Books about books

Review: The Know-It-All

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Cover image of "The Know-It-All" by A.J. Jacobs

The Know-It-All

The Know-It-All, A. J. Jacobs. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9780743250627) 2005.

Summary: A memoir of reading the 32 volume 2002 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover.

Many of us readers may not openly admit it, but secretly, we harbor the “know-it-all” dreams of A.J. Jacobs. We read voraciously, hoping to edge closer to knowing as much as we can about everything. Of course, this is a case of our reach exceeding our grasp. And most of us eventually settle for just being life long learners.

Perhaps Jacobs may be excused. He comes from a family of know-it-alls. His father held the record for the most footnotes in a law review article (5,435) and had also attempted to read the Encyclopedia Britannica. He got through the Bs. He also had a true know-it-all brother-in-law. Eric, who bested him in every conversation. Jacobs was pursuing a career in journalism, writing for Entertainment Weekly, and eventually Esquire. This afforded him a lot of knowledge of popular culture, but he felt all the learning of college slipping away. And so he landed on the project of reading through the 32 volumes of the 2002 Encyclopedia Britannica, from A-ak to Zywiec (a village in Poland).

Needless to say, his wife Julie, and most of the others thought it a bit crazy. And it got annoying when he injected strange facts and usually useless information into their lives, or worse, into their social gatherings. But what’s the value of being a know-it-all if you can’t show it?

The book is organized into an A to Z summary of his reading. We learn lots of interesting tidbits. For example, before vinaigrette was a salad dressing, it served as a deodorant in the eighteenth century. And A-ak? It’s a term referring to ancient East Asian music, explained more fully if you “see gagaku.” One might say, Jacobs read the Encyclopedia so we don’t have to, summarizing 33,000 pages in 400.

But there is so much more. Fancying himself a genius, he tries to join Mensa. It turns out he qualified based on his college entrance exam and a good thing, too. He miserably failed the Mensa test. But in the Mensa gatherings he generally found himself out of their league. Then there are the attempts to get onto game shows. Turns out an earlier interview with Alex Trebek disqualified him from competing. However, he manages to get onto Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Turns out he stumbles on something he read about back in the Es: erythrocytes. What component of blood are they. It turns out his brilliant brother-in-law Eric is also clueless and he ends up guessing wrong. The answer: red blood cells. So all that reading adds up to $1000 and an interesting story.

He discovers that reading the encyclopedia is a losing battle with memory. Conversations with an expert on intelligence suggest that the learning in encyclopedias is only one kind of intelligence, and perhaps not the most useful in every day life. But he is inspired by a visit to the Encyclopedia Britannica offices, where he even contributes some corrections! So what does he learn? In addition to a lot of great Scrabble words, he glimpses both the awful messes and the huge achievements of humankind. The achievements give him hope. And perhaps the article on Ecclesiastes gives him the greatest wisdom–that while life is absurd, to take pleasure in the good things God provides. And he closes the last volume, realizes he has his life back (after often reading four hours a day in addition to his day job) and enjoys a lovely dinner with his wife.

The book convinced me to settle for more modest projects. I wasn’t always sure I liked Jacobs very much, even though his romp through the encyclopedia was fun. But he is who he is with us and I guess that counts for something. So, if you’ve ever had aspirations to read through an encyclopedia (harder because only World Book still prints them), you might want to read this first. It could save you a lot of time.

Review: World of Wonders – A Spirituality of Reading

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Cover image of "World of Wonders" by Jeff Crosby

World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading, Jeff Crosby, foreword by Carolyn Weber. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609457) 2025

Summary: On reading as a spiritual practice and how books may transform our lives.

I love books on books. And I think many of you will especially love this book, World of Wonders. That was how I felt the first time I walked through the doors of the Reuben McMillan Library in Youngstown. It’s how I felt the first time I visited a Borders store when we were house hunting in the city where I now live. And its how I felt the first time I read Lord of the Rings.

The author, Jeff Crosby, is writing about all this and more. He believes in reading as a spiritual practice, a means by which we position ourselves to receive the grace of God. And in this book, he writes about how we may cultivate this practice and the various genres and types of books we may read along the way. After each chapter he includes a short statement from another reader on the chapter topic. And then he offers a list of recommended readings on that topic or theme.

Part One of the book lays foundations. Crosby explores why we read and tells his personal story of how reading Calvin Miller’s The Singer transformed him as a reader. He then elaborates his ideas on reading as a spiritual discipline through a “liturgy of reading” consisting of a number of practices, including building a list of books to read (in which he generously recommends this blog as a resource!). Finally, Crosby discusses the reading of scripture as a discipline. I appreciated his challenge to those of us who read many books to not allow this to supplant our reading of scripture! The temptation is real.

Part Two considers “The Wide, Wide, Wonderful World of Reading.” Four chapters consider the genres of fiction, poetry, diverse voices, and memoirs. Quoting Christine Seifert, he argues that “Research suggests that reading literary fiction is an effective way to enhance the brain’s ability to keep an open mind while processing information, a necessary skill for effective decision-making.” Likewise, poetry enhances our power of paying attention as we slow down and ponder. Diverse voices broaden our perspective and help build bridges of understanding. Finally, reading memoir deepens our capacity for reflection. He offers the example of Carolyn Weber’s Surprised by Oxford, the account of her intellectual and spiritual conversion to Christianity.

In Part Three, Crosby explores reading as a spiritual practice through the seasons of life. He recounts reading with children, reading as they left home, and reading while caring for aging parents. Crosby discusses reading as part of dealing with grief and loss. He speaks of reading in seasons of doubt. Daniel Taylor’s The Myth of Certainty was an important book for him. Reading can also be an important adjunct through the liturgical year. Lastly, he returns to his theme of wonder in how books may be our companions through all the seasons of wonder in our lives.

World of Wonders is a great book for readers who always are looking for a book recommendation. In addition, Crosby gives words to what is often our inarticulate sense of the spiritual importance of our reading. And it is good for Christians who realize that they’d like to read more but wonder where to begin. Crosby’s stories of his own reading journey are not from elite literary circles but from daily life. One thinks “that could be me.” And indeed it could. Welcome to the world of wonders!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

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Cover image of "The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry" by Gabrielle Zevin

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin. Algonquin Books (ISBN: 9781616204518) 2014.

Summary: A widowed bookseller’s life changes when a rare book disappears and an orphaned child is left in his care.

Amelia Loman didn’t deserve this. She’s on her first sales calls, representing Knightly Press. She’s taken the ferry to Alice Island, where she has an appointment to meet the owner of Island Books, A. J. Fikry. He’s terribly rude and doesn’t appear to be interested in anything in her winter catalog. She even manages to knock over a pile of Advanced Reader Copies stacked in the hallway to his office. But all she can do is leave a book she has really liked in his office along with the winter catalog.

A. J. Fikry is not yet forty and a widower. His wife, Nic, with whom he started the bookstore on a resort island, had been killed in an auto accident. Since then, he’s been drinking and the store’s sales are slumping. His sister-in-law Ismay, married to a fading, once best-selling author, tries to help. She even took him to an estate sale where he found a rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane. He buys it for $5 but figures it is worth $400,000. It’s kind of an insurance policy.

The night of Amelia’s visit, he pulls out Tamerlane as he drinks himself into oblivion. When he wakes the next morning, the book has disappeared. But, in a strange turn, the officer, Lambiase, who takes the police report, becomes a regular visitor to the bookstore. Then he starts a popular book group for those who read detective fiction. Meanwhile, A.J. helps him broaden his reading interests.

While Lambiase was taking the police report, A. J. had a seizure, something that had occurred throughout his life. When a trip to the hospital reveals nothing wrong, except for his depression, the only recommendation is that he get exercise. One day, on returning from a run, he finds the door to his store, which he leaves unlocked, ajar. On investigating, he discovers a baby in the children’s section. With her, he finds a note introducing the baby as Maya and that the mother, who can’t care for her wants her to grow up in a place with books. With Ismay’s help, he figures out how to care for her, The next day, Maya’s mother’s body washes ashore.

Lambiase explains the realities of the foster system, and against all his instinct’s A.J. decides to fulfill the mother’s last wish. The town is abuzz. Then he adopts her, and gives her the middle name Tamerlane. She has become the most valuable thing in his life, an unexpected replacement for the missing book. And A.J.’s heart begins to open up as Maya blossoms into an amazing daughter.

Remember Amelia? She keeps calling and A. J. discovers he likes discussing books with her. He looks forward to her visits. And the wonder of it is that Amelia, who has had her own disappointments with men, finds herself drawn to this one. And she finds herself marrying the guy who had treated her so rudely on her first sales call.

Gabrielle Zevin writes a story of how tenderness, friendship, and love arise out of tragedy. And for booklovers, it all happens in a bookstore! Another bookish device are the “shelftalkers” that open each chapter, written as we later learn, for his daughter Maya, who loves books and writing beyond her mother’s hopes. This is the second Zevin novel I have read this year, and she is one of my “author finds” of the year.