- Paperback
- ASIN: B000OV170C
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Inside This Book
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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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