Thanks a thousand : a gratitude journey

I really wanted to like this because it's such a great idea but I feel like something was missing. Maybe it was the lack of any sort of stakes for the author. To me it read like an expanded to-do list, ticking off people to thank.

But I love the idea and I'm glad it's done - I just feel like something got lost in the translation because I just couldn't get invested in it. I suspect he had some trouble at times as well - especially toward the end where he didn't even know how many people he had thanked. 957? 1015? Oh I don't know, I'll call it 1000. Good enough. That feels like a metaphor for what I saw as the biggest shortcoming of the book.

I love A.J. Jacobs and I was very happy to see that he has written a new book. In the past, Jacobs has written what I call challenge books; Jacobs sets a challenge for himself and has tried to accomplish his goal. In the past, Jacobs has tried to be as healthy as possible; improve himself by following others' advice; become the smartest person in the world; follow the Bible literally. In Thanks a Thousand, Jacobs sets out to thank anyone who had anything to do with his morning cup of coffee. This turns out to be a herculean task; Jacobs ends up finding that he needs to thank virtually everyone in the world.

It's a fun and (somewhat) inspiring book about the power of gratitude on one's happiness. I think Jacobs is actually a slightly less snarky person after this experiment.