A review by erinmp
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs

4.0

Can a book about reading the Encyclopedia Britannica be funny? It can be hilarious if it's written by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs mixes brief entries from the encyclopedia that are interesting or just plain bizarre, with tidbits from his own life at the time of reading. Throughout the book we see him join MENSA (a feat shocking to him, afraid he's going to be called out at any time), experience infertility with his wife, try to impress others with his mission and newly acquired knowledge. Jacobs attempts to back up his quest to become the smartest man in the world by speaking with geniuses and experts in intelligence (that doesn't go over so well). He tries to go on Jeopardy, but after an enthusiastic attempt to bond with Alex Trebek over trivia for an interview, he is disqualified and has to settle for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And to cap it all off, he even gets to join the Britannica staff for a day.

The book is truly hilarious and full of interesting party facts (my favorite: in traditional Balinese society, boy-girl twins were forced to marry because it was assumed that they had sex in the womb). Handy index in the back if you can't quite remember the obscure fact Jacobs mentioned. Great book.