Details
Synopsis
A. J. Jacobs has carved out a niche for himself in the memoir sub-genre known as "experimental autobiography." (Other examples include Barbara Ehrenrich's NICKEL AND DIMED or, most famous of them all, John Howard Griffith's BLACK LIKE ME.) Previously Jacobs has read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (THE KNOW-IT-ALL) and lived a year according to the bizarre strictures of the Bible (THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY). In THE GUINEA PIG DIARIES he recounts a few other outlandish self-experiments such as: obeying George Washington's "110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation"; becoming a member of the "Radical Honesty" movement (which resulted in offending everyone he came in contact with); pretending to be a bombshell female on an internet dating site; outsourcing his entire life to India; and obeying for a month his wife's every whim (she even writes the chapter on this experiment). As always Jacobs writing is hilarious, absurd, and wonderfully insightful. His bizarre populist performance pieces are a delight.
| Size | | Height: | 6.0 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 5.6 oz |
Industry Reviews
"Jacobs...could be the funniest nonfiction writer this side of Bill Bryson....[His] storytelling is lighthearted and frequently laugh-out-loud funny....There aren't a lot of nonfiction books you want to read over and over, but this is certainly one of them." (starred review)
(07/01/2009)
"The nine stories reveal an everyman who is willing to try just about anything and doesn't even try to gloss over his foibles. Witty self-deprecation is Jacobs' bread, butter and jam, and his attempts to correct (or at least confront) his flaws drive the action."
(09/27/2009)
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