The Know-It-All details Jacobs’ educational endeavor of
reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from start to finish. His narrative takes
us through the alphabet while relating entries to his own life. He takes up the
challenge to recapture the confidence he had as a ten-year-old who felt he was
the smartest boy in the world along with conquering a task that his father
failed to complete. He has always been intellectually competitive with his
father, a lawyer who has a number degrees and written numerous books on law. Driving
the story is the pursuit of intelligence, the definition of intelligence, and
the way knowledge shapes the relationships each of us make.
I admire the dedication this took, but I won’t lie that at
times I felt like the narrative and its lessons were done a bit heavy-handedly.
While I am a fan of creative non-fiction, I always grow somewhat uncomfortable
with books like this because I spend a lot of the time wondering how much of the
writer’s goal was shaped by the idea that he’s going to write about it later. Once
that enters my mind, it’s hard to forget, making some of the neat connections between
entries and his life seem less genuine because he created the connection to fit
his narrative. Still, it’s a fun read and I recommend giving it a chance.
Up next: We Were
the Lucky Ones by Gloria Hunter
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