Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World - A. J. Jacobs

one sentence summary
A.J. Jacobs decides to read The Encyclopedia Britannica in one year. 

review
I have a real soft spot for this type of memoir, the grand quest type of thing. A.J. Jacobs is full of wit and wisdom (though the latter mostly comes out of the encyclopedia itself), an easy read that follows the life of Jacobs (and his family) as he follows his quest in the most entertaining fashion. I recommend this for beach (or bathroom) reading - it is broken up into very short segments. Most anyone will enjoy it, or at least parts of it.

8/10
Memorable quotes:

"I can’t help but notice that you keep writing love poetry to my wife. Well, you see, I married her, which makes her my wife. You know what you might want to try? Writing some poems about the sunset. The sunset isn’t fucking married."

If you enjoyed this read:

Julie and Julia - Julie Powell
anything by Bill Bryson
the other books by AJ Jacobs

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