Last week I posted a glowing review of Dan Smith's new quiz book, "Think You Know It All". I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book and without repeating myself I found it refreshing, interesting and it really did expose some gaps in my knowledge!!
Anyway, have a gander at the review in a previous blog entry if you get chance, but for today Dan has been kind enough to give a quick interview. Links to buy the book are below the main text.
How would you describe “Think You Know It All” in one sentence?
A quiz book that not only tests the breadth of your knowledge, but its depth too.
What inspired you to write the book?
A life-long love of quizzes and general knowledge, of both the useful and useless varieties!
The questions in the book cover a whole range of topics, how did you decide what to include?
It was lovely to have the freedom to put in whatever I wanted to. I suppose my guiding principles were that this should be a book that a family could share. No one is going to know everything in it but everyone should be able to find something they can do. So whether it’s your eight-year-old Harry Potter-fanatic niece, your football loving uncle or your sciency mum or dad, they’ll have their chance to shine. I wanted to cover everything from low and high culture to sport, politics and science.
Did you purposely set out to create a quiz book that was ‘a little different’ from the usual Question and Answer formats?
Yes, I suppose so. When I sat down with the publisher, we realised that the quiz book market is a crowded place and that most of what is on offer is similar in format: lists of questions, with each having a single right answer. Our twist, if you like, was to have quizzes in which for the most part a single question demands a whole set of answers that will tax you for longer. For instance, rather than asking who the first man on the moon was, I ask you to name all the men who have ever walked on the moon. Or all the members of Abba. Or all the Summer Olympic host cities. It might drive you mad trying to work it out, but when you do get every answer, it really is satisfying!
Tell us a little bit about any experience you have with quizzing?
As I mentioned, I’ve always loved general knowledge. As an example, in the late-1980s a great tome was published called The Chronicle of the 20th Century, and I can remember consuming it from cover to cover. I was in my early teens at the time and should really have been sneaking a fag behind the bike sheds, but that was the way it was. I also loved ‘Trivial Pursuit’, an absolutely integral part of every Christmas. In later years came the pub quizzes, which I still enjoy to this day, especially when I’m on the winning team. Pub quizzes can bring out the best and worst in people, and it is fascinating to watch how teams interact. There are the classic ‘dominators’ always convinced that they are right, the ‘quiet ones’ who know when their team’s ‘dominator’ is wrong but are too afraid to say, then of course the ‘recriminators’ who take strange joy from having their suggested answer rejected only to see the team’s alternative answer proved wrong. Sociologists can have a field day at a pub quiz.
How is your own general knowledge and did you find writing the book to be a learning process?
Well, it’s not bad, though I am aware of plenty of failings (which I obviously won’t reveal here). The book was a great learning process, though I fear much of that new information has now been lodged deep in my attic mind where I won’t find it again. Ask me today to name all the Jonas Brothers, which I briefly knew during the writing of the book, and I will just stare at you blankly…
If you were to appear on Mastermind, what would your specialist subject be?
The thought of Mastermind terrifies me. Anything beyond ‘My favourite breakfast cereals’ would probably find me out. I have written a couple of books on Sherlock Holmes, so that would be an obvious choice, and I have also written a history of the Second World War Dig for Victory campaign. So let’s say Sherlock for the opening round and Dig for Victory in the final. (There’s no harm in a little over-confidence, after all.)
Links to buy the book from Amazon...
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