Just discovered this book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs and I think I'm in page-turning love. If you like inane trivia facts, debates about intelligence versus knowledge and extraordinarly funny asides, this is the memoir for you. As a nerd, it's difficult not to like a writer who decides one day to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica -- and then proceeds to tell you all the juicy bits. Byatt sneaks in fascinating blurbs as he makes his way through the entries, recapping everything and everyone from the Aztecs to Francis Bacon in a manner that would put a Television Without Pity chronicler to shame. Throughout, he intersperses anecdotes detailing his efforts to put his new knowledge to use, becoming, in the process, a pariah at dinner parties as he spouts seemingly useless knowledge with the self-control of a Tourette's patient. Sweet, charming and smart, this is a book worth reading, from A to Z.
