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

Not only is this book informative, thought provoking and hilarious, but Jacobs (and his patient wife, of course) have officially secured a place on my "fantasy dinner party" list. (A proud moment for A.J. and his family, I'm sure.) My intention was to give this book to my husband as a sort of gag gift after he beat me senseless in Trivial Pursuit for the 1000th time (more like 1023rd, but who's counting?). This is a guy whose favorite Christmas present every year is the latest edition of the Statistical Abstract -- and that's only the part I'm not embarrassed to admit. At any rate, the book looked like something my quiz-bowl-champion-husband would enjoy (while the not-so-subtle dig implied by the title was something I would enjoy. Bonus!). And I'm sure he will enjoy it...if I ever give it to him. The thing is I started reading it first, and once I cracked the cover I was hooked. Now that I've finished it, I am having so much fun pelting him with trivia that I can't bring myself to cede my temporary advantage. Mature, I know. I was surprised to read some rather scathing critiques of Know It All on this site. Maybe those reviewers are much smarter than I am, but...I would hate to suggest that certain people might be "dead inside", so let's just say they could possibly be lacking a sense of humor. Definitely not the kind of people I would pretend to invite to an imaginary dinner party. Nope, not even if one of the other guests pretended not to show up. It's true this book doesn't provide in-depth information on any topic. It isn't meant to be a reference book or a substitute for a presidential biography. But I was impressed by the eclectic selection of facts and stories. Did you know that Alaska is both the westernmost and easternmost state? (Apparently a couple of the Aleutian islands cross the 180th parallel). Or that Isaac Newton had "pronounced psychotic tendencies" and used to send creepy, paranoid letters to John Locke? And while you probably knew that, technically, a tomato is a fruit, did you know that (botanically speaking) a strawberry is not a berry at all, but a pumpkin is. Yep, bananas too. (My eight year old got a big kick out of that one). So the facts alone are good fun. Random, yes, but never dull. And then there's the quest itself. Let's face it; reading about a guy who's reading the encyclopedia could be a real snoozer. Instead, Jacobs self-deprecating humor, and willingness to discuss how his eccentric quest affects his life and vice versa, makes for great, often laugh-out-loud reading. There's a parallel quest too. While Jacobs seeks to acquire knowledge (by reading the entire Britannica from A-Z), he also examines the relationship between knowledge and intelligence, and the nature of intelligence itself. Don't get me wrong, this is no philosophical tome, but he puts his reporting skills to good (and highly entertaining) use here, my favorite being his mini-feature on a Mensa convention. I won't spoil it, but I'm still c

I caught on fast that A.J. Jacobs was a man with a slight inferiority complex. Sure, he attended Brown, once dubbed himself the smartest kid in the world, and landed a job writing for a major periodical, but he lived under the shadow of his accomplished lawyer father, and had a smarmy brother-in-law who somehow seemed to know eVeRyThiNg and took every opportunity to show it in the meanest way possible. Well, AJ one day recalled that his dad had once set out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, and had made it into the B's before running aground somewhere near Borneo. Hmm, thought this Jacobs fellow, I'll read all 24,000-odd pages of the encyclopedia and become the smartest person who ever lived. And so the quest was born. Jacobs has given us a fun book that is part autobiography, part diary and part informative side-step through the dainty fields of human knowledge. Along the way as we read through chapters entitled "A,B,C, etc" for the volumes he is chugging thru like the little engine that could, we come to pick up eclectic facts about just about everything you can imagine. We also get to be prose-form voyeurs via this confessional-like trip into Jacobs' personal life as he and his wife try for a baby, attend parties among the literati, and in general dwell in the glow of twenty-first century east coast Yuppie-dom. All in all this is the sort of book I'm glad I bought and truly enjoyed reading. If you live for Trivial Pursuit, hum the Jeopardy theme in the shower, or list a dictionary as your favorite book, hey, you'll think The Know It All is even more fun than higher math!

This book came highly recommended, but I was skeptical. Nerdy pointless trivia? Becoming the "smartest person in the world" by reading Brittanica? I was even skeptical about the format--an alphabetical tour through the encyclopedia, with starting entries on a-ak, a capella, Aachen, Aaron, etc. Fortunately, Jacobs is a very talented narrator, and he had me hooked in the first few pages. His method of detailing the journey from A to Z was very effective. This isn't random repeated trivia, it's a very good memoir. We learn about Jacobs's career at Esquire, his relationship with his wife, their on-going fertility troubles, his playfully combative relationship with his brother-in-law, and his relationship with his dad and how dad shaped Jacobs as a person. All of this is intertwined with his journey through Brittanica, and I learned a lot on the way. Jacobs also spices up his quest for knowledge by taking a speed reading class, joining Mensa and attending a gathering, meeting Alex Trebek, and trying out for Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, among other things. There is, of course, the requisite Brittanica trivia, but Jacobs weaves it all into a cohesive narrative. He points out how many people died of syphillus, the overshadowed siblings of famous people like Charles Darwin, the many occurences of cross-eyed people and those who had fetishes for them, the "good parts" and racy pictures in the Brittanica, and so on. I also learned about ths historical biases of the encyclopedia and how the machine that is the Brittanica works. This book has mass appeal. I know I'll be loaning it out to my family, because Jacobs tells a story most anyone can relate to. I was sad when I got to the Z's and I had to part with this talented narrator.

AJ Jacobs may not have realized his book could be seen as redemptive, or life-affirming, but to me The Know-It-All is both. I purchased this book one week after losing my dearest friend, at far too young an age, to colon cancer. At the time I was grasping at straws in a mad attempt to find something that could distract me from my grief. Nothing else was working, frankly, and I was mired in unhappiness. I'd read a review of Jacobs' book a few weeks before, and the premise sounded intriguing. When I saw it hit the bookstore shelves I decided I'd give it a try. Imagine my surprise when I found myself riveted, and able to lose myself (and thus for a time forget my sorrow) completely. Then I found myself laughing at the self-deprecating humor, and before I knew it I began to feel a certain sense of inspiration and consolation in the whole sweep of human history, despite the occasional human foibles pointed out so perceptively by Jacobs. I'll never forget that this book, and this author, helped me through one of the darkest times in my life. This book may not be such a savior to everyone, but I can't see how anyone could read it and not be charmed and instructed. I cannot recommend it highly enough.