Shocker of shockers! I’ve read and am reviewing a book that is recently out instead of something a few years old. Although I suppose the recent Resnick book I read is recent too. Still Resnick isn’t going to get wide reading and this one probably will get some decent buzz. It deserves to.
Prisoner of Trebekistan is first and foremost a memoir of author Bob Harris’ four stints on Jeopardy! On the first, he became a five game winner. But in the Tournament of Champions that year, a Masters tournament later and an Ultimate tournament still later, he performed creditably, but didn’t win the tournaments.
Some of the book is all about memory in general and techniques of remembering things. Harris studied intensely before each of his appearances. He explains various techniques he used. From replicating (in a less than optimal fashion) the Jeopardy! set to free associating to learn lists of things that might come up. He comes up with an Eight-Fold Path to Jeopardy! Although it has nine parts. I won’t reveal them all because you really should by the book, but I liked the last a lot. Number 8 is Just play each moment. Let go of outcomes.
The final one is ?.! Seriously. About this last part. Just get each moment right. Let go.
After which he follow that up with this short paragraph:
It may bother you that there are nine steps on the Eightfold Path. In which case you really need step number nine. This is one of those things you should let go.
The book is also a memoir of Harris’ life and philosophy. He doesn’t write too deeply about what’s happened to him, but he touches quite a bit on his love life, his sister, and his family. It’s humble, funny, and touching. At first, I was kind of thinking his style of writing was amusing, but would carry better in person instead of writing. But as the book goes on, either he settles down into a rhythm or the style grew on me. I still think it would be even better in person as a one man show or something like that. But the book ended up being sufficient.
His style is rather non-linear. His theory of memory is that it resembles the world wide web. Things are interconnected and it’s often best just to follow the connections between thoughts and ideas rather than stay on track
. His writing is very similar. He doesn’t veer too far off, but he meanders through connected ideas and stories of his life intentionally. One part he broke a narrative to describe the moment when his girlfriend found what turned out to be a malignant lump in her breast. And then he explained that he jarred the reader like that simply because that’s how the incident felt like to him, jarring. It’s not stream of consciousness, which often reads like nonsense. It’s more free association.
I highly recommend this book. Harris takes a normally mundane topic and what seems to be a fairly mundane life and turns it into something interesting and readable through an innovative and humorous style. Prisoner of Trebekistan is a celebration of the connections of life.
Title: Prisoner of Trebekistan: a decade in Jeopardy!
Author: Bob Harris
Imprint / publisher: Crown
Format: A.R.C.
Length: 333 p.
Publication date: September 2006
ISBN-10: 0-307-33956-4
Subject: Jeopardy (Television program)
LC classification: PN1992.77.J363 H37 2006
