The Answer Is...

Reflections on My Life

By: Alex Trebek

Narrated by: Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek

Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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 candidly captures 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.

©2020 Alex Trebek, OC. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"[Trebek's] performance is in high style, exuding enthusiasm, charm, and that special ability to draw in most any listener. Multiple-time Jeopardy! winner and Trebek friend Ken Jennings narrates the lion's share of the memoir....this is a touching and entertaining audiobook." (AudioFile Magazine)

AMAZING.

What a great book. It was great. Alex is so funny. But it gets a little sad at the end as I’m currently crying on my lunch book. Wow.

"The Answer is": Alex Trebek's Memoir

I enjoy hearing about Alex Trebek's lifelong memories and reflections. Ken Jennings does a fantastic job narrating! Ken's narration was a bit fast for my ears, so I slowed his recording down a bit. . The speed change functionality of Audible was beneficial. Alex Trebek also narrates occasionally throughout the book.

I am impressed that in the introduction read by Alex, Mr. Trebek comes across as a humble man even though he is famous. Amazing book!

A different narrator

I enjoyed the book very much but felt the choice of Ken Jennings as narrator was not the best. He did a good job but his voice is too familiar to Jeopardy fans. For the first third of the book which is about Alex’s early life, I had to keep reminding myself that this was Alex’s story being told by Ken not Ken’s story. A professional narrator would have been easier to accept.

Great book to remember Alex by

I grew up watching Jeopardy so I associate Alex's voice with intelligence and calmness under pressure. At some point in the future, Jeopardy won't be as we know it today. I'm glad I'll have this book to listen to again to remember what Alex represents.

Be on garde

Alex is only 1%; whiny adolescent Ken 99%.Too bad a professional was not used as the reader. Excellent content is marred. I’m sorry I purchased the audio; will purchase the book.

A Glimpse Inside the Life of a Legend—and a truly nostalgic experience

I grew up watching Alex Trebek host Jeopardy. I watched it with my parents and brother, then just my parents, then just my mother. Now I watch it alone, but every time I turn on Jeopardy, it is a reminder of what being a child was like in my family - it is like they are still sitting right there.

I say all of this because I knew going in that I was going to love this book, no matter what. How could I not-with that sort of nostalgia? However, I did not really expect it to be SO good, so fun, so easy and relatable. I laughed, I cried, I made myself leave the book multiple times because I wanted to stretch it out a little longer. But like all good books - and all good things - eventually you have to face the ending.

And - without sharing spoilers - it was an apt ending, wrapping the book up in what I would classify as the literary equivalent to putting on a warm, slightly-too-big sweater on a brisk fall evening.

Enough of that. Go read (or better yet, listen to) the book!

Amazing man. Proceeds from book go to charity.

I hated for this book to end. I think the world of Alex Trebek and the unsung work he has done for so many charities. The world will really miss him. I know I will.

Highlights by Alex

This format is different than a traditional memoir, as it gives highlights of Alex’s life. It worked and gave a good picture of his life story. I love Jeopardy and enjoyed this audio book immensely; the narration by Ken Jennings, who I also am a fan of, was very good and the parts where Alex jumped in were excellent.

PERFECT

Thank you, Alex Trebek! I am so glad that you wrote this. I enjoyed every minute of it. And plan on listening to it again and again. Thank you for sharing yourself with all of us.

Alex Trebek is exactly what you thought, Class Act

Wonderful walk through a Jeopardy format of Alex Trebek's life from start to ……..Well not yet. Trebek is professional, thoughtful and spiritual in the best ways. The surprise ending is that in listening or reading his story, you get to contribute to others stories, and experiences.. Bravo Mr. Trebek! Bravo!