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Written by John
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Wednesday, 05 September 2007 |
Today I finished one of the best books I have ever read. The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs. The idea is simple. Read the full Encyclopedia Britannica. 44,000,000 words on 33,000 pages. Simple, but crazy! It is something I could see myself doing, not in a quest to be the smartest person in the world, but because I have a hard time reading just part of a book. I have to read the foreword, the introduction, etc.
If the book was just a chronicle of the quest to read the E.B., it would be a good book. What makes this book great is A.J.'s writing. Not only do I love his writing style, but I also love how frank he is with areas of his own life. A.J. relates a lot of what the volumes teach him, even to such areas as fertility.
This book is hilarious. As just a single example of the humor in this book, I am quoting the entry for "yodel":
The Swiss do not have a monopoly on this. The pygmies and the Australian Aborigines are also proficient yodelers. On the other hand, their cuckoo clocks are below average.
One of the strangest facts I learned while reading this book is that raspberries, strawberries and blackberries are not technically berries. Botanically speaking they are aggregate fruits. Turns out oranges, bananas and pumpkins are berries. Huh! Even stranger, a tomato is also a berry! If you want a laugh, check out the entry for raspberry in the book.
Lastly, it seems that PowerPoint is not safe in this book. An easy target and a fun one to attack it seems. In the entry for "Tolstoy", A.J. says:
It's not enough to be moral about the big things, I decide. It's not enough that I refrain from murdering and robbing banks and giving PowerPoint presentations. I've got to be mindful of my smallest decisions.
A fascinating and entertaining book. Highly recommended.
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