The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

A certain Evil Twin is contributing this post on The Know-it-All by AJ Jacobs. I'm thankful for this because a) I have been too busy to read, b) too busy to post anything I have read and c) I like Evil Twin #1 (and #2).  To bring home the point that we do not share the same taste in books, I have subsituted the normal cover shot of a book with a pie chart.  --And

 

For the most part, my taste in books is the exact opposite from Steph's and Andrea's. So it should have been no surprise, when I wrote to Andrea about enjoying the Know-it-All, that her reaction was less than favorable. Normally, biographies are my favorite. Seldom do I get to laugh out loud on a plane packed with people, while reading one of my non fiction dry biographies. But then again this book is not meant to be a serious read.
AJ Jacobs starts a quest to finish the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica from cover to cover. Maybe that is where he won me over, as I spent many an hour with our Encyclopaedia Brittanicas as a young child. In this absurd endeavor, we see the root of his insecurities, a brilliant father, who is quirky and fun, his nemesis/brother-in-law, who is more successful than him, and the number one failure, his inability to sire a child with his ever patient wife. Most of the encyclopaedia facts that pepper the pages are simply a device to illustrate all these insecurities in detail.
The Know-it-All won't change your life, it won't make you cry, and it may fill your head with random factoids. It is fun read meant for the beach or a plane, a place where you can giggle without making a huge ass of yourself.

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment and Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy

The past month has been harried and hectic for me-- two trips, a ballet and bookbinding class, friends in from out of town, work events.  Suddenly reading was not only not a priority, but was hardly even an option for relaxation.  After hosting book club yesterday, I settled on the couch to finish Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran and thought about some of the techniques presented in that book as well as The Guinea Pig Diaries by AJ Jacobs that could help get my life under control.

The premise of Jacobs' book is to live his life according to such varied rules as George Washington's "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour" and cutting out multitasking.  For a series of months, he even outsources his life to India.  Moran, meanwhile acts on a dream and applies to the CIA, where she is trained as a case manager to serve overseas.  She learns how to use an alias, how to avoid being trailed and how to manipulate agents into committing treason and giving her info about their countries.

Was I able to outsource my life, for example, I could have forgone nights at home doing laundry and packing and instead gone to the gym or to the symphony with friends, while someone else prepared for my trips.  Were I a master of disguise, I could have traveled the Baltimore light rail without feeling completely out of place.  If I were a master of foreign language, I could have understood Turkish and better bargained at the Grand Bazaar.  Had I decided to abide by "decent behaviour" I might not have had too much to drink with my co-workers.

Both books were light and easy reads. 3/5 stars each.