John Hodgman’s first book, The Areas of My Expertise, turned
the trivia-book genre into an exercise in supershort fiction.
His newest book, More Information Than You Require, applies this
formula to memoir, describing what Hodgman’s surprise midlife
fame—the Apple ads! the movies!—is really like. It’s hard
to imagine fake trivia being deeply personal, but amid the
one-liners (the citizens of Richmond, Virginia, call a sandwich a “meat
coffin” and “Randy Quaid has had secret rabies since 1991“)
there’s the story of a man who is grateful for, and deeply puzzled by,
his own success. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. 7:30 pm,
$5.)

2 replies on “John Hodgman”

  2. No, but he plays one on TV. He’s actually a Mac user.

    So first things first: Mac or PC?

    Here is the joke that is absolutely apt, though I once promised I would never make it: “I play one on TV, but I am not a PC.” It is true. I am first of all: not a computer, but a human being; and second of all: a Mac user, almost exclusively, since 1984. There was a brief period in the wilderness between 1997 and 2003. Let us not speak of it.

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