The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

by Alex Trebek

A RECOMMENDED SUMMER READ BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, TIME, AND NEWSWEEK

Longtime Jeopardy! host and television icon Alex Trebek reflects on his life and career.

Since debuting as the host of Jeopardy! in 1984, Alex Trebek has been something like a family member to millions of television viewers, bringing entertainment and education into their homes five nights a week. Last year, he made the stunning announcement that he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. What followed was an incredible outpouring of love and kindness. Social media was flooded with messages of support, and the Jeopardy! studio received boxes of cards and letters offering guidance, encouragement, and prayers.

For over three decades, Trebek had resisted countless appeals to write a book about his life. Yet he was moved so much by all the goodwill, he felt compelled to finally share his story. "I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year," he writes in The Answer Is...: Reflections on My Life.

The book combines illuminating personal anecdotes with Trebek's thoughts on a range of topics, including marriage, parenthood, education, success, spirituality, and philanthropy. Trebek also addresses the questions he gets asked most often by Jeopardy! fans, such as what prompted him to shave his signature mustache, his insights on legendary players like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, and his opinion of Will Ferrell's Saturday Night Live impersonation. The book uses a novel structure inspired by Jeopardy!, with each chapter title in the form of a question, and features dozens of never-before-seen photos that candidly capture Trebek over the years.

This wise, charming, and inspiring book is further evidence why Trebek has long been considered one of the most beloved and respected figures in entertainment.

• ISBN10: 1982158018
• ISBN13: 9781982158019
• Publish Date: 21 July 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Unprecedented Look At A Man We All Came To See As An Uncle. For me, this book will always be tied up in so many emotions. I listened to it while driving home from my hometown, which is never easy to begin with, knowing that the next time I come back, it will be to say goodbye to the house I spent my teens and early 20s in - the house I truly became a man in. And I listened to Alex tell me about his life, with the assistance of Ken Jennings - the person who won the most Jeopardy games ever - for much of the book. Alex himself did the introduction and final chapter, as well as chapters about Ken and other mega winners and about his wife. And in the Audible form, with Alex reading the final chapter, some combination of himself and/ or the engineers actually allowed his cancer-ravaged voice to come through in much of this final section. Though the final paragraphs, with Alex saying goodbye, return to the "old" Alex - the Alex Trebek I daresay is known to billions. It was a bittersweet ending, knowing that his time was limited by the pancreatic cancer he had revealed nearly two years before I read this book on November 8, 2020. And therein lies the final reason this book will forever be tied into so many emotions for me. Within roughly an hour of finishing this book while just arriving in the far side of my (largest US city by land area outside of Alaska) town, I learned that Alex Trebek had passed away that very morning, quite possibly as I was listening to this very book. (Though less likely as I was listening to him actually say goodbye.)

Alex Trebek as a cultural icon is right up there with Mr. Rogers.

Alex Trebek, the human revealed in these pages, is the same as any of the rest of us, though perhaps with a much higher sense of decorum than many of us.

RIP Alex Trebek, and thank you for writing this truly excellent book. Very much recommended.