Showing results by author "A. J. Jacobs" in All Categories

Is the Constitution a living document that needs to evolve with the times? Or should we try to divine the original meaning that our Founding Fathers intended, and hew to that as strictly as possible, as present-day originalists suggest? In The Year of Living Constitutionally, A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution.

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 Encyclopedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words.

Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee - and every other item in our lives - would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds. By thanking these people face-to-face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs, but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion.

Our fearless author, A. J. Jacobs, tackles a new intellectual adventure, an exploration of the most influential book in the world: the Bible. He determined that the best way to explore the Bible was to live it, as literally as possible. For one year.

A. J. Jacobs tackles his most challenging experiment yet: a yearlong mission to radically improve every element of his body and mind - from his brain to his fingertips to his abs. First, he had to tackle a complicated web of diet and exercise advice, most which is nonsensical, unproven, and contradictory. Second, he had to consult a team of medical advisers. And finally, he had to subject himself, over the course of two years, to a grueling regimen of exercises and a range of diets and nutritional plans.

Although she grew up following some holiday rituals, Abigail Pogrebin realized how little she knew about their foundational purpose and contemporary relevance; she wanted to understand what had kept these holidays alive and vibrant, some for thousands of years. Her curiosity led her to embark on an entire year of research, observation, and writing about the milestones on the religious calendar. Whether in search of a roadmap for Jewish life or a challenging probe into the architecture of Jewish tradition, listeners will be captivated, educated, and inspired by My Jewish Year.

The Best Role in Roleplaying! Whether you're a new game master or a seasoned vet looking for a new angle to shake up your game, these 19 essays by expert game masters help construct your campaign from the ground up - and keep your players engaged until the dramatic conclusion. Complete with discussions on plotting, tone, branching storytelling, pacing, and crafting action scenes, you'll find all the tips and advice you need to take on the best role in role-playing - and become an expert game master, too!

A. J. Jacobs has received some strange emails over the years, but this note was perhaps the strangest: "You don't know me, but I'm your eighth cousin. And we have over 80,000 relatives of yours in our database." That's enough family members to fill Madison Square Garden four times over. Who are these people, A. J. wondered, and how do I find them? So began Jacobs' three-year adventure to help build the biggest family tree in history.

Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the students more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets—and they all have something to hide. When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case.

The New York Times best-selling 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.

A riveting collection of stories of ships, sailors, adventures on the high seas and maritime mysteries. The Tale by Joseph Conrad. The Saloon Passenger by E. W. Hornung. The Terrible Story of the "Mary Russell" by J. G. Lockhart. Marooned by J. G. Lockhart. A Rash Experiment by W. W. Jacobs. The Mystery of the Mary Celeste by J. G. Lockhart. Smoked Skipper by W. W. Jacobs. The Flying Dutchman by J. G. Lockhart. The Cabin Passenger by W. W. Jacobs. The Ship that saw a Ghost by Frank Norris.

Best-selling author and human guinea pig A. J. Jacobs puts his life to the test and reports on the surprising and entertaining results. He goes undercover as a woman, lives by George Washington’s moral code, and impersonates a movie star. He practices "radical honesty", brushes his teeth with the world’s most rational toothpaste, and outsources every part of his life to India—including reading bedtime stories to his kids.

After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she's got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees - wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift ... and Paolo is gone.

A miracle comes with a terrifying price when a young blind woman confronts the horrors lurking in her basement. A trio of campers is forced to fight for their lives when their weekend getaway opens a portal to terrifying new dimension. And a Ouija board summons a malevolent force when two sisters try to contact a lost loved one. Scare Street is proud to present a spine-tingling new collection of 14 terrifying tales. And with each macabre nightmare more horrifying than the last, it’s only a matter of time before you unleash a blood-curdling shriek of your own….

The political ideas that fully came together under the name “liberal” in the early 19th century—the ideas we often now refer to as “classical liberalism”—emerged out of major debates and developments from the late 1600s to the late 1700s. These were part of the broad European intellectual movement of that era that came to be known as “the Enlightenment".

The smog beast wafted into downtown Los Angeles on July 26, 1943. Nobody knew what it was. Secretaries rubbed their eyes. Traffic cops seemed to disappear in the mysterious haze. Were Japanese saboteurs responsible? A reckless factory? The truth was much worse - it came from within, from Southern California's burgeoning car-addicted, suburban lifestyle. Smogtown is the story of pollution, progress, and how an optimistic people confronted the epic struggle against airborne poisons barraging their hometowns.

After her husband's death, Lexi has refused to return to the Pinecrest Estate on the Florida Keys because there are too many hard memories on that strip of land, including the memories of meeting her husband on the set of an iconic horror movie, being cast as an extra, watching herself get killed on screen, and scoffing at the rumors of the Pinecrest Estate curse...until she witnessed a cast member die that very summer. But when her daughter sneaks away to visit her grandfather, legendary horror-movie director Rick Plummer, Lexi is forced to face her past.

Maverick environmental writers William J. Kelly and Chip Jacobs follow up their acclaimed Smogtown with a provocative examination of China’s ecological calamity already imperiling a warming planet. Toxic smog most people figured was obsolete needlessly kills as many there as the 9/11 attacks every day, while sometimes Grand Canyon-sized drifts of industrial particles aloft on the winds rain down ozone and waterway-poisoning mercury in America. Vivid, gonzo prose blends first-person reportage with exhaustive research and a sense of karma, describing the horror of "Cancer Villages", spellbinding "peasant revolts" against cancer-spreading plants, and much more....

Passive Income Blueprint is your stepping-stone towards a financial change for the better. In this book, we’ll take an in-depth look into how you can begin building wealth and a six-figure income through several passive income measures and more.

Join best-selling author A. J. Jacobs as he discusses his recent book, The Year of Living Biblically, in which he recounts his fascinating, enlightening and delightfully strange year trying to follow all 613 commandments in the Bible. This lecture is an eye-opening lesson in the wisdom of rabbis, religion in America today, Bible history, and the dangers of literal interpretation. Thou shalt not miss it!