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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
This was my favorite Jacobs effort since The Know it All. I think his type of immersion experiments go down a lot better in small doses, so I enjoyed the shorter, essay-style piece.
Plus, we get to hear from Julie! I mentioned in my last review of one of A.J.'s books that he should watch the kids for a year and let Julie write a book, and in this title, she gets a chapter.
Plus, we get to hear from Julie! I mentioned in my last review of one of A.J.'s books that he should watch the kids for a year and let Julie write a book, and in this title, she gets a chapter.
I really enjoyed this book!! It made me really think. Some of the experiments he tries are thought provoking. Can't wait until "The Year of Living Biblically" comes in at the library. I'm about to start on "The Know it All" next.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
I was entertained by all the random experiments, but it definitely didnt have as much depth as The Year Of Living Biblically. However, I liked that each topic was short because it made it easier to fit reading into my day.
Not quite "The Know It All", but I always laugh out loud at AJ Jacobs. In this one he performs several experiments such as radical honesty, outsourcing his life to India, following George Washington's rules of life, practicing complete rationality, and spending a month catering to his wife's every whim. She deserves it after all the other months!
Entertaining, enlightening, thought-provoking. I'm a fan.
Entertaining, enlightening, thought-provoking. I'm a fan.
I prefer his books where he takes on longer experiments but these essays were pretty entertaining. Lots of good stories and I enjoy seeing which parts of these experiments he ends up incorporating into his daily life.
Not as good as Year of Living Biblically but still fun.
I had asked the Goodreads ether: " I'd like to read something life-affirming and fun. Maybe something like a Bill Bryson travel book or something else that makes one delight in the strangeness and wonderfulness of people and life." Kind strangers gave me recommendations, including this one. The writing is witty throughout, and some of the experiments are interesting.
I love this guy... His THE KNOW-IT-ALL is one of my favorite nonfiction books.
Update: This was a fast and easy read and quite funny in places. What I like about A.J. is his willingness to completely dedicate himself to some form of human social experiment (for the lack of a better term). In his first book, The Know-It-All he read the entire Encylopedia Britannica from A-Z and in The Year of Living Biblically he lived according to the laws (some of them very strange) of the Bible. In this book he undertakes various experiments on various ways of life and then writes articles for Esquire magazine, which are reprinted in this book with updates. He is funny and irreverent with a self-deprecating style that had me snickering and giggling in places.
A.J. spends a period of time (month or so) in some kind of social interaction such as "radical honesty" where he could only tell the truth and nothing but the truth for a period of time and he attempted to live like George Washington according to his tenents. He also reported on the month he spent waiting on his wife hand and foot, which she said was the best month of her life. I also liked the time he decided to do only one task at a time, which meant no multi-tasking such as reading while eating, no typing emails while on the phone, etc. In the end he admits that while nothing really stuck, he found himself adopting a few of the new behaviors and felt like he became a little bit of a better person for going through the experiments.
Update: This was a fast and easy read and quite funny in places. What I like about A.J. is his willingness to completely dedicate himself to some form of human social experiment (for the lack of a better term). In his first book, The Know-It-All he read the entire Encylopedia Britannica from A-Z and in The Year of Living Biblically he lived according to the laws (some of them very strange) of the Bible. In this book he undertakes various experiments on various ways of life and then writes articles for Esquire magazine, which are reprinted in this book with updates. He is funny and irreverent with a self-deprecating style that had me snickering and giggling in places.
A.J. spends a period of time (month or so) in some kind of social interaction such as "radical honesty" where he could only tell the truth and nothing but the truth for a period of time and he attempted to live like George Washington according to his tenents. He also reported on the month he spent waiting on his wife hand and foot, which she said was the best month of her life. I also liked the time he decided to do only one task at a time, which meant no multi-tasking such as reading while eating, no typing emails while on the phone, etc. In the end he admits that while nothing really stuck, he found himself adopting a few of the new behaviors and felt like he became a little bit of a better person for going through the experiments.