A.J. Jacobs has taken on the Herculean task of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for this book. This fact alone should peak anybody’s interest in the “The Know-It-All”.

I decided to get this book after I read an article he wrote for Esquire entitled “My Outsourced Life”. It’s a hilarious account of how he tried to hire “assistants” to take care of his day-to-day tasks. I would recommend reading this article first to see if you like his style.

Not only was the book enjoyable, but it was also informative. He basically just comments on various entries that he finds interesting in the EB. Until I read this book I had no idea that Pythagorus started a cult-like group that had “avoid beans” as one of their main principles. Valuable knowledge!!