AJ?? AJ Jacobs??

Having laughed out loud on almost every page of "The Year of Living Biblically" by A. J. Jacobs, I decided that a stop at Barnes & Noble was in order on Friday night, to pick up a copy of "The Know-it-All," also by him.

To save time, or because I had been unable to find it - take your pick, I went to the reference desk to ask where it was located, and while I was there, overheard another patron asking for the same book. However, he gave the wrong last name of the author. His girlfriend looked at him quizzically, asking why he was looking for a book about a guy who reads the Encyclopedia from A-Z and he informed her in a condescending tone that he had read a previous book by this author (insert wrong last name) and it was funny.

I followed the reference desk clerk to the humor section like a little lamb (however, there was very little bleating on my part, and very little being-named-Mary on her part) and saw that there were only two copies of this book left. I grabbed one for myself, and took the other copy to bestow upon my fellow seeker back at the reference desk. Because, I'm sure you'll find it surprising that his clerk was having a hard time finding said book under the wrong author's name.


Walking up to the man, I said, "Not that I was eavesdropping, but here is the book you were looking for." He grunted "oh" and took it from me. Hardly the kiss on the neck I was expecting... oh wait - that's someone ELSE who always kisses me on the neck in Barnes & Noble!

I went up to pay for my book, a little saddened in the Good Samaritan department, but excited nonetheless to buy my book and get home to crack it.

After dinner, I assumed my favorite reading position of on my stomach on my living room floor to begin laughing and getting smarter, as I read AJ's book on his quest to become the smartest person in the world by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica through.

And I fell asleep.

At 8:30. On a Friday night.

Apparently I was a little more tired than I thought. So, I went to bed and slept for 12 hours. But on Saturday, I began to read in earnest, and have laughed many, many times since!

The way he documents interjecting what he is currently learning into all his conversations kills me. It reminds me of when I read all the books by Linda Greenlaw about being a female lobster fisher"man" off the coast of Maine. And I had so many random lobster facts in my head, that they overflowed into all aspects of my life... until my friends graciously informed me that they were not nearly as interested in these books as I was, and could I periodically have a conversation that did not include crustaceans, please and thank you.

One thing that particularly hit my funny bone was a list of 10 suggestions to do with your life, to have a shot at being written into this great volume... and #10 is to "Become a liturgical vestment: I know this is easier said than done, but since every garment ever worn by a religious figure gets a nice picture..."

I've been blogging for years, and those of you who read my blog know that I rarely do book reports. I can most likely count on one hand the number of times I've written up what I was currently reading. So now, I'll let you in on a secret.

I learned in "The Year of Living Biblically" that A. J. Jacobs googles himself... rather frequently. And after having a conversation with some friends yesterday, I began to wonder at how big Google really is. So I decided to write a post about him, and see if Google can connect his Manhattan-ness with my NH-ness. If so, I will pronounce Google quite clever... quite clever indeed.