BOOKISHGAL

I may write more about this when I’m finished the book, but I recently picked up The Know-It-All , by A.J. Jacobs, to read again. I got it about three years ago, when everyone on the Table Talk forum seemed to be reading it very enthusiastically. The subtitle is, “One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World,” and of course that refers to the project of the book: for Jacobs to read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica in a year.

I absolutely loved the book, first time around, and this re-read is just repeating the pleasure. As before, I’m enjoying some of Jacobs’ generalizations as he goes along, such as the fact that, at least up to the E’s, there seems to be a slight trend of writing about ancient naked warriors. And today, reading on the bus, I was tickled by the list he made of the ten best ways to get your own entry in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. So I thought I’d reproduce them here, for your edification and amusement. (Actually, for each gender there are really just nine ways.)

1. Get beheaded.
2. Explore the Arctic. (”If you travel anywhere north of Banff, you’ll get a careful look from the Brittanica editorial committee.”)
3. Write some poems.
4. Become a botanist. (”Scandinavian ones seem particularly popular.”)
5. Get yourself involved in commedia dell’arte. (”The Brittanica’s obsession with the Italian 18th-century comedies borders on the unhealthy.”)
6. Win the Nobel Prize.
7. Get castrated (men only). (”If you’re really committed, the word ‘eunuch’ is a good thing to have on your resume.”)
8. Design a font.
9. Become a mistress to a monarch (ladies only).
10. Become a liturgical vestment. (”…since every garment ever worn by a religious figure gets a nice picture, I thought I’d throw it in, just in case.”)

And we’re only in the E’s. More great knowledge to come!

(List taken from A.J. Jacobs, The Know-It-All. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. pp.88-89.)

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