The Know-It-All
One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
by Jacobs, A. J. · first published 2004
67% recommend33% neutral
"Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A. J. Jacob's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z." "The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically descriptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs' life - from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs' project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to expl
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The book "The Know-it-all" by A.J. Jacobs was a great fun read a while back, on a similar topic. https://www.amazon.com/Know-All-Humble-Become-Smartest/dp/07...
on “How to Be a Know-It-All” ↗Totally agree. If you like this style of memoir + deep subject dive, I also highly recommend anything by A.J. Jacobs - his "Year of Living Biblically", and "The Know-It-All" are great reads in the same vein.
on “Ask HN: What non-fiction do you read?” ↗On a less ambitious scale: There is a book about someone who read through the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. It’s titled “The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World,” written by A.J. Jacobs. In this book, Jacobs chronicles his experience of reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z,…
on “Seeking Advice: Interested in Reading Entire Wikipedia – Where to Start?” ↗