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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Imagine, the original Berserkers were "savage Norse soldiers" of the Middle Ages who went into battle stark naked! Or consider the Etruscan habit of writing in "boustrophedon style." Intrigued? Well, either hunker down with your own Encyclopædia Britannica, or buy Esquire editor Jacobs's memoir of the year he spent reading all 32 volumes of the 2002 edition—that's 33,000 pages with some 44 million words. Jacobs set out on this delightfully eccentric endeavor attempting to become the "smartest person in the world," although he agrees smart doesn't mean wise. Apart from the sheer pleasure of scaling a major intellectual mountain, Jacobs figured reading the encyclopedia from beginning to end would fill some gaps in his formal education and greatly increase his "quirkiness factor." Reading alphabetically through whole topics he never knew existed meant he'd accumulate huge quantities of trivia to insert into conversations with unsuspecting victims. As his wife shunned him and cocktail party guests edged away, Jacobs started testing his knowledge in a hilarious series of humiliating adventures: hobnobbing at Mensa meetings, shuffling off to chess houses, trying out for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, visiting his old prep school, even competing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Indeed, one of the book's strongest parts is its laugh-out-loud humor. Jacobs's ability to juxtapose his quirky, sardonic wit with oddball trivia make this one of the season's most unusual books.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School - When Jacobs, a pop-culture junkie and magazine editor, got a bee in his bonnet to read the entire abridged set of the Encyclopedia Britannica to stave off the decline of his recalled knowledge, his wife, family, and coworkers looked on with disbelief, amusement, and annoyance. They thought he'd give up on his quest, but fortunately he did not, for his recap manages to impart the joys of learning, along with a lot of laughs. The alphabetical arrangement of his book allows Jacobs to share highlights, many of which show his fixation on the morbid, the insane, and the grotesque in history. Cortés had syphilis. Descartes had a fetish for cross-eyed women. Throughout, the author digresses with anecdotes about such things as his trip to a Mensa meeting, his visit with Alex Trebek, and (mainly) his wife's attempts to get pregnant. While the pregnancy woes probably won't hold the same resonance with teens as with adults, they are all short, and soon there is another funny or gross item. As Jacobs wraps up, he leaves readers with the sense of satisfaction and wistfulness that often occurs when finishing a particularly satisfying book, only multiplied by the magnitude of what he has accomplished. This is a love note to human knowledge and the joys of obtaining it. - Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
a-ak That's the first word in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
a-ak That's the first word in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun! Interesting! Extraordinary!,
By Lex Sockett (Montreal, QC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (Hardcover)
This was easily my favorite book of 2004. The author is witty, endearing and hilarious. As I worked my way through the book, I found myself laughing at nearly every turn, and picking up unusual facts that I can't wait to drop at future cocktail parties. Who would have thought that a journey through the Encyclopoedia could be so entertaining? A must read!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular Read!,
By April Turner (Toronto) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (Hardcover)
This is a subperb book. The author is witty and entertaining, and his story is touching. The book reveals a great deal about the world that I probably ought to know by now, and it made me appreciate history and my surroundings in a new way. I couldn't put it down until I reached zywiecz! Can't wait for this guy's next work.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly more entertaining than the real encyclopedia,
By Yonny (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (Paperback)
This is a great book. I learned about it after reading a few other books in the same "let me temporarily devote my entire life to a marginal activity and then write about it" genre. (Word Freak, Crossworld) This is not meant to be the Reader's Digest abridged version of EB. It's humour, nothing more, nothing less. But as humour, it's hilarious.In the text, he alternates between tidbits of info from EB, how he uses his newfound knowledge in social situations, his relationship with his wife, and odd side trips that sometimes seem surreal: crossword competition, MENSA meeting, EB headquarters and most improbably, a meeting with Alex Trebek and an appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?* The subjects in EB that fascinate him definitely lean towards the juvenile and sensational. Some might say Jacobs is immature for focusing on such subjects. I don't agree. In my mind, the fact that EB felt it necessary to mention Rene Descartes's fetish for cross-eyed women is so sublimely absurd it's hard to fault him for mentioning it numerous times. The weird stuff is also what's easiest to make jokes of. Like I said above, that's the point of this book: humour. Lastly, with the proliferation of tabloids and rags on newsstands I'd argue an obsession with the lurid simply makes him an average member of our society. The structure is refreshing, appropriate and most importantly, effective. He starts at A and ends at Z. Within each chapter there are headings taken from EB. Some headings have interesting facts about them included, while others are arbitrary to provide a break to switch topics. When I got this book for Christmas I read almost non-stop until P and had a minor anxiety attack when I realized I only had 1/3 of the alphabet left, that it would be over too soon. I only hope others will get as much pleasure from this book as I did. *Curiously enough, having previously met Alex Trebek disqualified him from being a Jeopardy! contestant.
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