Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90805 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Independent on Sunday
A very entertaining tribute to the joys of learning

Daily Mail
'...frequently funny and sometimes downright hilarious'

Synopsis
On leaving school or university, you feel pretty pleased with yourself. You've learnt a lot, you're well-read, and you know a whole bunch of obscure facts guaranteed at some point to appear in the questions on Mastermind or University Challenge. Then you get a job, and ten years later, you're more eloquent and eager to argue about Britney and Big Brother than Beckett and the Brontes. Sound familiar? Well, it happened to AJ Jacobs too. As an editor at "Esquire", Jacobs had built up an impressive knowledge of celebrity trivia - and the cure was going to take a long time. While others read a broadsheet at the weekend, or become casual newsnight enthusiasts, Jacobs elected to read the "Encyclopaedia Britannica". All 33,000 pages of it. Bill Bryson meets Schott's Original; Miscellany meets Woody Allen. Part assemblage of fascinating trivia, part journey through adulthood, all laugh-out-loud funny.

Customer Reviews

A very entertaining book
I could vaguely remember reading a newspaper article about this book so when I could find nothing else in the local library that tickled my fancy, I decided to give it a try.
Excellent decision! The 'Know-it-all' is one of the best humourous books I have ever read, and probably the best written by an US author, as I have found that American humour in written form seldom does it for me, this side of the Atlantic.
The premise sounds oh so boring - about the author reading through the Encyclopedia Britannica - but with great skill and humour he manages to make his progress very, very entertaining. It's packed with many marvellously funny episodes - his attempting to join Mensa, his appearance on TV in 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' his trying to learn speed reading are just three that spring to mind - that are all individually small humourous gems.
The sub-plot about his wife and his so far unsuccessful attempts to become parents doesn't work quite as well, but this is a minor quibble.
If you happen to come across this book in your library do like I did, and take it out. I don't think you will be disappointed.

The ultimate quest
I love books like this... quest books...or maybe that should be stupid project books!
I have recently read about Dave Gorman with his quest for namesakes and Googlewhacks, about John Donoghue with his funny place names and marsupial Elvis (who admits up front that he's lived a life of pointless quests), Tony Hawks and Danny Wallace and their various offbeat projects but now I have found the ultimate...the quest to become the smartest person in the world!
What differentiates this from the likes of 'Are you Dave Gorman' or 'Shakespeare My Butt!' is that this is actually a useful quest... but it's is just as funny!!
This guy has the knack of making it all so interesting too. I bought it for my summer holidays, but read it after getting it home. Doh!
You could do worse than adding this to your quest library....a fantastic book.

A fun read.
Reading the Brittanica from a-z is not a task many people have completed and this excellent book is the story of one man who did and what effect it had on his life.
Witty, fun and informative, this book is written in a great style and the only thing that annoyed me is Americanisms like "math", etc. (Though the author is American I may add!)

It's fun and easy to read and you will learn some bizarre facts along the way.

Give it a go!