33,000 pages
44 million words
10 billion years of history
1 obsessed man
Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z.
To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a wast...
vinaigrette In the 18th century, everyone smelled like salad. A vinaigrette—which was used to battle body odor—was a small gold container with a sponge soaked in vinegar and lavender.
René Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘Yo, René, how you doing? Can I get you a beer?’ ‘I think not,’ replies Descartes. And then he disappears.