A. J. Jacobs Books

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world"-- Provided by publisher

Avoiding shellfish was easy. The stoning of adulterers proved a little more difficult - and potentially controversial. Was it enough to walk up to an adulterer and gently touch them with a stone? Even that could be grounds for accusations of assault, especially with female adulterers in Manhattan. So what's a good Bible-reading boy to do?Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the hundreds of less-publicised rules. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal, and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

Part memoir and part education, this book chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. To address the gaps in his Ivy League education, Jacobs embarks on the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes. His wife, Julie, thinks it's a waste of time, friends question his sanity, and his father, who once attempted the same feat, is supportive yet skeptical. With self-deprecating humor and candor, Jacobs details the unexpected and comical disruptions this project brings to his life, affecting his new marriage, his relationship with his father, and his job as an editor at Esquire. This endeavor tests his stamina and prompts him to explore the true meaning of intelligence as he aims to join Mensa, compete on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of knowledge. Along the way, he discovers strange, funny, and profound facts about various topics while grappling with fatigue, ridicule, and the anxiety of impending fatherhood. This memoir is a captivating exploration of one man's intellectual journey, neuroses, and obsessions, highlighting the tension between the pursuit of knowledge and the value of hard-won wisdom.

"You may know A.J. Jacobs as the man who attempted to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover-to-cover. Or you may have been introduced to him when he spent a year trying to follow the Bible as literally as possible. He returns once again with another seemingly impossible task--that of becoming the healthiest man alive. As with his earlier books, Jacobs brings his quick wit, self-deprecating humor, and journalistic eye to the experiment. He leaves no health stone unturned: from literally running his errands and wearing noise-cancelling headphones for hours a day to rigging a desk that he can work at while walking on the treadmill (there are instructions at the end for those interested), Jacobs chronicles the good, bad, and ugly of trying to attain "perfect" health. Jacobs' writing is breezy, informational, and entertaining, and he manages to achieve the near impossible--discussing issues of health without sounding preachy. --Caley Anderson in amazon.com.

On leaving school or university, you feel pretty pleased with yourself. You've learnt a lot, your'e well-read and you know a whole bunch of obscure facts guaranteed at some point to appear in the questions on Mastermind or University Challenge. Then you get a job, and ten years later youre more eloquent and eager to argue about Britney and Big Brother than Beckett and the Brontes. Sound familiar? Well it happened to AJ Jacobs too. As an editor at Esquire, Jacobs had built up a rather impressive knowledge of celebrity trivia - and the cure was going to take a long time. While others might take to reading a broadsheet at the weekend, Jacobs chose to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica. All 33,000 pages of it. Bill Bryson meets Schott's Original Miscellany meets Woody Allen. Part assemblage of fascinating trivia, part journey through adulthood, all laugh-out-loud funny.

The bestselling author of The Know-It-All takes on history's most influential book.

From the senior editor of "Esquire" magazine comes a book of essays on all of his hilarious adventures as a human guinea pig, including "My Outsourced Life" and "My Life as a Hot Woman."

The book explores the astonishing growth of South Korea's automobile industry from 1962 to 1996, highlighting the interplay of government support, technological partnerships, a skilled workforce, competitive pricing, and entrepreneurial spirit. It offers a comprehensive analysis of all six Korean automakers, tracing their development through this period. Written from the vantage point of industry analysts unaware of future economic challenges, it serves as a valuable resource for those interested in automotive history, international political economy, and Asian studies.

The book explores the contrasting trajectories of car production in Belgium and Spain, highlighting the impact of European integration and economic factors. It examines plant closures in Belgium due to high wages and the decline of major automakers, while detailing Spain's growth spurred by lower wages and expansion strategies. Additionally, it presents three scenarios on how future EU expansion and Brexit could alter the landscape of European car manufacturing over the next decade, aiming to inform scholars and policymakers about potential investment shifts in the auto industry.

Koncept był zwodniczo prosty – bestsellerowy autor "The New York Timesa" postanowił podziękować każdej osobie zaangażowanej w przygotowanie jego porannej kawy. Ta podróż wdzięczności, w trakcie której autor przemierzył wiele kilometrów, odmienia jego życie i ujawnia sekret tego, w jaki sposób wdzięczność może dać nam szczęście. Autor A.J. Jacobs odkrywa, że jego kawa – i każda inna rzecz w naszym życiu – nie powstałaby bez setek ludzi, o których zwykle nie myślimy: rolników, chemików, artystów, kierowców ciężarówek, mechaników, biologów, górników i przemytników. Zalet wdzięczności jest mnóstwo: wzmacnia empatię, poprawia nastrój, wspiera leczenie depresji i sprawia, że świat staje się przyjaźniejszym miejscem. Cięty język autora i jego błyskotliwe poczucie humoru sprawiają, że książka jest niczym poranna kawa – rozbudza i pozwala jaśniej myśleć. Dziękujemy, że po nią sięgacie.

Was andere nur aus dem Fernsehen oder der Zeitung kennen – diese Menschen haben es am eigenen Leib erlebt: vom Hai angegriffen. Mit dem Flugzeug abgestürzt. Vom Blitz getroffen. angegriffen. Mit dem Flugzeug abgestürzt. Vom Blitz getroffen. Hier erzählen sie davon, wie es war – wie es sich anfühlt, wenn das Leben am seidenen Faden hängt. Welche Gedanken schießen einem durch den Kopf? Welche Einzelheiten nimmt man noch wahr? All dies – und noch viel mehr – enthüllen die authentischen Erlebnisberichte.