Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Know-It-All


I bought this book for my significant other, iMan, last Christmas, kind of as a joke but also because it sounded interesting and if I read it, I might just learn a lot - a lot of what I don't know, tidbits? trivia? conversation starters? Coming in at just under 400 pages it took me two weeks to get through. The second week it was starting to wear on me, I think because it doesn't have a beginning, middle and an end. The story (although this is non-fiction) is about a 30-something male (married, Manhattan living) decides he is going to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A-ak to Zywiec. Each "chapter" is a Reader's Digest abridged version of the encyclopedia, or rather the best-of. It was laugh-out loud funny many times but like the author, I have to wonder just how much I will retain of all those facts. I'm glad I read it, I know I am never going to attempt the same feat as the author (A.J. Jacobs) but I'm just as glad to be finished with it. I'm looking forward now to some quick fiction.

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