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The Know-It-All
- One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Cantor
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
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Publisher's summary
The mission began in October 2002, with the word "a-ak". The word launches hilarious misadventures through 32 volumes, as Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father, examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties.
The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a soul-searching, ultimately touching struggle between the obsessive quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.
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Our fearless author, A. J. Jacobs, tackles a new intellectual adventure, an exploration of the most influential book in the world: the Bible. He determined that the best way to explore the Bible was to live it, as literally as possible. For one year.
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Welcome to the Nerd Parade
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Become more grateful
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A comic tries a little of everything
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A. J. Jacobs has received some strange emails over the years, but this note was perhaps the strangest: "You don't know me, but I'm your eighth cousin. And we have over 80,000 relatives of yours in our database." That's enough family members to fill Madison Square Garden four times over. Who are these people, A. J. wondered, and how do I find them? So began Jacobs' three-year adventure to help build the biggest family tree in history.
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ok book
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Know It All, Volume 1
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Entertaining but hard to listen to.
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It gets better, and better, and better, and better
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Critic reviews
"One of the book's strongest parts is its laugh-out-loud humor." (Publishers Weekly)
"Sidesplitting." (Time Out New York)
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The Memoir Project
- A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text For Writing & Life
- By: Marion Roach Smith
- Narrated by: Marion Roach Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.
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amazing what you can learn from brevity
- By Schwartz-Burrill on 09-15-11
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Laughing Without an Accent
- Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad
- By: Firoozeh Dumas
- Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)
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Sigh
- By Sara on 01-29-14
By: Firoozeh Dumas
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Dear Fahrenheit 451
- Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks
- By: Annie Spence
- Narrated by: Stephanie Spicer
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Librarians spend their lives weeding - not weeds, but books - books that have reached the end of their shelf life both literally and figuratively. They remove books that patrons no longer check out, and they put back books they treasure. Annie Spence, who has a decade of experience as a Midwestern librarian, does this not only at her Michigan library but also at home, for her neighbors, at cocktail parties - everywhere. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, she addresses those books directly.
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Totally captivating
- By Grace Smith on 03-24-18
By: Annie Spence
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Baltimore Blues
- Tess Monaghan, Book 1
- By: Laura Lippman
- Narrated by: Deborah Hazlett
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Unemployed at 29, Tess Monaghan is willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent—including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton. In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety—and his noontime trysts with Rock's fiancée—make the case front page news...and point to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend's innocence could prove costly to Tess.
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I'm on #8 - This series is almost unique
- By connie on 02-19-12
By: Laura Lippman
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The Possessed
- Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- By: Elif Batuman
- Narrated by: Elif Batuman
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Possessed we watch Elif Batuman investigate a possible murder at Tolstoy's ancestral estate. We go with her to Stanford, Switzerland, and St. Petersburg; retrace Pushkin's wanderings in the Caucasus; learn why Old Uzbek has 100 different words for crying; and see an 18th-century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva. Love and the novel, the individual in history, the existential plight of the graduate student: all find their places in The Possessed.
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Dear Russian Literary Diary...
- By Darwin8u on 08-29-17
By: Elif Batuman
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The Mathematician's Shiva
- By: Stuart Rojstaczer
- Narrated by: Angela Brazil, Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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When the greatest female mathematician in history passes away, her son, Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch, just wants to mourn his mother in peace. But rumor has it the notoriously eccentric Polish émigré has solved one of the most difficult problems in all of mathematics and has spitefully taken the solution to her grave. A ragtag group of mathematicians from around the world descends upon Rachela's shiva, determined to find the proof or solve it for themselves - even if it means prying up the floorboards for notes.
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Great read
- By Lee Crowe on 07-27-15
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If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother
- By: Julia Sweeney
- Narrated by: Julia Sweeney
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since her time on Saturday Night Live, where she created the infamous androgynous character "Pat", Julia Sweeney has gone on to establish herself as a witty, captivating performer of one-woman shows, like God Said Ha!, In the Family Way, and Letting Go of God. She gave a TED talk sharing how she explained the birds and the bees to her eight-year-old daughter, Mulan, which ignited an incredible response. Now, when it comes to talking about motherhood, people want to hear what Julia has to say.
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I Love Julia Sweeney
- By Lisa on 04-05-13
By: Julia Sweeney
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Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster)
- Life Lessons from Dave Barry
- By: Dave Barry
- Narrated by: Dave Barry
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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An uproariously funny examination of what one generation can teach to another - or not - from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times - best-selling author of You Can Date Boys When You're Forty and Insane City. During the course of living (mumble, mumble) years, Dave Barry has gained much wisdom* (*actual wisdom not guaranteed), and he is eager to pass it on - to the next generation, the generation after that, and those idiots who make driving to the grocery store in Florida a death-defying experience.
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Clever!
- By Sharlotte on 01-31-17
By: Dave Barry
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The Night Ocean
- By: Paul La Farge
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Marina Willett, MD, has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H. P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends - or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears.
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Frustratingly Uneven Due to Clumsy Plot Structure
- By Adam on 06-15-17
By: Paul La Farge
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I Can't Complain
- (All Too) Personal Essays
- By: Elinor Lipman
- Narrated by: Elinor Lipman
- Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Elinor Lipman has populated her fictional universe with characters so utterly real that we feel like they're old friends. Now she shares an even more intimate world with us - her own - in essays that offer a candid, charming take on modern life. Looking back and forging ahead, she considers the subjects that matter most: childhood and condiments, long marriage and solo living, career and politics. Here you'll find the lighthearted: a celebration of four decades of All My Children, a reflection on being Jewish in heavily Irish-Catholic Lowell on St. Patrick's Day, a hilariously unflinching account of her tiptoe into online dating.
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Fabulous!
- By Louise on 09-15-19
By: Elinor Lipman
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Where the Past Begins
- A Writer's Memoir
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving from her childhood in Oakland and growing up with her Chinese parents through her success as a novelist, Amy Tan delves into her creative interests in music, the paralysis of beginning a new project, journal writing, and travelling. Where the Past Begins chronicles the making of a writer. With characteristic humor and poignant observation, Tan weaves a nontraditional introspective narrative that is as complex and vibrant as this beloved American novelist's fiction.
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Narration Issues
- By Sara on 12-14-17
By: Amy Tan
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What listeners say about The Know-It-All
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daniel J Coughlin
- 11-28-22
I know!
Even after all that reading, the moral of the story is “I know a whole lot of stuff, but relatively, I know not much. Many a chuckle in the piece!
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Overall
- Jason
- 11-30-04
What a great story
I had considered doing the same and I am certainly glad I didnt start. After reading this book you have an appreciation for the feat, you understand the author, and you appreciate the humanity of someone who does something this monumental.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SAMA
- 04-25-12
Hilarious Quest for Knowledge
Would you listen to The Know-It-All again? Why?
Probably after some time has passed, it's an interesting journey through randomness.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me chuckle at multiple points. Not knowing what the next entry to be covered is makes for a highly entertaining read.
Any additional comments?
If you're looking for any substantial information or a concise, coherent story, this isn't your book. If you're interested in a lighthearted journey through the alphabetically arranged entries of the Encyclopedia Britannica, this is your book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Laura Van Antwerp
- 07-17-14
Hilarious and informative book!!
What made the experience of listening to The Know-It-All the most enjoyable?
The smart wit, and Geoffrey Cantor's narration was on point! I was laughing so hard my roommates thought I was crying hah!
What other book might you compare The Know-It-All to and why?
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner for writing style and wit. But I only read Geography, never listened to it.
What about Geoffrey Cantor’s performance did you like?
His animation is great, and his accents cracked me up!! AJ Jacobs is an incredible and hilarious writer, and Cantor's delivery really did the audiobook justice!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Oh yeah, I could NOT get enough. And now all my friends are on board with it, it only took a few minutes of listening for them to get hooked!
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- Lo
- 02-20-15
Lover of Facts
If you don't enjoy random facts and learning, this book is definitely not for you... But I definitely loved it.
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- Jay Quintana
- 10-03-21
Amusing at first, then it got tedious
The book recites fact after fact with asides involving Jacobs' life (he and his wife are trying to conceive) and his visits with smart people. Well, visits with people who probably have high IQs. Some of these visits are interesting, most aren't. He goes to Alex Trebek's house and mistakes him for a gardener. That might be a good anecdote for him to share at a dinner party, but it's superfluous here. There is no overarching theme to this. No insights into the nature of intelligence. No questioning whether the ability to remember and recall factoids makes one smart. This was a stunt, and while impressive, it didn't merit a book this long.
I like trivia, so I found this entertaining at times, but I'd rather have just read a trivia book that was exclusively about trivia.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-24-19
Very Entertaining
It’s a fun book to listen to, very entertaining and fun. I truly enjoy the way the book way read.
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- Anonymous
- 05-04-18
Geoffrey Cantor is Distracting
A.J. Jacobs' books are amazing! He's down-to-earth and approachable in his writing and his self-narrated audiobooks are incredible. But unfortunately, this book is read by Geoffrey Cantor, who enjoys awkward inflections and silly voices WAY too much. At one point, he quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald in a British accent. He follows up that performance by giving Jacobs' old English teacher the voice of a poor Nicolas Cage impersonator. If there's a version of this audiobook read by the author out there somewhere, please give me that instead. Please...
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Overall
- Linda
- 04-10-10
Very enjoyable
When I first heard about this book,I was mildly interested at the thought of someone reading through the Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z (being what Jacobs calls an "encyclopedia dabbler" myself), but feared it would just be a pretentious rehash of what he'd read.
Then, a friend told me how much she'd enjoyed and laughed witt another of Jacobs' books, The Year of Living Biblically. Realizing then that The Know It All would be humorous and informative, I decided I had to listen to it.
What a pleasure! True, the narrator has a nasal voice but as you get into the book, you realize this and his delivery are perfectly fitted for the book.
I learned some facts -- but mostly enjoyed his humor and attitude toward life and learning.
In fact, this is one of the best books I've listened to here at Audible.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mysticangel
- 03-18-06
Enjoyable
I was skeptical about this book after reading a few bad reviews. I'm currently enjoying listening to this book. I'm glad I decided to ignore the bad reviews or I would have missed out on an entertaining book.
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7 people found this helpful