The Know-it-all

Rating:
Summary: Great read; highly recommended...
Review: ...so why only 3 stars?
This book really has two aspects. The first is the selection of topics from the Encyclopedia Britannica, which is interesting, skillfully done, and very enjoyable to read, which gets 5 stars. The selection allows the reader to avoid reading the whole EB as the author has done, and for this we should be grateful.
However, the other part of this book is the author's navel-gazing and cutesy comments on his terminally uninteresting personal life, which gets zero stars. It is difficult to believe this book was written by a 35-year-old; it reads more like a 14-year-old's immature snickering. The author is a product of both the Dalton School and Brown University; if you know either of these institutions, you will already know the flavor and flaws of this part of the book. The author complains at length about his earlier career writing about movie stars, but his chapters on his current life and interests only go to prove the validity of the Peter Principle in action. Skip these sections.

Rating:
Summary: Get Smart-ish
Review: A.J. Jacobs' autobiographical romp through the Encyclopaedia Britannica is light-hearted, fact-paced, and trivia-strewn.

There are two parts to "The Know-It-All": the individual encyclopaedia entries and Jacobs' running commentary on his life, how facing his quest changes him, and all the places he's gone with an encyclopaedia in tow. It's like a travelogue through the Britannica. You find out about everything from cross-eyed fetishes to a wide range of ancient and modern philosophies, and at the same time Jacobs deals with father/son issues - both between himself and his father and himself and his will-he-ever-be-conceived child - and in-law sibling rivalry. Jacobs' sense of humor isn't going to get him a sitcom deal any time soon, but his wry observations about history are amusing if not always side-splitting.

Is it a problem that the author is an extremely privileged individual? To a degree, yes. It becomes tedious after awhile, reading about all the fun things he gets to do based on a seemingly endless supply of cash - one scene of him and his wife sweating an American Express bill would have been appreciated. At the same time, if I had the opportunity to do the things he did, I probably would. Would I like to jaunt across the Atlantic for a wedding or cross-country to keep my wife company? Sure. Like to meet Alex Trebek? What is "yes"? Drop several thousand dollars on a set of reference books? You betcha. If I'd like to do those things, I can hardly begrudge Jacobs the opportunity himself.

Jacobs comes to the conclusion that knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing, but that knowledge is worth having if it gives broader insight into the questions of life and allows for wiser decision making. It reminds me of an old stand-up bit I heard as a kid: Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a Cadillac so you can drive around looking for it. Knowledge and money are tools to gain the prizes of wisdom and happiness. Maybe you wind up an educated fool who is soon parted from his money, maybe not. But you'll never know unless you begin the journey.

Reading this book won't necessarily make you smarter, but it should make you laugh out loud at times. Maybe you get wiser, maybe you don't; but for relatively little money you'll find yourself with some happy moments - and a book to drop on spiders - and that ain't too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating.
Review: At its best, it's quite funny. But at its worst, this book is snarky and obnoxious (and, alas, about what you'd expect given the author's work history). Not to mention the profanity, which was a real disappointment, and made the author look juvenile. At the fourth or fifth expostulation of "Jesus!" I got fed up. And that was only 50 pages in. It's a very amusing idea, but I'm not convinced enough that it'll sustain a 350-page book that I want to read the next 300 pages of this. Next time get an editor who'll make this book accessible to people beyond the look-aren't-I-clever-and-naughty set.

Rating:
Summary: good...for a while...for thirty-something nyc yuppies only
Review: i got this as a gift for christmas and really loved it...till i got to around h or so...i really enjoyed the idea--not so much the one about reading the encyclopedia and then telliing the reader how goofy it is to do such a thing over and over again, but the ingenius structure of the pseudo-auto-bio thang. but then not only does this encyclopediac, letter by letter format get pretty tiring, but the "wit" succeeds in getting even more formulaic. jacobs' entries/comments on the highlighted subjects begin to read less like insight or trivia, and more like lethargic, long-winded, and worst of all predictable rodney dangerfield one-liners. or worse, he states the fact, and then follows it up with a juvenile punchline...almost without fail over and over. not to mention the entire prose is delivered in a smarmy-yuppy tone that's wears out its welcome real fast. basically, the idea could have been way better executed and made much more interesting (and funny).

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Very Interesting. So why three stars?
Review: I read this book over the weekend and just loved it. I was as sad to reach zywiec as the author seemed to be. I haven't laughed out loud as much reading a book in a long time. Plus I love all the great facts and history I learned.

So why did I give this book three stars?

First, the editing of the book was terrible, which might be excusable if the author wasn't an editor himself. It appears as if they ran a computerized spell check but didn't take the time to have an actual human being read it. Most of the errors (and there were many) involved missing words and incorrect word choices.

Second, the author's use of what I recently heard refered to in a sitcom as "salty language". While this doesn't bother me personally, except perhaps to lessen my opinion of the author, I would have liked to share this book with my parents, especially my dad who at one time toyed with reading the encyclopedia. However, I know that they would be disturbed by the language the author includes for no purpose I can see except to say "Hey, look how cool I am." or "Wow. I'm just a regular guy." or "Yes, its true. I'm still a thirteen year old boy in a man's body" or maybe "Gee. I guess I don't have as good a vocabulary as I like to pretend." This is a pet peeve of mine in modern literature and film.

All and all, however, I give this high praise for both the accomplishment of the author and the laughter it provides.


Rating:
Summary: Not just for info-geeks, it's also chock-full of humor
Review: I sought this book hoping to glean some ubiquitous facts or knowledge from someone who has read the ultimate compendium of knowledge. What I found was that A.J. Jacobs not only provided some lesser-known information but a sharp wit to make the read extremely tolerable. If you're an info-nerd, like trivia or just strange and fascinating facts this book will not disappoint. The semi-autobiographical but extremely humorous anecdotes are simply icing on the cake.

Jacobs struggles with the notion of "does reading the encyclopaedia make one more intelligent?" -- a poignant question. My opinion: the knowledge gained is worthless without the intelligence to process and use that information practically. I highly recommend this book and hope to read the author's future works (maybe he could tackle the Library of Congress next?)

Highs: Good trivia information, fascinating facts that are very interconnected and presented in an easy-to-remember format. VERY funny. Anecdotes and personal comments on the information (as well as his personal life) make it a very enjoyable read. You'll be in as much anticipation to reach "Z" as he is.

Lows: He skips a lot of information but that's to be expected (otherwise he'd just re-write the encyclopaedia), I just wished there were more. Some pieces of information he goes off on a tangent and only briefly touches on the topic at-hand.

Rating:
Summary: If I can prevent even one person from buying this book...
Review: I'm not normally superficial, but about a third of the way through this book, I had to go find the dustjacket from where I'd put it for safekeeping and look at the author's photo. Why? Because his all-too-prominently displayed neuroses made me imagine him to be some highly goofy-lookin' Ichabod Crane type nerd. But no, he's pretty normal-looking, so there went my theory on where his inferiority complex and try-too-hard sense of humor came from.

This is one of those books where your enjoyment of it hinges on liking the author. Sadly, I found him pompous, puerile, woefully overpriveleged and underinformed--basically, imagine a 14-year-old boy who thinks he's the life of the party.

This could have been a really interesting book, but in the clammy, hammy hands of AJ Jacobs, it's a slog. I kept reading against my better judgement, but hey! Like AJ, I learned a valuable lesson from a book--if it sucks, stop reading it! Life's too short (and there are too many interesting books--for instance, the Manhattan phone book, to waste time on a poorly written piece of tripe like this. The good news is, if AJ's right about how quickly we forget what we read, then in a few weeks I should be purged of all of The Know-it-All's taints.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Trivia With a Personality
Review: The author manages to successfully convey the interesting experience of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. He peppers his journal with relevant personal information, like his desire to start a family with his wife, and better understand his relationship with his father. During the course of his reading, he describes his other related adventures which include joining Mensa, interviewing Alex Trebek from "Jeopardy", taking a speed reading course that may not be on the up-and-up, and taking a shot at being on "Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire". The reader will also have fun learning incredibly interesting facts about a huge variety of topics that make you rethink what you think you know. You know? Overall, this is an enjoyable, easy to read, and fast-paced book.

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining Encyclopedic Angst-Filled Escapade
Review: This book is not simply an account of reading the encyclopedia. It's encyclopedic-infused autobiography, an unlikely but thrilling combination where the act of reading the encyclopedia is physical and emotional as much as intellectual. Jacobs' journey through the Encyclopedia Britannica is abecedarian, honest, and incredibly funny. The meat of this book is the autobiographical aspect. As the author reacts to the encyclopedia entries, he also grapples with suffering (his own and humankind's), language, trivia, his bizarre family, his intrepid wife, his fear of germs and disease, the meaning of knowledge, and the nature of history. And as he acquires more and more facts, he tests out his knowledge in various real-life situations, usually leading to embarrassment, humiliation, moments of enlightenment, and more questions. Clearly, the author is looking for the answer to something. The book is hard to put down because you want to know what Jacobs is thinking about the next topic, and the next, and the next ... And when the last page comes, you won't close the book-you'll turn the page and start reading the Index, a work in its own right, enthralling and masterfully realized-and you'll find yourself laughing at the Index entries, and turning back to certain sections of the book, and you'll know you are addicted to "one man's humble quest."
Having read The Know-It-All, I have no desire to read the Encyclopedia Britannica; however, I have every desire to read more of Jacobs.


Rating:
Summary: Great Trival Humor
Review: What a crazy thesis for a book. Why would someone set out to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica? At best you are going to get lightly skimmed articles on lots of subjects (65,000). You will find lots of trivia (The Bayer aspirin company invented heroin.) and if you are really lose 50,000 brain cells a day (more trivia) you're destined to forget it anyway. You can be a whiz at Trivial Persuit, at least for a while.

Well one reason is to be able to write quite a funny book on your experiences. It's a strange kind of humor and you have to wonder if some times at the end of his reported conversations he didn't get some rather funny looks.