wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
Ken Jennings: Brainiac
photo

By host Tom Ashbrook:

Ken Jennings knows trivia. He’s the most winning champion in the history of TV’s gameshow “Jeopardy.” For two years, he was at the mast of Geography, European Capitals, and The Daily Double — all in all seventy-five games before he stumbled with $2.5 million in winnings.

He’s been called the Michael Jordan of trivia, the Seabiscuit of geekdom. Now, Ken Jennings is turning around to look at trivia itself — why it captivates, and how it lures us in at the kitchen table.

It is the most democratic pastime, Jenning says. And by the way — what marsupial has fingerprints indistinguishable from humans?

Hear a conversation with Ken Jennings and the siren song of trivia.

Guests:

Ken Jennings, longest-runing Jeopardy! champion and author of “Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs.”

Jim Oliva, organizer of the worlds largest trivia competition in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

 
 

Comments are closed.

On Point Today
Hour 2
Robots Among Us
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Robots among us. iRobot CEO Colin Angle on the business and science of robotics now.

Comments [37]
 
Hour 1
Stimulus, Part Two?
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Debate mounts over a “Stimulus II.” But with talk of a “fiscal train wreck,” can America afford to spend more on stimulus? Top Obama advisor Christina Romer weighs in.

Comments [45]

Recent Shows
U.S. Nuns and the Vatican
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

The Catholic Church in Rome moves to scrutinize — maybe rein in — American nuns. We’ll talk with sisters on the front lines.

Comments [43]
 
Trouble in Honduras
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya comes to Washington for help. We’ll ask what the coup against him means for Honduras, and for democracy in Latin America.

Comments [47]
On Point Blog
Christina Romer on the Stimulus

Christina Romer, chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, joined us in our first hour today to talk about the economy and the debate over whether a second round of stimulus is needed. Asked about Vice President Biden’s recent remarks, that the administration had “misread how bad the economy was,” she replied:  “It’s important to realize [...]

More »
 
Ten Minutes with Brzezinski

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski joined Tom from Washington, D.C. this morning and shared his impressions of President Obama’s first face-to-face meetings with Russia’s leaders.  Brzezinski called it a “sober and realistic summit, one which didn’t create undue expectations, but one which also marked some real progress…. There was, in a sense, an unstated agreement to disagree, and that’s [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]