This Is The Last…

I just finished reading The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is also a contributing author to Mental Floss magazine, which has recently become one of my favorites.

This book chronicles Jacobs’ quest to read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica from A to Z. The book is part memoir and part educational. Jacobs’ family and friends all tell him its a waste of time. Even his father, who tried to read the entire encyclopedia, but didn’t even get through the B’s.

I expected this book to be a lot of Jacobs sharing the quirky facts that he found while reading the encyclopedia. But it was also a lot about his relationship with his wife, his dad, his job, his quest for knowledge, his need to feel more than ordinary. He shares a lot about himself. He talks about his awkwardness in social situations, and how he jumps at any chance to talk about something that he just read about, even when its not at all relevant to the conversation. His wife charges him $1 for each irrelevant fact.

One of my favorite stories out of the encyclopedia with this entry:

Chang and Eng were the first Siamese Twins, born in Siam in 1811. They were joined at the hip. As children, a British merchant took them on tour and made a fortune off them. When they turned 21, they ditched the Brit and made money for themselves. They take their money and settle in North Carolina as farmers. In 1843, they married a pair of sisters and maintained separate households 1.5 miles aparts from eachother. Where they would alternate 3 day visits were their respective spouses. They adjusted well to their condition. They became expert marksmen, they could run quickly and swim well.

A few more that I found interesting…

Teddy Roosevelt renovated the second floor of the White House to make room for all of his children’s pets, including a raccoons, snakes, a badger, and a bear.

The French philosopher Renee Descartes had a fetish for womem with crossed eyes.

Coriander is the British word for cilantro.

In the past, hatters often became ill because they used mercury salts to make felt out of rabbit fur. The mercury poisoning led to a mental deterioration know as erethism. Hence the phrase “mad as a hatter”.

In ancient Balinese culture, it was believed that twins (of different sexes) should get married, because it was believed that they had already had sex in the womb.

This was a pretty good book. When I first started reading this book, I was annoyed by Jacobs’ personality. It seemed like he was so insecure, that he needed to be proving to everyone just how smart he is all the time. But he grew on me. While I don’t believe that reading the encyclopedia makes you smarter, I do think that sometimes fact is better (weirder) than fiction. This book was an interesting read.