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Born in New York City, Joseph Nathan Kane graduated from Columbia University shortly before World War I. Upon graduating he secured work writing for trade journals about the export business, and from that he developed a fascination for inventors and other achievers who had been largely forgotten by history. He wrote a book about it, which proved to be so popular that he eventually devoted all his time to writing books about facts, circumstances and incidents that were largely unknown to most people (for example, he disproved the myth that George Washington was the first U.S. President by unearthing the information that a man named Thomas McKean was in fact appointed U.S. President by Congress before Washington). A lifelong bachelor, Kane spent virtually all of his time shuttling back and forth between local libraries and his office, which also served as his apartment. He is generally considered to be the first expert on what is now known as "trivia," and was in fact hired in the early days of television to write questions for such popular quiz shows as The $64, 000 Question (1955) and Break the Bank (1948). He wrote a total of 52 books. He died in New York City at age 103 in 2002.
