Author: A.J. Jacobs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: If you can't imagine how reading the Encyclopedia Britannica could be entertaining, you haven't read this book. The author may not have succeeded in "becoming the smartest person in the world," but he is certainly among the funniest. His quotes and observations make reading the encyclopedia sound not only bearable, but fascinating. I found that I couldn't read this book in public without drawing stares from people around me as I laughed out loud. From "a-ak" (see gagaku), through "kappa...a vampirelike lecherous creature from Japan that's obsessed with cucumbers" to the anticlimactic "Zywiec...a town in south-central Poland," this is a great read!