The Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

When choosing what book to read I was torn between The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All, both by A. J. Jacobs. In the end I chose The Know-It-All for my non-fiction reading, and I regret nothing because this book has had me giggling at almost every page.  It follows A. J. Jacobs’s quest to become smarter by reading through the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica and has many facts that he learned from A to Z.

In the introduction Jacobs explains that he got the idea from his father, who attempted to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica before, but stopped after he reached the B’s.  After losing much of his knowledge while working for various entertainment groups, Jacobs decides to regain and gain some new knowledge by finishing what his father started.  After confirming it with his wife and father, he sets off to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from “a-ak” to “zywiec”.  Once he starts, he realizes that reading all 33,000 pages and 44 million words is a lot harder than he had realized, but he sticks to his commitment. He finds himself overwhelmed by the vast knowledge acquired in the encylopedia and he constantly has to take breaks, but he is determined to finish in hopes of becoming smarter.  But will reading the entire encyclopedia really make him smarter? I am still early on in the book, so I have yet to answer this question.  

My main motivation for reading this book was that I thought I could learn some new facts from it, and maybe I would even be able get more bonus questions correct in Mr. Headly’s class after finishing it.  I now know that there is much more to this book than just odd facts, and I admire Jacobs for sticking through with his quest.  I am positive I will finish this book soon because the humor Jacobs puts into his writing has my full attention.