Two down, fifty to go.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
by A.J. Jacobs

I'm actually more or less on track as far as my reading schedule goes. My next two books in the queue are a little shorter so I might even get ahead of schedule a little bit! But you could care less about that, when I haven't said word one about book number two.

This was one of the best Christmas presents Photogal got me, because she picked it out purely through instinct. Little did she know that I had heard about the book, wanted it, but just hadn't gotten around to picking it up for myself since I already owned so many books I hadn't read yet and felt guilty about adding another to the pile. Of course the second it was given to me as a gift it could jump to the front of the line with no problem!

The Know-It-All is an interesting sort of memoir, following A.J. Jacobs as he reads through every single volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It's sort of his effort to follow through on becoming "the smartest boy in the world," but, as one would imagine, that doesn't quite happen. Instead he figures out intelligence isn't just built on facts, but facts can help one become wiser when they are given context. In his case, the discovery is that mankind has done lots of bad things, but we've done even more good things, and it's these little victories that pile up to salvage us as a race.

Okay, maybe I blew up Jacobs' moral; magnified it a bit. It's fitting though, since by the end of his book you almost get a contact high from the heady reading and swarm of facts, and that can lead one to slightly grandiose pronouncements. Maybe the wisdom lays within realizing such pronouncements are best left slightly deflated. This helps reign in the hyperbole and sift out the real discovery.

Also, typing this half-asleep probably isn't helping me much in the category of "overstatement."

Here, this is easier. Jacobs' struggle with who he had been, who he was, and his relationship with the people around him -- and how all those things mutated through his endeavor -- struck a chord in me, and while we are in fact two very different people I still sensed in the author a sort of kindred spirit. I'm curious to know who else walked away with that feeling.

__________
I didn't mean to make your head hurt.

Remind me not to try and write up these books first thing in the A.M. since I seem especially prone to tangents. To make it up to you I offer a nifty little tune I discovered, preformed by a little Norwegian combo by the name of Don Juan Dracula. I originally heard it as the opening music to the Brain Food podcast, and dug it because it really reminded me of Light FM. After listening to the disc I now thing I need to find an excuse to get Don Juan Dracula over here to play on a bill with Light FM so I can selfishly stand in the back of the room, grinning from ear to ear while having the time of my life.

Man, is everything I type today just coming out totally sucktastic or what? Less talk, more music. Here you go.

MP3: Don Juan Dracula "Take Me Home"