∎ Read Free The KnowItAll One Man Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World A J Jacobs 8601400321072 Books

The KnowItAll One Man Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World A J Jacobs 8601400321072 Books

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The KnowItAll One Man Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World A J Jacobs 8601400321072 Books

A truly quirky kind of book. The author attempts to read the entire 2002 encyclopedia in one year,intertwined with vignettes of his life. Frankly it sounds like it wouldn't be interesting at all. but it is. Maybe because I am an info junkie myself,but I think it is the writing. Snarky, sweet, funny, (I had to look him up in Wikipedia to see if he finally had a child, I just had to know) Another reviewer said he thought people liked the book because they liked blogs-wrong. I hate them ,but this guy's writing had me hooked. Going to see what else he has written. Well worth the reading.


Tags : The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World [A. J. Jacobs] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), <I>The Know-It-All</I> chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious,A. J. Jacobs,The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World,Simon & Schuster,0743250621,BIO000000,Editors, Journalists, Publishers,Form - Essays,Personal Memoirs,Jacobs, A. J.,Learning and scholarship - United States - History,Learning and scholarship;United States;History.,United States - Intellectual life - 20th century,United States - Intellectual life - 21st century,United States;Intellectual life;20th century.,United States;Intellectual life;21st century.,1968-,A.J. Jacobs; The Year of Living Biblically; humor,Autobiography: general,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Editors, Journalists, Publishers,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,Biography & Autobiography,Biography & AutobiographyEditors, Journalists, Publishers,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Books & Reading,Encyclopaedia Britannica,Encyclopedias (Multi-Subject),HUMOR Form Essays,History,Jacobs, A. J.,,Learning and scholarship,Literary CriticismBooks & Reading,Scholarship And Learning,United States,United States - Intellectual life - 20th century,United States - Intellectual life - 21st century,United States;Intellectual life;20th century.,United States;Intellectual life;21st century.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Editors, Journalists, Publishers,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,Biography & AutobiographyEditors, Journalists, Publishers,Books & Reading,HUMOR Form Essays,Literary CriticismBooks & Reading,Biography Autobiography,1968-,Encyclopaedia Britannica,History,Jacobs, A. J.,,Learning and scholarship,United States,Encyclopedias (Multi-Subject),Scholarship And Learning,Biography & Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Autobiography: general

The KnowItAll One Man Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World A J Jacobs 8601400321072 Books Reviews

i picked up a.j. jacobs' "the year of living biblically" way after most people had read it, and totally loved it. so i decided to go back and read his first bestseller -- the know it all.

"biblically" was about the author's year of trying to live everything in the bible as literally as possible. seems jacobs likes these year long challenges as writing fodder, because "the know it all" is about his personal challenge of reading the entire encyclopedia britannica in one year.

as you can imagine, reading the entire encyclopedia is quite the daunting task. and jacobs attempted to not just skim it, but actually hold onto all that information (hence the subtitle). of course, this wasn't possible.

the book is really an alphabetical collection of mini-essays -- some on the actual stuff he was learning in the EB, and some on his life that year, using topics from the EB as jumping-off points.

jacobs is witty and narcissistic (in a way that works for a writer). and the book is generally a fun read. but it took me longer to finish than any book i've read in the past few years. seriously, i think i plunked along in it (while reading other books simultaneously) for about three months. crazy. and i think the reason it took me so pickin' long is because, at the end of the day, it's really just a very long collection of witty mini-essays -- like an encyclopedia that's fun to read. without a narrative arc (and, even most non-fiction books have a narrative arc), i just got... restless. i was going to say i got bored, but that wasn't quite accurate. i just really wanted to finish the book.

so, fun read. but, ultimately, it wasn't sustainable for me.
This book is not as good as The Year of Living Biblically One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, but it's still a terrific read once it gets going. The story has a fascinating arrangement - each chapter covers one letter of the alphabet (except XYZ, which are lumped together), and the story is guided by alphabetical subheadings. A section with the title of an artist may lead to a snarky one-liner about the man's fetishes, while a section with the title of a mountain range yields a revealing meditation on a time that Jacobs was lost in that range (and the effect that the incident had on his relationship with his father). These longer musings, which are much more frequent near the end of the alphabet, make the book truly worthwhile, and Jacobs really seems to be baring his soul (as opposed to the difficult first sections, where he is only willing to bare his pop culture fluency and his most unusual trying-too-hard-for-attention personality quirks).

The basic story is interesting, as Jacobs embarks on a quest to read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittannica, but the quest is a self-centered one, and it is difficult to read the inconveniences suffered by Jacobs' wife and other family members when the reader knows that even Jacobs doesn't seem convinced that his pursuit has a worthwhile goal. As the book progresses, though, Jacobs matures as a storyteller and presents beautiful studies of intelligence and wisdom, along with honest struggles with infertility and with his larger-than-life father. By the end, this is a truly wonderful book, and I highly recommend it.
Very entertaining. A humorous account of a professional writer's pursuit of his goal of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, his wife's tolerance of his objective and progress, and of his family's, friend's and co-workers endorsement and skepticism. Author offers both humorous and profound insights as he works through 22 volumes, 33 thousand pages in his attempt to absorb the entire corpus of human knowledge according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Many laugh-out-loud moments in this book.
After reading a few of A.J. Jacobs's other books I ordered this one. "The Know-It-All" is much longer than his other works, & like the Encyclopedia Brittanica is very looong. I thought I had a handle on the author's personality from reading his other biographical books, but this one adds new dimensions--the boring, full-of-himself side.

The book spans the alphabet from A to Z, full of interesting tidbits about historical figures, etc. but A.J. sprinkles the pages with comings & goings from his own life. Although an interesting read, about half-way thru I wanted it to be OVER. Interestingly the hard cover copy I bought has several typos thruout--curious coming from an editor of Esquire magazine.

His sense of humor comes thru the pages as strongly as in his other works, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as "The Year of Living Biblically".
I'm only on page 12 and I am laughing so hard I am crying. Just saved almost all the rest of his books to my wishlist. Had this book sitting on the shelf for years, and just now reading it. If you want to get your blood flowing from some great belly laughs, buy this book!
A truly quirky kind of book. The author attempts to read the entire 2002 encyclopedia in one year,intertwined with vignettes of his life. Frankly it sounds like it wouldn't be interesting at all. but it is. Maybe because I am an info junkie myself,but I think it is the writing. Snarky, sweet, funny, (I had to look him up in Wikipedia to see if he finally had a child, I just had to know) Another reviewer said he thought people liked the book because they liked blogs-wrong. I hate them ,but this guy's writing had me hooked. Going to see what else he has written. Well worth the reading.