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The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs
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The Know-It-All

by A. J. Jacobs

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3,5271271,394 (3.79)127
2006 (13) 2007 (12) A. J. Jacobs (11) American (16) autobiography (78) biography (70) books (36) books about books (68) Britannica (18) comedy (14) education (23) encyclopedia (135) ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA (65) essays (15) fiction (13) funny (19) humor (291) intelligence (22) knowledge (81) learning (33) memoir (348) non-fiction (451) own (26) read (65) read in 2007 (11) reading (56) reference (62) to-read (37) trivia (83) unread (18)
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Showing 1-5 of 122 (next | show all)
I really like this A.J. Jacobs fellow. ( )
  melissarochelle | Apr 13, 2013 |
I loved this book! Jacobs set a lofty goal for himself and writes about it with humour and insight. The sections involving his father were favourites for me as well as the (internal) competition he created with his brother-in-law who really is a Know-It-All. I highly recommend this book. ( )
  BookishJoJo | Apr 10, 2013 |
It should really be called "The Insufferable Know-It-All Who Thinks He's Funny". ( )
  JenneB | Apr 2, 2013 |
As insufferably annoying as the title implies, but it had at least two genuinely amusing scenes that kept me reading in hopes of more. Alas, it was not to be. ( )
  aliceunderskies | Apr 1, 2013 |
After deciding to read through an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in a quest for knowledge, a man shares his thoughts of what he learns in A to Z format. Discover the bizarre, mundane and humorous tidbits gleaned from a wealth of information. ( )
  poetreegirl | Feb 26, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 122 (next | show all)
Corny, juvenile, smug, tired. Jacobs -- a poor man's Dave Barry; no, a bag person's Dave Barry -- has a modus operandi: to drift through the encyclopedia he supposedly read, yank out an entry, tear open his Industrial-Strength Comedy Handbook and jerry-build a lame wisecrack.
 
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To my wife, Julie
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I know the name of Turkey's leading avant-garde publication. (introduction)
a-ak. That's the first word in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Quotations
That's where the real appeal lies [of the 1911 edition]--nostalgia for a world where it all made sense, where all was knowable, where one point of view was the correct one. . . . the world of the EB is still one that treats everything rationally and sensibly, that still believes in the overall progress of civilization.
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743250621, Paperback)

33,000 PAGES

44 MILLION WORDS

10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY

1 OBSESSED MAN

Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z.

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 Encyclopaedia Britannica. 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.

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All 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 Esquire. 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 Jeopardy!, 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.

The Know-It-All 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.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:33:12 -0500)

(see all 5 descriptions)

Chronicles the efforts of an NPR contributor to read the "Encyclopedia Britannica" from A to Z, sharing the humorous mishaps that occurred as a result of the endeavor, from changed family relationships to his efforts to join Mensa.

» see all 4 descriptions

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HighBridge

Two editions of this book were published by HighBridge.

Editions: 1565119053, 1565119088

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