false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167927775m/28116.jpg 28116 14 33,000 PAGES<P>44 MILLION WORDS<P>10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY<P>1 OBSESSED MAN<P>Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), <I>The Know-It-All</I> chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the <I>Encyclopaedia Britannica</I> from A to Z.<P>To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the <I>Encyclopaedia Britannica.</I> His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced.<P>With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, <I>The Know-It-All</I> recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at <I>Esquire.</I> Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on <I>Jeopardy!,</I> and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and the paralyzing fear that attends his first real-life responsibility -- the impending birth of his first child. <P><I>The Know-It-All</I> is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.<P> 197064 book 2004 The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World total:4381|5:45|4:89|3:61|2:14|1:0| 4381 16596 7014 1001 3 8 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 14:04:13 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 15 01:06:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 6 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 28 19:52:37 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 28 21:34:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 6 false false Sat Oct 18 05:42:44 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 05:44:34 -0700 2008 4 4 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 08:42:07 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 14:07:58 -0700 2007
When Esquire editor A.J. Jacobs sets out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, you can guess you're going to get lots of interesting trivia tidbits from the world's leading compendium of knowledge.

But what makes the book far more rewardi...more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Oct 25 14:29:57 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 14:30:39 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Mon Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 07:17:45 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 06:52:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 4 true false Tue Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 04:39:08 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 10 13:17:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 26 11:33:10 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 11:33:54 -0700 2008 Starting a blog is a very daunting task. There are millions of them out there on every subject ...more...]]> 3 2 true false Wed Apr 16 09:13:43 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 30 08:59:26 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 09:05:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 13:48:58 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 10:26:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jul 11 13:30:55 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 13:24:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Mar 02 17:19:15 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 15 20:03:03 -0700 2009 Being a typical guy, h...more...]]> 0 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 15:52:36 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 15:52:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 08 23:57:44 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 19 17:17:02 -0700 2007
It’s an unfortunate fact that, once out of school, we don’t retain as much we’d like.This realization is what propels A. J. Jacobs to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Fueled b...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Jan 16 09:58:14 -0800 2009 Sat Jun 07 07:10:10 -0700 2008 Fri Jan 16 09:58:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 14:18:44 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 14:23:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Sep 04 18:24:06 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 18:27:27 -0700 2008
It's found under humor, but is sort of a memoir? The guy complains his brain is turning to mush because the only information he takes in lately is regarding pop-culture. Why can he name all the m...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 17:00:54 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 17:01:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:16:50 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:29:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 17:51:42 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 18:16:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=28116