The Know-It-All

One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

By: A. J. Jacobs

Narrated by: Geoffrey Cantor

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Early in his career, A.J. Jacobs put his Ivy League education to work at Entertainment Weekly. He emerged five years later knowing which stars have fake boobs, which stars have toupees, which have both, and not much else. This realization led Jacobs on a life-changing quest: to read the entire contents of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words.

The mission began in October 2002, with the word "a-ak". The word launches hilarious misadventures through 32 volumes, as Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father, examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties.

The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a soul-searching, ultimately touching struggle between the obsessive quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.

©2004 A.J. Jacobs (P)2004 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"One of the book's strongest parts is its laugh-out-loud humor." (Publishers Weekly)
"Sidesplitting." (Time Out New York)

Very "Sedarisian"

Very David Sedarisian and quite Bill Bryson-esque.

My normal "reads" are crime and covert-ops espionage so the occasional side venture to humor are always welcomed. The narrator here even sounds like David Sedaris who I always felt is a long lost son of Woody Allen.

Great travel choice with the family. Maybe a few hours longer than necessary but easy to leave and come back to without having to recall any plot lines or characters..... there is no plot or characters.

Fun Fun Fun

I wasn't sure what to expect but this is one of the most enjoyable listens I have heard. This is probably better than reading even if I had the time. Laugh out loud. Buy it now. Don't wait. I can't wait to get back into my car to listen again.
jp

Laugh outloud!

My husband and I listened to this on a road trip. It was laugh out loud funny as well as extremely informative. Very good read!

Encyclorific!

I enjoyed it all the way through. Constantly learning something, and at the same time following his family drama. I was excited to hear about some of the intellectual clubs and his take on their personae. I think it will be funny and enjoyable for any reader, except of course that one that posted a review a few before myself criticizing the author's humour.

Educational and Entertaining

The book is very well put together and entertaining. The narrator definitely makes it and I have found that A.J. Jacobs other books less enjoyable due to a different narrator.

The stereotype confirmed

Maybe the book was meant to be whimsical. Unfortunately to me it came across as annoying and obnoxious. Didn't give "know-it-alls" a better rep.

This is hysterical!!

I love this audio, and I think that people who don't like it didn't pay attention to the description before buying. It's ' The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World,' not, ' A Concise Summary of the Encyclopedia Britannica.' So it is the story of his reading it, why he chose to, and his life away from the books, just as described. And it's funny. He is nicknamed 'the great conversation stopper' by coworkers at Esquire, takes a speed-reading class, drops in at his high school and embarrasses himself, goes on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire,' and aggravates his wife.

I really like the reader also, who does many great voices. I checked a few words that I thought might be mispronounced, and several were just an alternate pronunciation. It didn't really bother me too much, because the Encyclopedia does not contain pronunciation guidelines, and it is easy to mispronounce a word you learn by reading it, so it just seemed to fit, to me. He does sound like an NYC Jewish guy, and since the author is a Jewish guy who lives in NYC that seems reasonable. Some people have commented here that that annoyed them, so listen to the sample first.

He comments a lot on what he learns, so you will get some new facts from this, although that is not a major reason for reading it, since the new facts are based on what the author was struck by as he sat on the couch with his big, heavy, hardcover volume.

Interesting tidbits, but can't stand the author

This book has a few things going for it, it has several witty facts that are enjoyable, and the narrator is quite good. However, the author grated on my nerves as the book went on. By the time I was four hours into it I thought he was very pompous. He continually reminds the reader how clever he was as a child, and how much he's learning. Even when he seemingly tries to be humble it comes across as him being full of himself. His other books are even worse, especially the ones he narrates himself.

In short, great idea for a book, superior narration, but a pompous and irritating author.

Wake me up before you go go!

The gaps between laughs are long and deep valleys of boredom. Uninteresting information from Britannica has been specifically selected so that you have to strain yourself to be awake. If one were reading this book as a stand up comic, the deafening silence in the room would have set a record.
However, do not trust this review as I gave up listening to this book after just crossing the half way mark! Driving asleep is dangerous!

not so humble

Humble-nope! All that I took from the book was how much the author liked to talk about himself.