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430 reviews for:
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
A.J. Jacobs
3.7 AVERAGE
430 reviews for:
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
A.J. Jacobs
3.7 AVERAGE
Some reviewers have derided this book--perhaps because it's quirky and not set in a traditional linear story-telling fashion. I found it fun and funny and a bit like playing Trivial Pursuit where you learn a number of interesting (if not always useful) facts about hundreds of different topics. For list-makers and buffs of random knowledge, it's a fun read.
An entertaining read that jumps from subject to subject in a wonderful way...I thoroughly enjoyed this!
I enjoyed his stories within the story. Sometimes I felt like I was reading the encyclopedia, and even though I learned some things, I preferred to read his stories.
He’s funny, witty, and a smart-ass, which is probably why I liked him.
He’s funny, witty, and a smart-ass, which is probably why I liked him.
After the "Julie & Julia" torture, I was a bit dubious about this book, but I quite enjoyed it. The author is funny, self-deprecating, and really does seem more interested in the reading of the Encyclopaedia Britannica than about completing a stunt in order to write a book.
A fun summer read.
A fun summer read.
I really like Jacobs's conversational style. Along with the facts he learned while reading the encyclopedia from A to Z, you learn about his co-workers, his family, and how his new found knowledge does not aid his social awkward personality. It's a quick read in which you feel embarrassed and proud for Jacobs at the same time. (And feel a little extra sorry for his wife that lives with him through these experiments.)
There seems to be a trend of AJ Jacobs books happening here... While I think I enjoyed The Year of Living Biblically better than this one, I thought this was a great book too. It is about the author's effort to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica - which reminds me of my sisters' and my short-lived quest to learn all the words in the dictionary (though knowing what an "abattoir" is has come in handy in more than one crossword puzzle...) But I digress...I really appreciate Jacobs' sense of humor and I love, love, love the supporting "characters" in this book, particularly his wife, his dad and his brother-in-law Eric. I think it would be fun to just hang out with them sometime. In the book Jacobs talks about how so many times his real life would intersect with what he was reading about. And funny enough, while I was reading his book, I would end up encountering something he was talking about - including, but not limited to a "Jeopardy" question about another name for "coriander". Thanks, Christina, for pointing out the funny index in your review of his other book. It made me pay attention to the index in this one, which was likewise very entertaining. Like Becky, I also enjoyed his nerdy references to things he had learned, like the ever-handy fact about the five anuses of an abalone. Good stuff.
This was a little more like actually reading the Encyclopedia Britannica than I was really prepared for. I think it took me longer to read this book than it took Jacobs to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, too. So, I’m not sure what that says about my reading stamina. It took Jacobs something like a year to read the encyclopedia? I think it took me two years to read this book. Although I don’t really get how it’s possible that it took him a year because I feel like way more than half of the book was about Jacobs and his wife trying to get pregnant, but then she was seven months pregnant when the book was over. Maybe he just read a lot more during the first half of the year. Or maybe it took him more than a year. I can’t go back and check. Anyway, writing a review of this book is pretty meta because the book itself is basically a goodreads.com review of the encyclopedia. Ambitious. So this is a review of a review of the encyclopedia.
I am terrible at retaining factual knowledge long term, and I’d have to say I probably kind of avoid learning trivial facts – dates, names, places. I guess, using the word “trivial” is wrong because it sounds like they are less important than other facts, but what I mean is that systems and theories make more sense to me, and I’m not good with factual data. It’s probably because of that that Jacob’s [b:Year of Living Biblically|495395|The Year of Living Biblically One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible|A.J. Jacobs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266569301s/495395.jpg|2325789] was more entertaining to me. Know-It-All is basically about whether there is value in knowing a lot of facts, where Biblically is about the value of religion. Both have this OCD intensity, combined with a charming humility. It’s very disarming, but at the same time disconcerting in some way. Obviously, he cares enough about these projects to follow through with them, but at the same time, most of the books are about him being self-conscious about the fact that he’s doing the projects, but he’s also proud enough of them to publish books about them. I guess it’s good that he recognizes the projects are unusual.
Jacobs writes the kind of review here that not everybody likes – it’s filled with personal anecdotes about how the encyclopedia affected him and what he was doing when reading sections of it. I find that interesting, but it is not for everyone. There is also a lot of trivia in here that relates to random legal facts and stories that I learned this past year in school – like the three-mile rule and the Bird in Space story. That was cool. I guess, again, Biblically made more sense to me because I’ve spent a lot of time considering the value of religion and of interpretations of spiritual texts, where I’ve always been pretty comfortable with my cursory decision that reading an entire encyclopedia is of no interest to me. That’s just a personal preference, and you could feel the opposite.
Anyway, I have a crush on A.J. Jacobs. He’s charming and smart, but still has some perspective. His wife is probably a saint, and she seems pretty charming, too. Maybe I have a little crush on their whole family. That adds a little sparkle to my read of his stories.
I am terrible at retaining factual knowledge long term, and I’d have to say I probably kind of avoid learning trivial facts – dates, names, places. I guess, using the word “trivial” is wrong because it sounds like they are less important than other facts, but what I mean is that systems and theories make more sense to me, and I’m not good with factual data. It’s probably because of that that Jacob’s [b:Year of Living Biblically|495395|The Year of Living Biblically One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible|A.J. Jacobs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266569301s/495395.jpg|2325789] was more entertaining to me. Know-It-All is basically about whether there is value in knowing a lot of facts, where Biblically is about the value of religion. Both have this OCD intensity, combined with a charming humility. It’s very disarming, but at the same time disconcerting in some way. Obviously, he cares enough about these projects to follow through with them, but at the same time, most of the books are about him being self-conscious about the fact that he’s doing the projects, but he’s also proud enough of them to publish books about them. I guess it’s good that he recognizes the projects are unusual.
Jacobs writes the kind of review here that not everybody likes – it’s filled with personal anecdotes about how the encyclopedia affected him and what he was doing when reading sections of it. I find that interesting, but it is not for everyone. There is also a lot of trivia in here that relates to random legal facts and stories that I learned this past year in school – like the three-mile rule and the Bird in Space story. That was cool. I guess, again, Biblically made more sense to me because I’ve spent a lot of time considering the value of religion and of interpretations of spiritual texts, where I’ve always been pretty comfortable with my cursory decision that reading an entire encyclopedia is of no interest to me. That’s just a personal preference, and you could feel the opposite.
Anyway, I have a crush on A.J. Jacobs. He’s charming and smart, but still has some perspective. His wife is probably a saint, and she seems pretty charming, too. Maybe I have a little crush on their whole family. That adds a little sparkle to my read of his stories.
This book made me laugh out loud on numerous occassions. And I really enjoyed reading about his change of perception about the world from reading the Brittanica. There were whole chapters where I was super enthralled, but then at times I found it a bit lengthy. Overall, I really enjoyed it and will keep it for sure as for all of the neat little tid bits of useless information I underlined.
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
I think this man actually got dumber while reading an encyclopedia. He sure didn't get any funnier. Keep making stunt books, A.J.- that's your only hope.