ABANDONED. I'll read every book in the world and then I'll know everything-adult book w/ a character who has this idea-not sure what century-1700-1800

[Anita]

Okay, so I was reading that Jacob's book The Know It All. The one where he reads the entire encyclopedia brittanica. He makes note of the described book above and since I love books about book lovers I wanted to read this one, but I failed to write the title down.

I think he mentions that the character realizes that not all problems can be solved by reading. Or reading isn't everything. Probably a culminating ida I don't want to hear about but anyway....

[Brenda]

Is the author Amos Urban Shirk, the american business man who read all (then) 23 volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica from 1911?

[Anita]

No, thanks for trying. This was a fictional story about a man on a quest for knowledge. He felt that by reading every book he could gain it.

[Brenda]

Oh - Jacobs also mentioned the Shah of Persia, Fath Ali in 1797 who was given the encyclopedia as a gift ....not sure if he wrote about it though....

[Emily]

Oooo...this is driving me crazy! I think I know the book you're talking about. I've never read it, but I'm certain that I got a question about it in the Never-Ending Book Quiz a few weeks ago. Of course, now I can't remember the title, and I've had no luck with Google.

I'll let you know if I come up with it!

[Anita]

Yes yes please let me know if you figure it out.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Hmm ... Emily's answers to the never-ending book quiz are available here if anyone wants to try the needle in a haystack approach....

[Emily]

Ugh! I went through most of the questions I have answered, and I haven't found anything. Now I am second guessing myself and thinking that the question I answered may have actually been about the The Know-It-All. My apologies if I have sent anyone on a fool's errand looking through my questions!

Still, I feel sure that I have heard of the other book before. I'll keep working on it...

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

You can also search the never ending quiz (there's a search box).

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

It sounds like it might be based on the Faust legend? Goethe's Faust was published in 1808, Marlowe's Doctor Faustus in 1604; searching suggests that this general idea occurs in Melville and Hawthorne, I haven't read enough to know how or in which books.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Anita, are you still looking for this?

[Anita]

I am still looking for this.

[Juels]

Bouvard and Pecuchet by Gustave Flaubert?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Still looking, Anita?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Still looking, Anita?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.

[Anita]

still looking! thanks

[Kris]

Thanks for the update, Anita. I moved your request to the "Unsolved" folder by clicking the small "edit" link after the topic header/title. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app.

[Kris]

Book mentioned by Anita - The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs. Can you get this book on Overdrive via your public library?

[Kris]

Anita, please post a new comment if you're still looking for this book - or if you found it.

Last posted to the group in May 2021. Moving to Abandoned folder.