Book Review #5: The Know-It-All -One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

Okay, I'm not done this book yet but I simply had to post a review as I am having a hoot reading it. Esquire editor A.J. Jacobs sets out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in one year, cover to cover. The result is a very entertaining book. The chapters are organized by letter of the alphabet and as he reads you get to learn little known facts starting with the letter du jour.

Here's some excerpts:

Cleveland
I had always figured the Ohio town was named for Grover Cleveland. No, the real story is that it was named for moses Cleaveland, an employee of the Connecticut Land Company, who arrived with his surveyors in 1796. His mission was to speed up the sale of land in Ohio, and in his honor, the town was called Cleaveland.

That day must ahve been the proudest day in the life of this real estate salesman. No doubt he wrote a letter to his mom:"Dear Mother, the family name shall not be forgotten. There is a town in this fair state of Ohio that bears the glorious name of our family, the magnificent Cleaveland!"

Then in 1832, the a in "Cleaveland" was dropped because "Cleveland" fit better on a newspaper masthead. That was the reason. His name was bastardized to fit a newspaper's masthead? they couldn't have reduced the font? did they consider changing "Ohio" to "Ohi"? That would have saved some ink, too.

Fame is a fleet-footed hussy. It's not the most shocking lesson I've learned, but it sure gets driven home every day. I've learned of hundreds of people who were huge in their time, adored by millions, but now totally forgotten except by freaks who read the encyclopedia. And even if your name is remembered, it'll probably be spelled or pronounced incorrectly. Cleaveland can have a support group meeting with Dutch explorer Cornelius Mey, for whom Cape May is named. It's discouraging. If I ever do achieve anything and become famous, within a couple decades, I'll become R.J. Jackobz.

climate and weather
Lighting goes up. It shoots right up from the ground and into the cloud. this is what the encyclopedia says in the section on climate and weather. I reread this passage a couple of times to make sure I hadn't gone batty -but no, lightning goes up.

To be technical, it does first go down -there's an initial bolt called the "leader" that zips from the cloud to the ground. But the bright part, the part that flashes, is the "return stroke," which goes from ground back to the cloud.

This is profoundly unnerving. When I didn't know the history of canned laughter or the existence of a sexy Confederate spy, that was mildly vexing. But this is unnerving. This is a whole new level of ignorance. I've been looking at lightning all my life, and its sky-to-ground direction seemed about as certain as the slightly asymmetrical nose on my face. To be confronted with this totally counterintuitive information -it makes me paranoid. What other incorrect ideas do I have? is the sun actually cold? Is the sky orange? Is Keanu Reeves a brilliant actor?

dance
In a tribe on the island of Santa maria, old men used to stand by with bows and arrows and shoot every dancer who made a mistake. The perfect way to raise the stakes on American Idol.

All in all this is the most entertaining piece of non-fiction I've read in a long time. And quite informative actually, in a nerdy sort of way.