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The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become The Smartest Person In The World | 
 enlarge | Author: A. J. Jacobs
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Category: Book
Used (7) from $5.99
Rating:  222 reviews
Sales Rank: 1972350
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Largeprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 728
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.5
ISBN: 0786271310
Dewey Decimal Number: 031
EAN: 9780786271313
ASIN: 0786271310
Publication Date: January 20, 2005
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Product Description
You go to school. You work hard. You go to university. You learn a lot. You're pretty pleased with yourself. You're erudite, well-read and know a whole bunch of obscure facts guaranteed at some point to appear in the questions on Mastermind or University Challenge. Then you get a job, and ten years later you stumble over Beckett but are eloquent about Big Brother and you discuss Kyle like you used to discuss Kierkegaard. Sound familiar? Well it happened to AJ Jacobs too. But he decided to do something about it. An editor at Esquire, Jacobs had built up an impressive knowledge of celebrity trivia - the cure was going to take a long time. It was big - 33,000 pages, it was heavy - 9 stone. It was the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Join Jacobs on his journey of discovery as he learns every known fact - however arcane - in the entire world. Sympathise with his long-suffering wife. Share his glee at finding a mistake. Wince with embarrassment as he fails to get into Mensa - even armed with all this information, and blows it on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Grimace as he pathetically attempts to turn every dinner party conversation to topics beginning with "A" - he'd only just begun then. Imagine Bill Bryson meeting Schott's Original Miscellany and Woody Allen at a party - that's The Know-It-All. Part assemblage of fascinating trivia, part journey through adulthood, all laugh-out-loud funny.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 217 more reviews...
 Terrific Thoughts about Goals and the philosophy of lie December 27, 2008
So, anyone who has at least thought about reading the encyclopedia straight through, even in a brief moment of craziness, will love this book. Ravenous readers will too. Jacobs' running commentary on his reading of the Encyclopedia Brittannica is at times funny, and at times contemplative, as in profoundly philosophical in simple phrases. Only occasional does he get a little too stare-at-your-own-belly-button in terms of contemplation, and occasionally the pop culture references get a little tiresome (what the author knows best, prior to reading the EB), but overall, a wonderful read. You too will learn some facts along the way, but to just see the facts is to definitely miss the point of this book. Wants me want to buy a EB set, or at least look at the library's copy.
Read This Book December 26, 2008
Jacobs takes us on this quest to read the entire encyclopedia in great style. Not just a book about trivia, more a memoir of his experiences and little humiliations during his attempt. Well written, always entertaining and quite a few spot left me laughing out loud to myself. These giggles often caused people to stare at me, leaving me having my own 'A. J. Jacobs' moment. Overall, one of those books that left me wishing I had written it.
And now for a fun way to gain some interesting cocktail conversation... December 22, 2008
If you're comparing reviews trying to decide if this books for you - here's an easy way to tell: I've noticed a trend in reviews that didn't like this book as much as I. Negative reviewers were expecting a more serious and detailed summary of the complete encyclopedia (something more along the lines of A Short History of Nearly Everything or Encyclopedia Cliff Notes. This book is definitely not that!
While told from A to Z, it is a generally light-hearted memoir of the pursuit of reading the encyclopedia and exploring intelligence and how it affects his family and life. There's still loads of brain candy thrown in for trivial information junkies as he covers odd-ball facts and trends from some of the articles he's reading (generally, with a laugh-out-loud, if immature observation of his own). This isn't high-brow, heavy reading despite the heavy topic.
BOTTOM LINE: It's the perfect book for people who love trivia and memoirs on odd experiments conducted by creatively, witty writers. (All of which add up coincidentally enough to wonderful conversational pieces). If you finish this book - you'll talk about it - guaranteed!
ADDITIONAL CAVEAT: There's a good bit of immature jokes, sexual references and swearing - so I wouldn't recommend it for your brainiac child that's contemplating reading the real encyclopedia.
I Will Read and Re-Read This One! November 3, 2008
A.J. Jacobs works as the editor at large at Esquire magazine and has carved his personal niche at becoming what he calls "a human guinea pig." I would love to be present during one of his brainstorm sessions ("Maybe I could do this!," "Has anyone ever tried that?"). It might have been after consuming several caffeinated drinks that he thought of the premise for The Know It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. In short, he decided to read the entire Encylopaedia Britannica in one year.
I was not sure what to expect when reading about his experience. I worried it might be as big of a snooze as reading the encyclopaedia itself. Let me tell you - it's anything BUT boring. Jacobs highlights several entries - A to Z - from Britannica that he found interesting, disturbing, educational, or just plain random. He also explains how he sought to use his newfound knowledge in his everyday life (often to quite hilarious outcomes!). I didn't realize it was possible to relate even the most dense of encylopaedic articles to one's own life, but Jacobs manages to weave the different entries into aspects of his own life, and you end up getting to know him quite well.
This is a really charming book, and Jacobs' voice is so clear and distinct that you feel the book more as a conversation than a read.
Thoroughly enjoyable October 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of my favorite books this year. I fully expected to enjoy it after reading the entertaining account of the author's latest "humble quest" to follow the bible as literally as possible (also highly recommended!). And I was right - I loved the book, and when I finished it, I went into immediate Jacobs withdrawal, and had to look up his old Esquire articles and interviews to get my daily dose of self-deprecating humor (thank you, google!). Jacobs somehow managed to include a dizzying number of Britannica facts in a funny, witty, creative way, by giving the reader a glimpse of his own universe, his quirky family, his compulsions and eccentricities, his marriage and his thoughts on his impending fatherhood. The book is hilarious - I laughed out loud while reading it - but it is also tender and touching. I can't wait to read about the author's next quest.
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