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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.

Average Customer Rating:

I Will Read and Re-Read This One!

Customer Rating:

A.J. Jacobs works as the editor at large at Esquire magazine and has carved his personal niche at becoming what he calls "a human guinea pig." I would love to be present during one of his brainstorm sessions ("Maybe I could do this!," "Has anyone ever tried that?"). It might have been after consuming several caffeinated drinks that he thought of the premise for The Know It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. In short, he decided to read the entire Encylopaedia Britannica in one year. I was not sure what to expect when reading about his experience. I worried it might be as big of a snooze as reading the encyclopaedia itself. Let me tell you - it's anything BUT boring. Jacobs highlights several entries - A to Z - from Britannica that he found interesting, disturbing, educational, or just plain random. He also explains how he sought to use his newfound knowledge in his everyday life (often to quite hilarious outcomes!). I didn't realize it was possible to relate even the most dense of encylopaedic articles to one's own life, but Jacobs manages to weave the different entries into aspects of his own life, and you end up getting to know him quite well. This is a really charming book, and Jacobs' voice is so clear and distinct that you feel the book more as a conversation than a read.

Thoroughly enjoyable

Customer Rating:

One of my favorite books this year. I fully expected to enjoy it after reading the entertaining account of the author's latest "humble quest" to follow the bible as literally as possible (also highly recommended!). And I was right - I loved the book, and when I finished it, I went into immediate Jacobs withdrawal, and had to look up his old Esquire articles and interviews to get my daily dose of self-deprecating humor (thank you, google!). Jacobs somehow managed to include a dizzying number of Britannica facts in a funny, witty, creative way, by giving the reader a glimpse of his own universe, his quirky family, his compulsions and eccentricities, his marriage and his thoughts on his impending fatherhood. The book is hilarious - I laughed out loud while reading it - but it is also tender and touching. I can't wait to read about the author's next quest.

Generation X goes to the library

Customer Rating:

This is a funny book for me. Funny because like most books I think about a lot, reading it left me feeling a mixture of annoyed, amused, depressed and uplifted. In short I think the author got it right. For what it's worth I really didn't think I'd like him by the middle of the book but really wanted to by the end. Well, who cares? It's just my way of pretending to relate to authors. At first he came off to me as a self-absorbed "gen-x-er" but he seemed to get more thoughtful as the book progressed. Maybe I started the book self-absorbed and I got more thoughtful as the book progressed. This guy does have a sense of humor but it seemed to take him a while to hit his stride with it. Kurt Vonnegut said a good written joke works like a well-timed bomb and some of Jacobs early efforts really fizzled on me. Somewhere around the "p" entries though I found myself laughing out loud. Either I got used to his style or his style improved as he ploughed through the encyclopedia. I'm definitely interested in reading his other book on biblical living (I bought it) so his publisher should be happy with him.

It's very cute - read it!	Customer Rating:
Laugh-out-loud funny in some parts. Maybe a little tedious toward the middle (probably sort of like, say, being in the middle of reading the encyclopaedia), but still well worthwhile. I recommend it for entertaining, humorous reading that sneaks a little knowledge in without being heavy-handed.

My FAVORITE book ever!!

Customer Rating:

I emailed AJ and told him that this was my favorite book, right up there with my 2nd fav "Memoirs of a Geisha". He thanked me for comparing him to a Japanese hooker! That's funny. In fact, he's so funny and quirky that I'm always thinking of more book ideas for him. This book is so fun to read. I read it aloud to my husband while traveling on our summer vacation. I just wish I could memorize more of it! You gotta read this book.