More January Experts for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire"

[Millionaire Fan]

The week of January 12th the expert will be Lucy Danziger. She’s the editor in chief of Self magazine, which is a women’s health magazine. The week of January 19th will feature expert A.J. Jacobs, a former Millionaire contestant and author of the best selling book The Know It All. The book details how A.J read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, from A to Z, in one year.

[NellyLunatic1980]

A.J. Jacobs won only $1,000 in July 2004. Then he wrote a book called "The Know It All".

And this qualifies him as an "expert"?

[Rafferbee]

Was that before he read the encyclopedia?

[Millionaire Fan]

A.J. Jacobs won only $1,000 in July 2004. Then he wrote a book called "The Know It All".

And this qualifies him as an "expert"?

He's a really good expert. Also you'll be seeing him again later on in the season.

[TheConfessor]

Was that before he read the encyclopedia?

If his book is factual, he got the call when he had reached "S" and taped his episode when he had reached "V."

Joe Queenan apparently thinks he would be a better expert.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/books ... EENAN.html

[hbomb1947]

Was that before he read the encyclopedia?

If his book is factual, he got the call when he had reached "S" and taped his episode when he had reached "V."

Joe Queenan apparently thinks he would be a better expert.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/books ... EENAN.html

Joe Queenan is a pompous ass. His review is mean-spirited and seething with snobbery and probably envy. It exemplifies all that is wrong with the Gray Lady today. Having actually read "Know it All," I can report that it made me laugh out loud over and over. I think Jacobs is a superb and witty writer. I also enjoyed his most recent book, in which he spent a year trying to live according to the precepts of the Bible (That book inspired my own current ongoing project to read the King James Bible cover to cover).

I take no position, however, on whether Jacobs will make a good expert on WWTBAM. I am against the concept of that lifeline anyway.

[WheresFanny]

Was that before he read the encyclopedia?

If his book is factual, he got the call when he had reached "S" and taped his episode when he had reached "V."

Joe Queenan apparently thinks he would be a better expert.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/books ... EENAN.html

Joe Queenan is a pompous ass. His review is mean-spirited and seething with snobbery and probably envy. It exemplifies all that is wrong with the Gray Lady today. Having actually read "Know it All," I can report that it made me laugh out loud over and over. I think Jacobs is a superb and witty writer. I also enjoyed his most recent book, in which he spent a year trying to live according to the precepts of the Bible (That book inspired my own current ongoing project to read the King James Bible cover to cover).

I take no position, however, on whether Jacobs will make a good expert on WWTBAM. I am against the concept of that lifeline anyway.

All that review did was make me want to read the book. I remember reading about it at the time, but wasn't that interested. I thought it was yet another "I'm so smart" type self-aggrandizing (much like JQ's review. Ha!), but it looks like it's actually a fun read. It seems to me that all of the things that Queenan is saying is wrong with the book is actually the point of the book in the first place.

[etaoin22]

My take is that there might be something personal between the two.

I did buy the book hard cover no less.

The idea of the book was clearly tongue-in-cheek, New York writer moves through areas he don't know much about, more in the manner of Plimpton than of Harold Ross, and I read it and enjoyed it, although IIRC it faded in the glow of Ken Jennings' J! run, which somewhat pre-empted the subtitle. The book was hard to carry off 100% successfully,and I tend to rank it as a noble failure.

What I remember best is the stuff about his life -- trying energetically to have a kid in his thirties, and contrasting blank (sexual) times in his twenties, and, most of all, the tale IIRC of a wedding somewhere within the Kennedy types, to which the author was invited, and to which he did not know to arrive late, with the result that he was sat down to keep the aging Senator Ted company for a half hour.

I will watch Mr. Queenan closely, to see what his writing is like most of the time. Hopefully, he will come up for free on the Net in an archive.

[peacock2121]

My take is that there might be something personal between the two.

You think they have a thing.