The Know-It-All
One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
2004 • 389 pages
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
15
One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
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 Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z.
33,000 PAGES
44 MILLION WORDS
10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY
1 OBSESSED MAN
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 Encyclopedia 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
I hated this book to start. The format made me feel frustrated at its disjointedness. By the end, though, I had come to love the wry tone of the narrator and the ability to learn some random facts while enjoying a memoir.
Loved, this book! I'm a learner myself, so reading of someone else's adventure to learn as much as possible is definitely good entertainment in my book. :) Some parts were so humorous they made me laugh out loud, regardless of where I was, or if it was appropriate to be laughing out loud or not.
