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Friday, October 10, 2008
The Economy, My Family and the Paperback If you read my first book, THE KNOW-IT-ALL, you might remember my nemesis Eric. He's my Harvard-educated brother-in-law who never fails to mock my relative lack of knowledge. (If you recall, I had one glorious moment of retribution when he was my lifeline on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," and he missed the question - despite the fact that it was about biology and he happened to have been a bio major at Harvard. So I may have humiliated myself on national TV, but at least I brought him down with me). In any case, though he still drives me crazy by saying things like "humans are a fascinating species", I've got to admit that he's really smart. He's now got a PhD in behavioral economics and teaches at Columbia. And he just did a discussion on bloggingheads.tv about the economic crisis with another smart man, Gary Marcus, author of the book KLUGE. It's one of the best and clearest explanations I've seen for this mess we find ourselves in. In other family news, my father also got some nice press. My dad was the inspiration for The Know-It-All. He's the one who started to read the Encyclopedia Britannica when I was a kid, but only made it up to the letter B, around boomerang or Borneo. So I wanted to finish what he started and remove that black mark from our family history. My dad recently did an interview with Superlawyers magazine about his love of intellectual challenges – and about one of the family’s proudest accomplishments: His world record for the greatest number of footnotes in a law review article. (4,824) Also, thank you to the readers who have bought THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY in paperback. It's currently on The New York Times bestseller list, tied with Obama's book Change We Can Believe In. On the other hand, the Sarah Palin biography is kicking my butt.
posted by A.J. Jacobs at 9:51 PM
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21 Comments:
Hello!
I read your book and I had a lots of laughs, and that's essential by those times. I would add that it's also a good thing to speak and to write about the Bible we sometimes forget, or go away, even if we are believer.
So a big thanks to you and congratulation for your living adventure.
Amitiés, from France,
Lise
Hey A.J.! I'm smack in the middle of your fabulous hardcover turned paperback. So far, so great. More later... I've got a book to finish.
Just read your article on honesty. I'll request the books from the library!
just finished the "year of living biblically" book and enjoyed it very much. i get "esquire" as well.
i'll have to check out your old man's interview in "superlawyers." even though all lawyers are assholes. i know i am.
you should see me speed up when children or pets are in the road.
I am committed to getting the paperback moved up that list...it's on my facebook profile and I've recommended it to everyone I've come across in the past several days. I haven't read anything so funny, so informative and so touching all at once since...maybe ever. Loved it. And guess what? It made me go back and buy The Know It All too. Good work, Jacobs!
You are a very genius!
Just pick up your book and glad to have found your blog...happy thanksgiving!
Just finished Living Biblically about five minutes ago. It's been a while since I read a book good enough to have my husband whining, "Hey, remember us? Your FAMILY?" Now back to the piles of dishes and clothes I've neglected for the last few days...
Really enjoyed your book - you have a delightful writing style. I would have appreciated more stories from your trip to Israel, which you really skimmed over - there had to have been tons more stories there. Thank you and keep writing books.
Hi AJ.
I am still reading your book, and as an atheist I find your biblical exploits and ancedotes hilarious and funny.
What is more interesting is the fact that you did bring a couple of erroneous biblical verses to the fore.
Great work.
Regards
Beast FCD
www.atheisthaven.blogspot.com
Hi, I just finished The Year of Living Biblically and LOVED every minute of it! Great idea, great book, loved the soul searching and performance. By the by, I am Victor Ozols' cousin and also know Rob Richardson. Wishing you much success and I look forward to reading more of your work.
Sarma Ozols
AJ,
Greetings from Lancaster County, PA (No, I'm not Amish or Mennonite). I'm about 50 pages away from finishing "Living Biblically". What a great book! I love the way you write and also your sense of humor. You took a very honest and open minded approach. As a Christian (nothing far right or extreme), I appreciated that you stepped outside of your box to learn. I look forward to reading your other book. May God bless you and your family.
Theresa
Hopefully your books have beaten the Palin bio, since nobody cares about her anymore.
AJ - I had gotten "Year of Living Biblically" last year for Christmas (read it in 2 days - LOVED IT! Especially about the visit to the creationist museum!!) Got "Know It All" this year, and am just about done... You have a great writing style, and it is refreshing (I have a degree in English, with a focus on Old English Literature - so anything I don't have to translate equals a great read in my opinion these days!) Anyway - I am looking forward to getting your additional works, and hope that you keep writing. How else am I going to learn obscure facts and unusual insights into the world of bi-valves?
Got THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY for Christmas and couldn't put it down. Finished yesterday, put it on my Facebook favs & have been telling all my friends. Can't wait to go back for KNOW IT ALL. Great! Great! Great stuff! Thank you and God Bless.
I just finished the book and loved it. I liked Know-it-all too, which is partly why I read this one. All I can ever think is that you have an amazingly patient wife.
Congrats on the NYT best-seller list - your book may be getting ass-kicked by Sarah Palin's thing right now but ultimately she doesn't matter. Although she does have a very interesting religious thing going on - one of those scary ones.
Read "Know it All" recommend it to everyone and am enjoying "Year ..." Believe it or not, it compliments a 4 Year Bible Study I am undertaking - adds some humor. Thank God for your scholarly experiments, talented storytelling, but most of all your humor. Bless you! Looking forward to your book on healthy living, letting you sort through that mumlbe jumble of info and give us the real story. Thanks for sharing your talent and experiences.
I enjoyed your book very much. Nice job.
I have twice tried to contact you via e-mail to give you a short list of small typos that could be corrected for future versions of "The Year of Living Biblically", but the "Contact A.J." on your blog site doesn't work. Is there an e-mail address where I could send you this short list? (If so, could you post it on your blog site?)
Again, nice job on the book. It was both intellectually stimulating and fun to read.
Thanks,
DG
I am so glad that you are finally tackling the problem of how to not stone gays in 21st century manhattan. As a fellow journalist, this is a problem that I too have wrestled with almost daily over the years.
I was also wondering if its okay to use a lesser abomination to rid the world of a greater abomination. For example, if i live in a sandy desert and there aren't any stones, can I throw adulters at the gays? Is that like killing two stonings with one stoning or just a really big abomination?
Seriously, it looks like an interesting idea for a book. But interesting because its crazy. I mean did you count the rules in the old testament? and that's just if you're jewish. God help you if you are a christian or a muslim... Its like rules on rules wrapped in paraboles that were mistranslated from Arameic to Ancient Greek (by wanna be smarties like me that can't spell).
Loved "The Know It All" and am just about finished with "The Year of Living Biblically". You have a great sense of humor! Your approach was earnest and endearing. I can't wait for your next book. In the meantime, when people come in to the small library where I work and ask for something good to read, I will recommend both your books highly.
For Sarah Palin's book to beat yours is just a disgrace - much like Sarah herself! LOL
Just finished the "Bible book" and am looking forward to the next one on my shelf - along with the 20 other books i have purchased in the last two weeks because I'm such a book whore.
Cheers to you!
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