I’ve heard so many people tell me that I should read jokes and humor books from time to time. “Laughing a bit would do you a lot of good” they tell me. “That’s nice” I respond. I don’t know if I should take this as a subtle attack or as genuine well-intentioned advice. I think I’m a pretty funny guy, I even make up my own jokes. I don’t need to read silly books about it. That’s admitting defeat.

While reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss, I found myself reading Chapter 8 - Outsourcing Life and hysterically laughing out loud all through the whole thing. The chapter wasn’t written by Tim Ferriss, it was written by A.J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire Magazine (excerpts are available online). Who is this Jacobs guy and how can I find out more about him? He intrigued me.

A.J. Jacobs is a crazy guy. Crazy in an amusing and friendly way.

I read some articles he had written for Esquire. “My Life as a Hot Woman” explains how his son’s babysitter was 27 and single, and he talked her into letting him create a profile for her on Match.com and screen all her potential suitors. The article kept me glued to my computer and it was witty, extremely entertaining and had me laughing out loud on many occasions. This guy can write! He can make the simplest story seem hilariously funny, engrossing and entertaining. Then, I started to feel a bit jealous. I want to be as good of a writer as A.J.! One thing is humor. I feel I am a good writer, but lacking humor in my writing. How can I develop this?

A.J. Jacobs has written a couple best sellers, both with very unusual premises. The first, “The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World” is an autobiographical account of a year-long experiment. He decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z, or more accurately, from a-ak to Zywiec. This really peaked my interest. It is so off-the-wall that it sounds like something I would try and attempt, if I had that much time. Instead of reading the encyclopedia, I could read the book and live vicariously though Jacobs. I found the introduction and the first chapter online on A.J.’s website, and after reading it, I was hooked.

I immediately went to Borders and picked up the book. I continued reading it in the Borders cafe. I was startled and interrupted by a girl who asked me in an accusatory tone, “What are you reading?” I quickly mentioned that I was reading a book by a guy who reads the encyclopedia and talks about it. She snapped, “You were laughing out loud so much, I thought it had to be interesting. But what’s so funny about the encyclopedia?” I told her that Jacobs talks about oddball trivia, all this crazy stuff that he is reading about, relates it to his life, and tries to impress people at cocktail parties with all his new found “knowledge”. His attempts to impress usually backfire and the stories of these incidents are always laughable. She is so rude I don’t even know why she is continuing to talk to me, but she tries to put me on the defensive, “So… he is making fun of the encyclopedia, that’s real smart.” I fall into her trap. “He’s not really making fun of it. He relates it to his life and makes all these crazy references, and it is absolutely great!” She gives me a puzzled look, tries to argue with me and obviously thinks she is above this kind of humor. “Just check out the book and see if you like it!” I exclaim, hoping she will get lost. Then, I go back to my reading. Seriously, some people need to lighten up.

In the book, Jacobs also talks about his personal life, like how he thought he was “the smartest boy in the world” when he was a kid growing up, all of his rationalizations of this and his disappointing discovery that it may not be 100% accurate. He talks about his rivalry with his father, who started to read the encyclopedia but only got up to the mid Bs. He calls up his father and tells him “I am going to finish what you started”. “I’m not sure I follow” his dad responds. He chronicles his ongoing rivalry with his brother-in-law Eric, which is too funny to explain, just read the book. A.J. chronicles the perpetual annoyance of his wife as he weaves facts from the encyclopedia into daily conversation on every topic. It gets to the point where she institutes a $1 fine every time he mentions any “irrelevant fact”.

Jacobs interviews Alex Trebek of Jeopardy! fame with the intention of tripping him up with his new found trivia. He joins Mensa International, competes in a crossword puzzle championship, spends a day at his old middle school trying to impress the kids and teachers, goes on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”, tries to outsmart the guides and patrons of several museums, makes a lot of really corny intellectual jokes with the intent of convincing people he is really smart, and countless other crazy escapades.

I was glued to the book since I got it and read it within a matter of a few days. Even when I was hanging out with friends, I couldn’t put the book down but instead transitioned to reading it out loud for 2 hours to them.

Now that I’ve finished reading it, I feel the urge to read it again. I feel like A.J. Jacobs is my friend. I got to know him very well by reading the book. His personal life, his business life, his quirks and insecurities. Now if I could just get him to be my friend on Facebook, all would be right with the world. The best part is, I feel that Jacobs’ writing style is starting to rub off on me, if ever so slightly. Mission accomplished.

Now, I’ll be reading another book by A.J. Jacobs, called “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” which features Jacobs following all 700 or so laws he found reading the Bible, in both the old and new testaments. I expect that it will be even more hilarious and also enlightening. I will keep you posted on that.

“The Know-It-All” will make you laugh. And according to a study done by the University of Maryland Medical Center, laughter was found to prevent heart disease. As you may or may not know, Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States today. This study gives new meaning to the saying “Laughter is the best medicine”.

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Tags: a.j. jacobs, book review, humor, tim ferriss

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Book Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.