An interesting and funny memoir by Jacobs about his reading the entire 2002 Encyclopedia Britannica. What makes it an interesting read is how Jacobs attempts to use his new-found knowledge in his everyday life. The problem is, not many other people find these facts as interesting as he does. Along his journey, he joins MENSA, attempts to make it on Jeopardy, participates in a debate at Columbia, and makes it onto Who Wamts to Be A Millionare. For me, I did find many of the facts interesting and hopefully will remember them myself. Part of Jacobs quest is in remembering what he reads- all 65,000 entries composed of 4 million words. Of particular interest to me was the facts related to the Encyclopedia Britannica itself: its history and the following that exists for the eleventh edition. There exists two websites devoted to that eleventh edition, a rather unusual idea. What I also derived from reading this book is the question of what makes for intelligence or knowledge; what makes a person smart? A pleasure to read both for the information and the humorous memoir that went along with reading it.