I think this is A.J. Jacobs' best book, and that's mainly because, instead of one big stunt, he does nine small ones. His stunts are somehow far more tolerable when they are chapters (or more likely magazine articles) rather than entire books. There is a natural progression to his books. His first book was about reading the encyclopedia, which was funny but had some drawbacks because it was essentially a book about reading a book. His second book was about following the tenets of the bible for a year, which was better. It was still a book about reading a book, but at least he got out of the house a little with various experiments. Here, he seems to be a whole lot more active, and that makes it a much better book.
As whiny as I may sound here, I'm actually a big fan of Jacobs. He's always funny and interesting, though for his wife's sake I sure hope he writes a non-stunt book soon.
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