John Hodgman

The Areas of My Expertise

Original airdate: December 1, 2006

About the Book: In the great tradition of the American almanac, The Areas of My Expertise is a brilliant and hilarious compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom on all topics large and small. Although bestsellers such as Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Book of Lists were certainly valuable, they also were largely true. Here is a different kind of handy desk reference, one in which all of the historical oddities and amazing true facts are sifted through the singular, illuminating imagination of John Hodgman–which is the nice way of saying: He made it all up.

John Hodgman brings his considerable expertise to bear in answering all of the questions book buyers have been asking:
What are the mottoes of the 51 United States?
Who were the U.S. presidents who had hooks for hands?
What role does the Yale secret society “Skull and Bones” play in the secret world government?
What was the menu at the first Thanksgiving, and did it include eels?

John Hodgman is a contributing writer for publications including The New York Times Magazine. He wrote an advice column for McSweeney’s for over a year entitled “Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent,” and currently curates and hosts the Little Gray Book Lectures—a monthly series that has been broadcast on This American Life. He now appears regularly on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

Listen to the show:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.