The Know-It-All

More about the book

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.