Jamie's Blog

I was really thrilled to discover that the e-book version of ‘How To Become A Quizzing Genius’ had made it to No. 15 in one of the Lulu bestsellers chart last month!

Writing this book has been a real labour of love and I have found the whole experience of writing a book very exciting.

I am really grateful to everyone who has helped make the book a success!

If anyone would like to purchase a copy of the book in either e-book or paperback form, just visit www.quiz-genius.com/book.html

I have tried my absolute best to make the book useful for people who genuinely want to improve their quizzing skills!

The book describes never-before-revealed techniques for learning huge amounts of general knowledge in the shortest time possible.

And don’t expect the book to be full of memory-enhancing mnemonics – in fact, I caution against the overuse of mnemonics in the book!

The book is beautifully-illustrated with full-colour photographs throughout and a great read for people who love to quiz!

To celebrate Christmas, the book is available with 5% discount so if you are thinking of buying a copy, please do!

Hopefully with your support, I can get the book to No. 1 in the Lulu bestsellers chart!

Jamie

I’m really excited to present the latest feature on my website, ‘The Quiz Lifestyle’.

Find out from top experts on how you can give yourself a smartness make-over.

Check it out here: The Quiz Lifestyle

Hope you enjoy!

As someone who has always done well in an academic setting, I am sympathetic with people who stress that knowledge does not equate smartness.

Of course, having knowledge is no guarantee that a person has the logic and reasoning skills that are required for a person to be considered smart.

Being smart is so much more than simply knowing facts!

My problem was actually the opposite. Because I performed well academically, people would assume I also knew a lot of facts. And the truth is, especially during my late teens, my brain had little time for trivia. My brain was more interested in understanding ‘hows’ and ‘whys’.

Whilst it is true I had a fair bit of general knowledge from all the books I read, my ability to regurgitate trivia facts was something I had to work on.

The point I am getting to is: does that make knowledge worthless?

I don’t believe it does.

And not simply because it is just so satisfying to win money in front of people on a pub quiz machine!

A good general knowledge enriches and enhances a person’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them, in my opinion.

And whilst a good general knowledge may not GUARANTEE that someone is smart, it certainly indicates qualities found in very smart people: a keen interest in the world, avid reader, etc.

Don’t forget to check out my free quiz questions and answers on the website! If you have any suggestions for future quizzes, let me know.

Here is a quiz for all my blog readers! The answers will be in the comment box below but have a go first before checking!

Post your scores below – and be honest!

1. In Greek mythology, the winged-horse Pegasus was the offspring of which of the Gods?

2. Which Egyptian pharaoh is credited with ordering construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza?

3. Which French astronomer gave his name to the 4,800km gap between Saturn’s A and B rings?

4. What was the 2009 winner of the Man Booker prize?

5. How many US presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize?

6. Who is the current manager of Liverpool FC?

7. Which Canadian-born singer who has had chart success with songs such as ‘One Time’ and ‘Baby’ was discovered on Youtube?

8. In the 2009 blockbuster ‘Avatar’ by James Cameron, what is the name of the indigenous species that live on the planet, Pandora?

9. John James Audubon was famous for his paintings of which type of animal?

10. What is the highest waterfall in the US?

I hear from a lot of non-quiz enthusiasts who want to enhance their general knowledge for social and conversational settings.

My most important tip for anyone like this is: MAINTAIN CREDIBILITY.

If you want to be respected for being a knowledgeable so-and-so among your friends, don’t ever express a trivia fact you don’t know to be 100% correct!

An important skill of any quiz-player is the ability to ‘guess’ the correct answer. Not in a mindless, non-thinking sense, of course. But in a educated, considered manner, using pre-existing knowledge to churn up the correct answer.

In the context of a pub or other type of quiz, this kind of guessing is totally acceptable.

In a social setting, it can end up demeaning your clever-kudos!

Afterall, no-one likes a know-it-all… especially a wrong know-it-all!

One of the most effective ways of improving your quizzing capabilities QUICKLY
is adding to your historical timelines.

The more you have a sense of the
order in which historical periods, civilisations and events occured, the greater
your ability to work out the correct answer to a number of quiz questions.

If
your historical knowledge is really scarce, there are certain key dates that you
can learn really easily and remember right now.

As I Twittered a while back,
some important dates can be remembered simply by remembering the number ‘6’:
1066 (The Battle of Hastings), 1666 (The Great Fire of London), 1966 (England
wins the World Cup).

The date of the French Revolution (1789) is easy to
recall because once you know it occured in the 1700s, the rest of the numbers in
that date merely count upwards: 8, 9… 1789!

For those with more advanced
historical knowledge, it is possible to get even more specific. For example,
learning the order of Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese dynasties, etc.

To
illustrate how some knowledge of historical timelines can be so helpful in
allowing you to work out the correct answer, let me use an example. Let us
suppose you come across the following quiz question (history buffs, forgive me
if you find this question too easy!)

Q: Who defeated Antony and Cleopatra in
the Battle of Actium in 31BC?
A) Julius Caesar
B) Octavian
C)
Pompey
D) Pontius Pilate
E) Scipio

As the question refers to ‘BC’, and
Pontius Pilate was active during Jesus’ lifetime, you can make a reasonable guess that it was not him. As Scipio was fighting in the Punic Wars (which occured from 264BC to
146BC), you can safely rule him out. As Caesar was killed in 44BC, you can rule
him out. And since Caesar outlived his long-term rival Pompey, you can rule out
Pompey. As a result, you are only left with the correct answer: Octavian!

Many people are told to brush up on current affairs before attending a job interview by learning key facts.

What this fails to recognise is that people who KNOW anything on a subject, do not talk in facts. They’ve already digested the facts and have formed opinions.

So my best advice for anyone wanting to appear more knowledgeable ahead of a job interview is to read or listen to a range of opinionated commentaries on current affairs and economic issues.

Even if you don’t adopt a particular opinion yourself, you will certainly be better able to come up with satisfactory answers if you adopt this approach.