The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World | 
 enlarge | Author: A. J. Jacobs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
New (8) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $5.23
Rating:  220 reviews
Sales Rank: 78890
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 031
ASIN: B000OV170C
Publication Date: October 4, 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 215 more reviews...
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.
Generation X goes to the library October 11, 2008
This is a funny book for me. Funny because like most books I think about a lot, reading it left me feeling a mixture of annoyed, amused, depressed and uplifted. In short I think the author got it right.
For what it's worth I really didn't think I'd like him by the middle of the book but really wanted to by the end. Well, who cares? It's just my way of pretending to relate to authors. At first he came off to me as a self-absorbed "gen-x-er" but he seemed to get more thoughtful as the book progressed. Maybe I started the book self-absorbed and I got more thoughtful as the book progressed.
This guy does have a sense of humor but it seemed to take him a while to hit his stride with it. Kurt Vonnegut said a good written joke works like a well-timed bomb and some of Jacobs early efforts really fizzled on me. Somewhere around the "p" entries though I found myself laughing out loud. Either I got used to his style or his style improved as he ploughed through the encyclopedia.
I'm definitely interested in reading his other book on biblical living (I bought it) so his publisher should be happy with him.
It's very cute - read it! September 26, 2008
Laugh-out-loud funny in some parts. Maybe a little tedious toward the middle (probably sort of like, say, being in the middle of reading the encyclopaedia), but still well worthwhile. I recommend it for entertaining, humorous reading that sneaks a little knowledge in without being heavy-handed.
My FAVORITE book ever!! September 20, 2008
I emailed AJ and told him that this was my favorite book, right up there with my 2nd fav "Memoirs of a Geisha". He thanked me for comparing him to a Japanese hooker! That's funny. In fact, he's so funny and quirky that I'm always thinking of more book ideas for him. This book is so fun to read. I read it aloud to my husband while traveling on our summer vacation. I just wish I could memorize more of it! You gotta read this book.
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