The non-fiction quiz conducted by Rajagopal and Yours truly, on 4th May 2014, for the Karnataka Quiz Association at IAT, Queen's Road, Bangalore. Cover image credits: http://trick-of-the-light.com/ by Chaitanya Due to technical issues on the day of the event, the quiz was compiled in haste. Please pardon typos/grammatical errors

2. Image Credits
By Chaitanya

3. When Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky was imprisoned
by the KGB, he had a copy of a compilation of X’s
puzzles in a magazine and says it helped him outwit his
guards. In his 1964 work, The Ambidextrous Universe, X
quotes 2 lines of verse from Y’s 1962 work Z. In Z the
verses are supposed to have been written by a John
Shade and that is who X credits.
Y returned the favor by having a character Van Veen in
his 1969 book “Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle” quote
from X’s ambidextrous universe - “Space is a swarming
in the eyes, and Time a singing in the ears”. X (author),
Y(author) and Z(book)?. (1 point each)
R1

4. X = Martin Gardner
Y = Vladimir Nabokov
Z = Pale Fire
R1A

5. In the July 29, 1946 edition of The Hollywood
Reporter, its founder and publisher William
Wilkerson wrote an article title “A vote for _ _ _ _ _
_”. The contents of this and subsequent articles in
August and September of that year are known as
Billy’s List. This is now considered to be the 1st
suggestion of X, something that happened a few
years later.
In a 65th anniversary article, Wilkerson’s son,
William Wilkerson III, apologized for his father’s role.
What did William Wilkerson kick off with his article in
1946? i.e What is X?
R2

6. The Hollywood Blacklist
R2A

7. Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s 1st Secretary of
State, was not enthusiastic about US involvement in
the Balkans and explained his reluctance saying
“The hatred between the three groups - Bosnians
and Serbs and Croats - is almost unbelieveable. It’s
almost terrifying and it’s centuries old. That really is a
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _”.
X, an Irish born, US educated journalist working in
the Balkans in the mid 1990s titled her Pulitzer
winning 2002 book (Y) ( about America’s response to
genocide in the 20th century - Armenia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Rwanda etc ) with that phrase. X and Y?
R3

8. X = Samantha Power
Y = A Problem From Hell
R3A

9. Written by a Princeton economist, this influential
1973 book argued that asset prices typically exhibit
signs of a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, that past movement of
a stock price is no indicator of future movement and
that one cannot consistently beat market averages.
The book has been cited in favor of the efficient
market hypothesis. What is the name of the book or
fill in the blank.
R4

10. Random Walk
Book name is “A Random Walk down Wall Street”
R4A

11. The origin of the word / term X does not have anything
to do with Einstein or Planck but goes back to 1926 and
a “Letter to the Editor” written by G N Lewis to “Nature”
magazine. In it Lewis writes,
“the process whereby an atom loses radiant energy, and
another near or distant atom receives the same energy,
is characterised by a remarkable abruptness and
singleness”
“Had there not seemed to be insuperable objections,
one might have been tempted to adopt the hypothesis
that we are dealing here with a new type of atom, an
identifiable entity, uncreatable and indestructible,
which acts as the carrier of radiant energy”
R5

12. “ I therefore take the liberty of proposing for this
hypothetical new atom, which is not light but plays an
essential part in every process of radiation, the name
X”.
What is X?
R5

13. X = Photon
R5A

14. The 1952 book “Picture” is believed to be the 1st
making-of-the-movie book. Written by Lillian Ross, a
long time New Yorker writer, it started as a series of
articles in the New Yorker about John Huston’s
making of war movie X, an adaptation of a 1895
novel of the same name. Which critical and
commercial failure from 1952?.
R6

15. Red Badge of Courage
R6

16. In his book “Science of Shakespeare”, science
journalist Dan Falk argues that Hamlet is really about
the battle for supremacy between the X, Y and Z
systems (which Z ultimately won).
X is a Greek who did his work in Alexandria almost
2000 years ago.
Among the pieces of evidence Falk gives is that the
setting of Hamlet, Elsinore castle, is where Y made
his observations and that Y had relatives called
Rosencranz and Guildstern.
X, Y and Z? (1 point for each)
R7

17. X = Ptolemy,
Y = Tycho Brahe
Z = Copernicus
R7A

18. What document from 1616 is the inspiration for the
poem being recited or what is the name of the
poem?.
The poet is the 1st LGBT poet laureate of Britain.
Who? (1 point for inspiration or poem name, 1 point
for poet)
(play audio from 17 seconds in)
R8

19. The poem is called “Anne Hathaway” - it is based on
a line from Shakespeare’s will - “Item i gyve unto my
wife my second best ved…”
The poet is Carol Ann Duffy
R8A

20. What is the context?
R9

21. Issued by a slightly bitter Governor of Ohio - after
Lebron James took his talents to South Beach
(Miami) and lost the NBA finals to Dallas Mavericks.
R9A

22. It was written to popularise views and ideas opposite
to those developed by a W.D.Hamilton in the 1960s.
In a foreword to a 30th anniversary edition, the
author concedes that “the title might give an
inadequate impression of its contents” and that he
should have taken the advise of Tom Maschler, a
publisher” and called it The Immortal - - - -, because
immortal was an up word while X was a down word.
What did end up being the title of the best selling
1976 book?
R10

23. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
R10

24. Written as a tongue-in-cheek reference guide
mocking a subculture of Northeast American school
and college students and their fashion and
mannerism, this 1980 book ended up glamorising the
culture. Fill in the blanked word from the title on the
next page.
R11

25. R11

26. Preppy
R11A

27. If Greece was glory, Rome was grandeur, Egypt was
splendour and Babylon was greatness, what was
India?
R12

28. Wonder - The Wonder that was India by
A. L. Basham was one in a series of books
commissioned by publisher Sedgwick and Jackson
with titles The Glory that was Greece, The Grandeur
that was Rome etc.
The titles came from a Poe poem “To Helen”
R12

29. Dinah Fried has written a book called “Fictitious
Dishes”, recreating dishes from works of literature. Id
the work of literature in each case (one point each).
a.
R13

30. b.
R13

31. a. Alice in Wonderland
b. Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
R13

32. This writer was a champion of writers' rights, and
was blacklisted in the 1950s for his liberal views;
it was during this time that he wrote his 1,200+
page work(ID the title) for which he is best known.
An obituary in Times of London had the following
to say about him “ ____ _____ belongs to that
select group of journalists who successfully made
the transition from the recording of news to the
writing of history”. Id the writer, whose long
association with M K Gandhi culminated in a
1980 book Gandhi : A Memoir.
14

34. William Shirer

35. Sometime in the mid 70s, in the month of June,
the editorial page of The Indian Express
appeared thus.
The newspaper also quoted
Tagore “Where the mind
is without fear and
the head is held high…”.
Funda, please.
15

37. Blank editorial as a protest against Emergency
imposed by Indira Gandhi

38. A reviews of sorts(initial reactions) on Gregory Mankiw’s Blog.
The book has three main elements:
1. A history of inequality and wealth.
2. A forecast of how things will evolve over the next century
3. Policy recommendations, such as a global tax on wealth.
Point 1 is a significant contribution. I like this part of the book a
lot.
Point 2 is highly conjectural. Economists are really bad at such
things.
Point 3 is as much about ____’s personal political philosophy
as it is about his economics. As we all know, you can’t get
“ought” from “is.” Like President Obama and others on the left,
_____ wants to spread the wealth around.
Id the much-in-the-news book & the author
16

40. Thomas Piketty’s Capital in The Twenty-First
Century

41. In May 1997, Newsweek published an article
titled “Brain’s Last Stand” by Stephen Levy which
started with the following lines “The hope of
humanity is in a good mood on a bitterly cold
Sunday in late April in Moscow, less than a week
before embarking for New York City to represent
our species in a battle that may one day become
the prime landmark in technology’s ineluctable
march to surpass its makers”.
The article was written as a build-up to what
“landmark event”?
17

43. Gary Kasparov vs Deep Blue - Rematch

44. “Marriage of Inconvenience: John Ruskin and
Euphemia Gray”, is a 2013 book that tries to
chronicle the reasons for ending of the union
between Euphemia Gray and the Victorian art
critic and polymath John Ruskin. The author,
Robert Brownell, after thorough research, has
drawn conclusions that are at odds with the
established story. What was the established story
before the publication of this work?
Additional hint: Ruskin was the author of Stones of
Venice -- a three volume tome on Venetian art &
architecture and Modern Painters- 5 volumes on the
most
18

46. Ruskin failed to consummate his marriage and
hence the marriage was annulled.
The reason for non-consummation:
Ruskin was shocked at the sight of Euphemia
naked, knowing women's bodies only from
statues and paintings.

47. 2002: Javed Akthar
2009: Lata Mangeshkar
2011: A R Rahman
2012: Gulzar
2014: Waheeda Rehman
“I am angry with myself for not having pursued
Raj Khosla and Vijay Anand. My biggest problem
is, who next?”
Who? What works are we talking about(a specific
answer please)
19

49. Nasreen Munni Kabir’s biographical
conversations

50. The essay Notes on “____” by X starts with
“Many things in the world have not been named;
and many things, even if they have been named,
have never been described. One of these is the
sensibility -- unmistakably modern, a variant of
sophistication but hardly identical with it -- that
goes by the cult name of _____.” Later, the
author explains that there is a difference between
____ and Kitsch, while the former refers to the
performance, the latter refers to the work of art
itself. Word and the author, please
20

52. Camp, Susan Sontag
“The ultimate Camp statement: it's
good because it's awful . . . Of course, one can't
always say that. Only under certain conditions,
those which I've tried to sketch in these notes
shown below”

53. Dr. Koenraad Elst in his essay Tale of Two
Murders, writes about the murder of two popular
leaders(X & Y). Dr. Elst writes that although Y’s
murder drew parallels with the deaths of Anwar
Sadat, Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi, the real
comparison is with X. He goes on to say that X
was killed for the very same reason as Y: both
conceded "land for peace".
Like Y, X was murdered by a diehard belonging
to his own community. Identify X & Y
21

55. Gandhi & Rabin

56. When asked about the genesis of his
masterpiece, the author said “my editor said you
can do pieces you want, and you can do
pieces we want. The first piece was what
I wanted to do”. It was about a guy named Alden
Whitman and the piece was called “Mr Bad
News”. Identify the occupation of Alden Whitman
and the writer, whose next piece, on a
singer/actor, is considered as one of the best
celebrity profiles ever written.
22

58. Alden Whitman was an obituary writer at the New
York Times.
Author: Gay Talese
His next piece was “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”

59. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkande’s works on Indian Classical
Music are considered very important for prior to his
work, the Ragas were classified as Raga(male),
Ragini(female) and Putra(child);
Bhatkande devised a new system similar to the
Carnatic system __X___ . In the new system 10 different
groups called __Y__ were formed, each named after
famous ragas associated with these __Y__s.
23

61. Melakarta Raaga
Thaat

62. The following is an excerpt from a blogpost by a famous
Indian movie director.
"There is always a thin line between farce and fantasy. I
was having so much fun shooting the characters of
_______, with such fine actors, that I thought the film
would be turning into a farce. And films like ____ cannot
turn into a farce, they must be like a fantasy that makes
you believe in what is happening, or there will be a
rejection from the audience, specially from
Children. There is a sense of emotional involvement
and believability that rides through the film“.
Identify the film and the director
24

64. Shekar Kapoor on why he killed Tina in Mr. India

65. From an interview of Yehuda Amichai:
Interviewer: Did your father fight in WW1?
YA: Yes, he did. So did my uncle, my mother’s brother,
who fell in 1916—I have a poem about that. It was
strange for Jews who fought in World War I—Jewish
people were divided among feuding nations. There were
Jews fighting for Germany, for France, for Britain, for
Russia, Jewish rabbis praying for the Allies, for the
Turks, for the Germans and the Austrians. It was very
much like the ______ in the Middle East—Israeli
___fighting for Israel, Syrian _____fighting for Syria
against Israel. Identify these People of Monotheism
25

67. Druze

68. “Several people have pointed to Walt Disney’s
cooptation of ____’s music for Fantasia in 1940
as the moment when the work officially lost its
edge, reports on the subsequent performances in
Paris and the reviews of the London premiere
show that it did not take three decades—or even
three years—for audiences to see past the shock
and find the beauty in ___ ___. It took a few
weeks.” Id the work which celebrated the
100th anniversary of premiere on May 29th 2013
26

70. Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

71. Jijamata Udyaan houses one of the oldest zoos in
India that finds regular mention in the lists of
world’s worst maintained zoos. Apparently, the
existing enclosures do not conform to anti-cruelty
guidelines and hence the zoo has decided to stuff
animals and put ‘em on display in a taxidermy
museum. The locality where this park is situated
was in the title of a 2014 work.
Identify the work and the author
27

73. Husain Zaidi
Byculla to Bangkok

74. This Fissured Land : An Ecological History of
India, is co-authored by Dr. Madhav
Gadgil(founder of the Center for Ecological
Studies at the IISc) and a famous author. The
book aims to offer a fresh perspective on both the
ecological history of India and on theoretical
issues of interest to environmentalists.
Identify the second author, whose doctoral work
focussed on Chipko Movement and culminated in
a work titled The Unquiet Woods.
28

76. Ramachandra Guha

77. Suragi is a type of flower grown in the Western
Ghats that retains its fragrance even when it dries
up. An autobiography released late last
year(2013) of this Bangalore based author was
titled “Suragi”. Due to poor health, this author
narrated his personal life to a certain Ms Tejasri
who compiled the work. Identify this Bangalore
based author
29

79. U R Ananthamurthy

80. A dedication by Author A(in his work) to author B
and her work. All 4 elements, please
29

82. Solomon Northup’s dedication to Harriet Beecher
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 12 Years a Slave.