Jacobs, A. J.

A journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world.

"After being dared by his son, A. J. Jacobs decided decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe and transforms his life"--OCLC.

"Traces the author's three-year investigation into what constitutes family, describing how, after receiving an e-mail from a stranger who claimed to be a distant cousin, he embarked on an effort to build the biggest family tree in history."--OCLC.

"Having sanctified himself in The Year of Living Biblically and sharpened his mind in The Know-It-All, A. J. Jacobs had one feat left in the self-improvement trinity: to become the healthiest man in the world. He didn't want just to lose weight, or finish a triathlon, or lower his cholesterol. His ambitions were far, far greater: Maximal health from head to toe.The task was massive. He had to tackle a complicated web of diet and exercise advice, much of which was nonsensical, unproven, and contradictory. He had to consult a team of medical advisers. And he had to subject himself to a grueling regimen of exercises, a range of diets, and an array of practices to improve everything from his hearing to his sleep to his sex life all the while testing the patience of his long-suffering wife. He left nothing untested, from the caveman workout to veganism, from the treadmill desk to extreme chewing. Drop Dead Healthy teems with hilarity and warmth and pushes our cultures assumptions about and obsessions with what makes good health, allowing the reader to reflect on his or her own health, body, and eventual mortality"--.

Raised in a secular family but interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to stone adulterers. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes. Jacobs embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally: he tours a creationist museum and sings hymns with Amish; he dances with Hasidic Jews and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the 21st-century brain, and he discovers ancient wisdom of startling relevance.--From publisher description.

Journalist A. J. Jacobs conducts a series of life experiments, and describes the results of outsourcing all aspects of his life to a team of people in Bangalore, India, practicing "Radical Honesty," disguising himself as a movie star and infiltrating the Academy Awards, following George Washington's rules for life, spending a month adhering to his wife's every whim, and more.

Chronicles A. J. Jacobs' quest to read the entire "Encyclopedia Britannica." His family and friends are dubious but he persists even when it affects his relationships and his work. Jacobs tests his newfound knowledge by trying to join Mensa and win a spot on "Jeopardy." His quest provides insights on the distinction between knowledge and wisdom.

After becoming increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. The result is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, and personal and universal.

Collection of humorous stories in which traditional fairy tales transformed into wacky parables filled with puns, wit and irony, and twisted to have silly and unexpected endings.