. Excellent. They just replayed my last final flame-out on Jeopardy!. Again. Man, that was not my best moment.

Please excuse me now while I shave my head and go into rehab.

PS -- according to GSN's schedule, the show will be repeated tonight, Sunday, at 11 pm EST, and Tuesday at 9 pm EST. So there, if you're curious.

PS -- A correction: the graphic under my name is incorrect. They asked for my total quiz winnings, and now they're using that as my Jeopardy! total. I doubt anyone cares, but my Jeopardy! haul is only about a third of the total. Maybe using the bigger number made it look like I had any business on a special with that title.

PPS -- another correction: I said something like "one third of the clues I answered came from Chuck Forrest's book." As I wrote in Trebekistan, about a third of all the clues I answered correctly came from studying, and the main thing I studied early on was Chuck's book. But that's not the same thing. I compressed the two in the interview, which was verbally sloppy.