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.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Terrific Thoughts about Goals and the philosophy of lie:
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... more info
Read This Book:
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...:
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... more info
I Will Read and Re-Read This One!:
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... more info
