Customer Reviews

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

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4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(18)
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1 star:		(25)

 

 

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.

I saw this book at the bookstore and after glancing through it, I knew I had to take it home. What a funny, fuuny book. Oh....... and very informative. I can't imagine anyone actually trying to read the whole encyclopedia, from A to Z. How boring, how daunting, how strange. But oh, how glad I am this author took on this task. Funny, funny book. I found myself laughing out loud more times than I can count, and I kept wanting to share the entries as I was reading them, not just for the extra laughs, but for the really interesting tidbits the author chose to tell. Since I was alone in the house most of the time I was reading, and couldn't share anything I was reading, I went to Amazon and ordered a couple of copies for other people. I shouldn't be the only one to enjoy this book. Read this book and give one as a gift to someone you know. Well worth it.

Although it's nice to learn select factoids from the Encyclopędia Britannica, the best part of the book is A.J. Jacobs' moments of know-it-allness. He drives his (trying to conceive - a cute side story) wife, family members, friends and acquaintances crazy, foisting his facts on them at opportune and inopportune times. His wife eventually starts fining him for factoid infractions. In addition to reading every word of every volume of the encyclopedia, he supplements his knowledge by getting involved with Mensa, interviewing know-it-alls like Alex Trebek, and participating in some of the activities required to publishing the volumes at the Britannica plant. The humor is laugh out loud funny at times, but you can have too much of a good thing. And even taking into account the book's silly slant, some may take issue with the commentating on some of the facts, notably (p 225) about Isaac Newton, of whom he writes, "...Newton was a complete nut job, the angriest and nastiest scientist in history," and "He also hated the German philospher Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz." For one thing, GWL was also a mathematician, and for another, the dislike was mutual and involved a dispute over which of the two was the legitimate inventor of calculus (Newton was first but didn't publish his findings, Leibniz invented it later, independently, and published). In general, the book is filled with lots of great trivia and is written in an easy to read, funny format. For more moments of laugh out loud humor, read Me Talk Pretty Some Day by David Sedaris. Great books on words: Author Unknown: Tales of a Literary Detective by Don Foster, The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, and Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss.

*The Know-It-All* is the alphabetically ordered diary of A. J. Jacobs, a Jewish New Yorker in his mid-thirties who has decided to spend five hours a day for about a year reading the 2002 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, 65,000 articles and 44 million words of it. His aim : humbly to become the smartest man in the world or, as he more honestly admits, to « get some fun facts, have something to say at cocktail parties, increase my quirkiness factor, maybe learn a little about the nature of information » (p361.)

Raised on MTV and E !, sitcoms and celebrity biographies, and working as editor for a trendy magazine for men, Jacobs seems to approach his 32 volumes with an enthusiasm for breadth (if you arrange them on a bookshelf) or height (if you pile them up), but none for depth, except for the snippets of wisdom he likes to gather to give himself an alibi (all of them summarized in the last paragraph of the book), and just as much for structure, which he does not seem to consider a fundamental characteristic of the cosmos we live in (in his most mystical moment, he sees the world « as a collection of moving, pulsating, caroming facts. »)

His selections of EB trivia tend to focus on sex, feces, counterintuitive information and the more sensationalistic science and history that make it to the documentary channels (such as « unusual expirings » and « absurd wars »), while his views on the bigger issues, even more than halfway into the alphabet, are remarkably shallow. Religiously speaking, he defines himself as an agnostic (his first book was about « the eerie similarities between Jesus and Elvis »), but he observes that « it is cool that Judaism allows you to have sex... there is wisdom in Judaism- so I'll just pick and choose the parts I like and hope I don't go to Jewish hell. » Economically speaking, even though he labels himself a « capitalist » (which he seems to define as someone who enjoys the benefits of the affluence society), he believes man has created poverty and capitalism is somehow responsible for third-world famines.

About two-thirds into his quest, he seems to realize it is not getting him where he initially thought it might : « I'm still having a hell of a time processing all this information, figuring out what it means. I can't see the forest for the trees.... I'm looking for answers- and there are answers... The problem is there are too many answers, thousands of them, and they all seem to conflict with one another... I want a guide, someone to tell me this is right, this is wrong » (not Jesus of course, but then maybe Elvis ?) And by the last entry in the encyclopaedia, Zywiec, he is left with « a weird and anticlimactic feeling » and the sad realization that « at this moment, I've got more information than I ever will. »

I did not read *The Know-It-All* for its humour, though I enjoyed some of it, but for guidance, as someone who has been contemplating reading his own encyclopedia- though not to compete in some TV Quiz Show, outdo my father and/or stepbrother (both of whom are very similar to the author's), enter Mensa or write a money-making book about the experience. I was curious as to the life-changing potential of such a mammoth undertaking, as to the maturity, breadth of vision and genuine knowledge it might impart.

But the author does not seem to receive much of these benefits through his trek across the EB, though he does manage to « clutter his attic », to borrow the Holmesian metaphor he is fond of. I tell myself maybe he did not do it the right way. Maybe he should have done some preliminary reading, to acquire some structure on which to hang his newly acquired knowledge. Maybe he should have adopted a lifestyle more consistent with his quest. Maybe he should have reformed what he calls his « still-adolescent mind » so as to enter the project with a more discriminating filter. Maybe he should have worked on method in ways more productive than speed-reading and memory-improvement seminars. Maybe the EB gives more to those who have than to those who have not...

*The Know-It-All* has not convinced me that it is an altogether silly idea to read a good encyclopaedia in alphabetical order. As Jacobs informs us, not just fashionable journalists do that, and his more illustrious predecessors (men like George Bernard Shaw, C. S. Forester or Richard Feynman) may have owed some of their genius to their completion of the quest. However, there are serious contenders to the endeavour, like Britannica's own Great Books series or John A. Hardon's *Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan* (more of a list, actually), into which I have already dipped with some profit, and which I hope some day to confront with the kind of determination Jacobs teaches by his example.

(NB : As the School Library Journal considers the book suitable for high school pupils, parents might like to be informed that the author is very liberal in his use of the F-word, among others, and makes very casual remarks about his own masturbatory activities and consumption of « recreational » drugs.)

AJ Jacobs wants to be a know-it-all, and sets out to re-educate himself by devouring 33,000 pages of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Keep in mind, these are big pages, with small type fonts. What was his motivation? Jacobs claims "by age 35 I had become embarrassingly ignorant." Don't we all feel that way, honestly? I tried reading the encyclodpaedia from A-Z once. I got to Aardvark and put it down to read Stephen King's "Shining." Now the Internet is around to serve our reference and research needs, so I haven't looked at an encyclopaedia for about 15 years. I'm not even sure I can spell encyclopaedia.

The book itself presents tidbits of information from A-Z, with commentary and anecdotes throughout. For example, in an early chapter, Jacobs writes "I know that Adam, of Bible fame, lived longer than the combined ages of the correspondents of 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II."

Jacobs is hilarious and may have missed his calling as a comedian. Can you imagine the effort it would take to read from A-Z in this encyclopaedia? He probably would have been better served to read the Great Classics collection instead.

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!

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 chuckling about the stickers.

Bottom line: you don't have to be a trivia freak to appreciate this book. Great gift for the curious, and a super fun read. I might even give it to my husband.

The Know it All is a laugh-out loud book about a sarcastic New York editor who attempts to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica from A-Z. Chapters are broken out by letter and topics range from important world history to weird Mensa conventions. Although the book is set up to go through each volume in order, the author makes the book light and the reader never feels like he/she is plodding along through the alphabet just to get to Z. What makes the book particularly interesting is the author's journey throughout the year which starts as an almost absurd self-challenge to a deeper contemplation on the value of knowledge. Highly recommended.

A.J. Jacobs undertook a very real quest: Reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover, all 33,000 pages of it. He accomplished his quest in a year and wrote this book about the experience.

The Know-It-All is a memoir that is often laugh-out-loud funny and thoughfully written. Jacobs has one chapter for each letter (with X,Y&Z being a single chapter) and breaks them out into entries from the encyclopedia, giving brief synopsies of each, relaying his thoughts, experiences and the relationships he sees between the entries and life. The entire time, Jacobs seeks a unifying wisdom from his experience and seeks to put his newfound knowledge to the test.

To test his knowledge, he joins MENSA and attends a meeting, takes on a player at a Manhattan chess club and appears on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The results of every experience are quite funny.

As far as seeking unifying wisdom in the Encyclopedia, Jacobs' wrap-up at the end of the book is actually quite poignant and he really captures the sense of a quest or pilgrimage successfully completed. He succeeds in sharing his little slice of accomplishment with the readers of his book, but saves us about 32,635 pages of work.

Recommended for lovers of knowledge, memiors, and offbeat stories.