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)

A really fun listen

We bought this book to listen to on our move across the country, and at first I wasn't interested, but as the story progressed I began to really enjoy it. The personal notes that were included we a very pleasant touch to the book. I thought it was going to be about the encyclopedia more, but turned out to be pleasantly surprised. I found myself sympathizing with the author's duel quests in the book and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Enjoyable through all the letters

Loved following Jacobs and his neuroses on his long journey from A to Z. As enjoyable as other NPR alums like David Sedaris and Jonathan Goldstein. Cantor did an engaging reading. If only Audible would offer an encyclopedia...

A must read(listen) for any aspiring know it all

This book is great for random trivia, though it's autobiographical look at a year in Jacob's life through the lens of the Encyclopedia Britannica is the true journey.

An enjoyable, light-hearted listen

Within the first minutes of The Know-It-All, I was laughing out loud, and probably looking like an idiot to the drivers of the cars around me. AJ Jacobs' quest for knowledge may be contrived for the purposes of writing a book, but so what? Bill Bryson's journeys are undertaken with the same goal in mind, after all.

In fact, a Bryson travel book is the closest comparison I can think of to The Know-It-All, and that's high praise. Expecting to get a condensed version of the encyclopaedia is ridiculous - this book is about READING the encyclopaedia, not just abridging the interesting facts. Yes, of course he's somewhat self-obsessed - but that's kind of the point: he's writing a book about a personal endeavour, and he's populating it with anecdotes about himself and characters in his life. Personally, I enjoyed the descriptions of his relationships with his father and his brother-in-law, and I thought the tone of his humour was perfectly pitched.

The Know-It-All isn't meant to be taken seriously, so people who are expecting it to distill all of human knowledge into a handy bite-sized chunk are going to be disappointed. Me? I thought it's the best Audible book I've listened to in a long time.

My love of learning is given a massive boost

Loved it, even the bizarre and disgusting, and maybe someday it'll be me. Or it'll be Charles Dickens. Either way...

What were they thinking?

I'm beginning to wonder about the usefulness of some of these reviews, particularly the negative ones. They almost prevented me from listening to Blink by Malcom Gladwell which I LOVED and might have prevailed against me for this one had I paid any attention. They are in such stark contrast to my experience.

I find this book a very enjoyable read and as people have said, it's as much about the author as the book he is reading. I have truly enjoyed the narrator Geoffrey Cantor portrayal of the book. He seems more like an actor reading a script than a narrator reading a book.

The book is long however, but I think I'll be able to stop it for awhile and come back to it fairly easily. I strongly recommend it.

It's a Journey, not a list of Facts

Jacobs takes us along on his journey through the alphabet, but it's not just a highlight real of the best facts in the Britannica. It's also about his experience. How the towering stack of completed books begins to grow, how he is able to apply his new knowledge, and the weird overlaps the articles have in his everyday life. Jacobs is funny, lovably neurotic, and much harder to put down than an actual encyclopedia..

Brilliant & Funny, what a great book!!

What did you love best about The Know-It-All?

The wonderful mix of learning & humor, the author is fantastic, and the man reading the book is the Best! He is one with the words, my favorite book of the decade.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Know-It-All?

When I finished, I had to start lisening to it again, so much I wanted to remember.

Which character – as performed by Geoffrey Cantor – was your favorite?

He did them all OUTSTANDING.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

MANY EXTREME LAUGH OUT LOUD TIMES, AND MANY WOW MOMENTS.

Fun, and even informative

This is an ideal audio book...perfect for short trips, and enjoyable for the whole family. It may not replace reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for yourself (and who really wants to?), but the variety and humorous commentary is well worth the price of admission.

Try it, you'll like it.

Funny and touching

I started listening to it on the bus, but had to give it up because people kept looking at me like I was a lunatic when I would burst into uncontrollable laughter. Jacobs is laugh out loud funny, which I expected, but he was also sometimes touching, which I didn't. Most of the book looks at the absurdity of the world, intellectualism, and Jacobs himself, but in some of it, he makes serious observations about the human condition. I feel a little wiser and a lot happier having read it.