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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Another great read by Jacobs. I didn't love it as much as Drop Dead Healthy, but the chapter on outsourcing was so hysterical, it bumped up the whole rating to four stars. There were chapters on rational thinking, unitasking, or posing nude that were slow or gave me way more information than I cared to know about A.J. Jacobs (I'll let you guess which chapters were which), but overall the pacing was great and I read it quickly. I did read part of it in our church foyer while waiting for scouts to be over and I found myself either laughing out loud or with a huge grin plastered on my face. So, sorry to all those who wandered past who I may have made uncomfortable! :-)
I haven't read anything else by him but this one was really very funny. I started The Year of Biblical Living and what I read was also funny. His writing style is very clear and he conveys his experiences to you with humour and style.
This book is both enlightening and hugely entertaining. Not only did I learn about human thinking biases and George Washington's rules of etiquitte, but I also laughed out loud (literally) at Jacobs' hilarious ingenuity with Indian outsourcing. I sincerely hope that A.J. Jacobs continues his life as a human guinea pig, because I find almost nothing more entertaining than his musings during his experiments. I read this book in a day and a half.
This book does deliver quite a few laughs, and some decent observations on the nature of human nature.
I first heard of A.J. Jacobs when he appeared on The Colbert Report in 2009. He talked, among other things, about the year he spent “living Biblically”. This intrigued me, so I decided to read the book he was pushing at the time. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, because I didn’t know what types of experiments Jacobs had performed. But the book is short, and his writing, if sometimes overbearing, is usually entertaining too. The Guinea Pig Diaries is genuinely interesting and enjoyable.
This is a compilation of articles that appeared, in one form or another, in Esquire. I considered talking about each chapter briefly, but with nine chapters, the detail I would like to devote to each experiment would make this review long and frightfully boring. I loved some chapters and didn’t like others. So I’ll give you the highlights.
The first chapter, “My Life as a Beautiful Woman” was one of my favourites. I spend a lot of time online. When I was younger, I was (probably wisely) relatively anonymous. Gradually I allowed that anonymity to evaporate, and now I use my real name everywhere. This is important to me, because I do not want to create a dichotomy of online/offline personae; I want to be me, whether I am on the Web or in person. But for other people, anonymity is a necessity or a desire. It’s a chance to escape, to gain voice, to explore an alternative identity. The fact remains that despite some legislators’ brutal attempts to curtail the fundamental openness of the Internet, it is very difficult to verify someone’s true identity.
In the case of Michelle’s online dating profile, Michelle was actually the user and participated on the site … but she had Jacobs ghostwriting for her. I loved Jacobs’ account of how this experience changed the way he saw some of these men and, in turn, what he thought about dating and dating sites in general. He expresses his disappointment when dates he has arranged for Michelle don’t go well. He exhorts men to be prudent in their selection of usernames: “topnotchlover” sends a very specific message…. I found myself wishing for more of this chapter, just because the story of this partnership between Jacobs and Michelle to navigate the waters of online dating was so intriguing!
Fortunately, “My Outsourced Life” also proved interesting. The idea of outsourcing one’s entire life sounds like—and usually is—a joke. Jacobs plays it up this way at first, making light of how he hired two different Indian companies to attend to his business and personal tasks, respectively. His assistants, Honey and Asha, did research for him, composed emails, placed delivery orders, etc. Jacobs has his assistants write emails to his boss, write apology notes to his wife, and even conduct a phone call with his parents! It’s all right-out-of-the-textbook hilarious. But as the chapter progresses, a theme emerges:
It is a small and subtle observation of the culture of entitlement and complacency that belies the myth of the American dream that one can pull oneself up by the bootstraps. Other countries are trying that tactic too, and they are reaping the benefits of getting Bootstrap v2.0.
“The Truth About Nakedness” is a slightly underwhelming chapter. It is not, as the title and risqué photo that precedes the chapter might suggest, about Jacobs’ year of living nude. No, instead he discusses how Mary Louise Parker agreed to pose nude for an article she was writing for Esquire about what it feels like to pose nude. Parker said yes, but she wanted Jacobs, as her editor, to pose nude as well. And of course, being the human guinea pig that he is, he acquiesced. I was not that interested in his account of the details of the photoshoot and his feelings at the time. However, the coda to this chapter is a strong voice for critiquing media:
Photography has this amazing power to capture a moment and keep it suspended with infinite potential: what is happening, and what will happen? The right photograph at the right time can be evocative and inspiring. Yet photography can also reduce a human subject to an object, something to be admired or lusted after. For a photograph to be inspiring and empowering, there needs to be that human connection. Jacobs underscores the idea that every photograph has a story, and when we look at a photo, we should wonder about that story.
There are other chapters that are well worth reading: he spends a month doing everything his wife asks; he spends time trying to act completely rationally; he spends a month dressed as George Washington. With each chapter, Jacobs mixes witticisms with genuine reflection, and he always manages to dig down to some kind of profound, albeit not earth-shattering, truth. Despite Jacobs’ engaging tone and the book’s short length, The Guinea Pig Diaries is not a light, fluffy bagatelle. Sometimes that tone bothered me—Jacobs writes with the smugness of someone who is being funny and knows it, and that sardonic self-awareness irked me. His writing has that feel of being smooth, practised, and edited, with the perfect parenthetical inserts and the oh-so-well-timed asides. But this is a minor complaint for what is otherwise a solidly entertaining book.
The subtitle of this book is My Life as an Experiment. I hope that most people’s lives are experiments of one sort or another. I don’t ghostwrite for women’s online dating profiles or live by the personal code of conduct of one of America’s Founding Fathers … but I like to think that even as an introvert, I manage my own little experiments quite well. You don’t have to be audacious and ostentatious in your experimentation if you don’t want to … although, who knows, maybe it means you have a book deal in your future!
This is a compilation of articles that appeared, in one form or another, in Esquire. I considered talking about each chapter briefly, but with nine chapters, the detail I would like to devote to each experiment would make this review long and frightfully boring. I loved some chapters and didn’t like others. So I’ll give you the highlights.
The first chapter, “My Life as a Beautiful Woman” was one of my favourites. I spend a lot of time online. When I was younger, I was (probably wisely) relatively anonymous. Gradually I allowed that anonymity to evaporate, and now I use my real name everywhere. This is important to me, because I do not want to create a dichotomy of online/offline personae; I want to be me, whether I am on the Web or in person. But for other people, anonymity is a necessity or a desire. It’s a chance to escape, to gain voice, to explore an alternative identity. The fact remains that despite some legislators’ brutal attempts to curtail the fundamental openness of the Internet, it is very difficult to verify someone’s true identity.
In the case of Michelle’s online dating profile, Michelle was actually the user and participated on the site … but she had Jacobs ghostwriting for her. I loved Jacobs’ account of how this experience changed the way he saw some of these men and, in turn, what he thought about dating and dating sites in general. He expresses his disappointment when dates he has arranged for Michelle don’t go well. He exhorts men to be prudent in their selection of usernames: “topnotchlover” sends a very specific message…. I found myself wishing for more of this chapter, just because the story of this partnership between Jacobs and Michelle to navigate the waters of online dating was so intriguing!
Fortunately, “My Outsourced Life” also proved interesting. The idea of outsourcing one’s entire life sounds like—and usually is—a joke. Jacobs plays it up this way at first, making light of how he hired two different Indian companies to attend to his business and personal tasks, respectively. His assistants, Honey and Asha, did research for him, composed emails, placed delivery orders, etc. Jacobs has his assistants write emails to his boss, write apology notes to his wife, and even conduct a phone call with his parents! It’s all right-out-of-the-textbook hilarious. But as the chapter progresses, a theme emerges:
When I open Honey’s file, I have this reaction: America is screwed. There are charts. There are section headers. There is a well-organized breakdown of her pets, measurements, and favorite foods (e.g., swordfish). If all Bangalorians are like Honey, I pity Americans about to graduate college. They’re up against a hungry, polite, Excel-proficient Indian army.
It is a small and subtle observation of the culture of entitlement and complacency that belies the myth of the American dream that one can pull oneself up by the bootstraps. Other countries are trying that tactic too, and they are reaping the benefits of getting Bootstrap v2.0.
“The Truth About Nakedness” is a slightly underwhelming chapter. It is not, as the title and risqué photo that precedes the chapter might suggest, about Jacobs’ year of living nude. No, instead he discusses how Mary Louise Parker agreed to pose nude for an article she was writing for Esquire about what it feels like to pose nude. Parker said yes, but she wanted Jacobs, as her editor, to pose nude as well. And of course, being the human guinea pig that he is, he acquiesced. I was not that interested in his account of the details of the photoshoot and his feelings at the time. However, the coda to this chapter is a strong voice for critiquing media:
I can never look at a nude picture in the same way. I can still admire a nude photo, but I can no longer separate it from the context in which it was created. I can’t forget, as Mary-Louise put it, the loss of control and possible objectification.
Photography has this amazing power to capture a moment and keep it suspended with infinite potential: what is happening, and what will happen? The right photograph at the right time can be evocative and inspiring. Yet photography can also reduce a human subject to an object, something to be admired or lusted after. For a photograph to be inspiring and empowering, there needs to be that human connection. Jacobs underscores the idea that every photograph has a story, and when we look at a photo, we should wonder about that story.
There are other chapters that are well worth reading: he spends a month doing everything his wife asks; he spends time trying to act completely rationally; he spends a month dressed as George Washington. With each chapter, Jacobs mixes witticisms with genuine reflection, and he always manages to dig down to some kind of profound, albeit not earth-shattering, truth. Despite Jacobs’ engaging tone and the book’s short length, The Guinea Pig Diaries is not a light, fluffy bagatelle. Sometimes that tone bothered me—Jacobs writes with the smugness of someone who is being funny and knows it, and that sardonic self-awareness irked me. His writing has that feel of being smooth, practised, and edited, with the perfect parenthetical inserts and the oh-so-well-timed asides. But this is a minor complaint for what is otherwise a solidly entertaining book.
The subtitle of this book is My Life as an Experiment. I hope that most people’s lives are experiments of one sort or another. I don’t ghostwrite for women’s online dating profiles or live by the personal code of conduct of one of America’s Founding Fathers … but I like to think that even as an introvert, I manage my own little experiments quite well. You don’t have to be audacious and ostentatious in your experimentation if you don’t want to … although, who knows, maybe it means you have a book deal in your future!
I cannot tell you just how much I love him. He's so incredibly funny and this was just as good as his other two (The Know-It-All, about reading the entire encyclopedia for fun, and The Year of Living Biblically, where he spent a year following all Biblical commands).
In this one, he does several little social experiments--he outsources his life to India, for example. (His "assistants" order Christmas presents, talk to his wife and relatives for him and once read a story to his son.)
My favorite is the month where he followed George Washington's example. If you didn't know this (and I didn't), he followed a 110-rule code of conduct. (Basically it can be boiled down this way: manners, yay!) My favorite rule is the last one. "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." Good rule for everyone, right?
These books don't sound that great when you discuss what they're about, but they're just incredibly smart and funny. I envy people who get to read them for the first time. It's quite the adventure.
In the last chapter, for instance, his experiment is to spend a month doing whatever his wife says. He volunteers to do all the little chores around the house that she typically does. Her response?
"`I can't let you do that,' she said. Our apartment would look like Grey Gardens within two weeks."
How can you not love someone who references Grey Gardens?! Love. :)
In this one, he does several little social experiments--he outsources his life to India, for example. (His "assistants" order Christmas presents, talk to his wife and relatives for him and once read a story to his son.)
My favorite is the month where he followed George Washington's example. If you didn't know this (and I didn't), he followed a 110-rule code of conduct. (Basically it can be boiled down this way: manners, yay!) My favorite rule is the last one. "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." Good rule for everyone, right?
These books don't sound that great when you discuss what they're about, but they're just incredibly smart and funny. I envy people who get to read them for the first time. It's quite the adventure.
In the last chapter, for instance, his experiment is to spend a month doing whatever his wife says. He volunteers to do all the little chores around the house that she typically does. Her response?
"`I can't let you do that,' she said. Our apartment would look like Grey Gardens within two weeks."
How can you not love someone who references Grey Gardens?! Love. :)
I love this type of story and Jacobs tells his quest stories with a great mix of humor, self-reflection, and fact.
February 19 to 20, 2011, from the library.
This is a collection of articles, each devoted to a shorter-term "experiment" in his own life. These include:
-outsourcing his life to two firms in India (he has reps who take care of his schedule, answered his email, do research, and more);
-Radical Honesty (no filter between brain and mouth);
-he acts for his nanny (a beautiful woman) on online dating services;
-he tries to follow George Washington's 101 Rules of Conduct.
Honestly, I wanted longer pieces or even full-length books on many of the topics he covered. (And I wanted more detail about the outsourcing - it didn't seem to me that it would lessen your workload since you'd still have to explain all the tasks, but it seemed to work for him.)
Easy to read, interesting, and fun. (But I really like those "do something for X amount of time" stories.)
June 2012, bought the HC for $5, and reread.
This is a collection of articles, each devoted to a shorter-term "experiment" in his own life. These include:
-outsourcing his life to two firms in India (he has reps who take care of his schedule, answered his email, do research, and more);
-Radical Honesty (no filter between brain and mouth);
-he acts for his nanny (a beautiful woman) on online dating services;
-he tries to follow George Washington's 101 Rules of Conduct.
Honestly, I wanted longer pieces or even full-length books on many of the topics he covered. (And I wanted more detail about the outsourcing - it didn't seem to me that it would lessen your workload since you'd still have to explain all the tasks, but it seemed to work for him.)
Easy to read, interesting, and fun. (But I really like those "do something for X amount of time" stories.)
June 2012, bought the HC for $5, and reread.