A.J. Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs is the author of My Life as an Experiment: One Man's Humble Quest to Improve Himself. A compilation of essays, the book contains such experiments as life-changing quests featuring George Washington's rules of life, marital harmony, marital disharmony, and multitasking.
Jacobs is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, a memoir of the year he spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, all 44 million words of it. The book was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America. Time magazine called it "hilarious and touching." The book spent ten weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and was translated into 11 languages.
His book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible is also a New York Times bestseller and has garnered rave reviews around the country. For this book, he attempted to abide by the hundreds of rules in the Bible, from the famous (the Ten Commandments; be fruitful and multiply) to the often neglected (stone adulterers and avoid wearing clothes of mixed fibers). Jacobs manages to find humor in his attempts to comply with the more arcane strictures, but also, somewhat unexpectedly, finds comfort and meaning in both the rituals and the meaning of the Old Testament. The book has been optioned by Paramount Pictures.
In Jacobs's current project, he is trying to follow every piece of verified health advice he can find to become "the Healthiest Person Alive."
Jacobs is Editor-at-Large of Esquire magazine, where he writes feature articles. Universal Studios has optioned his 2006 article "My Outsourced Life." For the piece, Jacobs hired a team of assistants in Bangalore, India, to do everything for him, from answering his emails to reading bedtime stories to his son.
Jacobs has also written for The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, and CSPAN, as well as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. For two years, he was an occasional correspondent for NPR's "Weekend Edition." Jacobs was also senior editor at Entertainment Weekly and was a staff writer for MTV's animated show Celebrity Deathmatch.
Topics
My Year of Living Biblically
Raised in a secular family, but increasingly interested in the role of religion in our world, AJ Jacobs decided to learn about the Bible firsthand. By living it. He vowed to spend a year following every single rule in the Bible from the famous ones (the Ten Commandments and Love your neighbor) to the often-ignored laws (don't shave your beard, do not wear clothes made of mixed fibers -- even stone adulterers). The result is a fascinating look at religion -- one that is both reverent and irreverent, funny but deeply serious.
Just Do It: From The Bible To Nike
Jacob discussed the art of diving in headfirst. He feels it's the key to success in life and business and proves it through his experiences, as chronicled in his book, The Year of Living Biblically.
Change Your Behavior, Change Your Mind
Jacobs' year of biblical living taught him that the most powerful way to change his mind was to change his behavior. The mind will catch up. As he says, "fake it till you make it." It's how he claims he learned to be a better person and a better businessman.
Building A Brand
The story of how Jacobs built his own brand – the Human Guinea Pig
Walking A Mile In Others' Shoes
Want to know what your customer is thinking? Live your life as the customer for a week. It's the same with understanding how your rival thinks. Jacobs stresses the importance of immersing yourself in other points of view to make yourself a better businessperson.
The Know-It-All: Behind One Man's Humble Quest To Become The Smartest Person In The World
In this engaging and delightful talk based on his New York Times best-selling book, speaker A.J. Jacobs gives a behind-the-scenes look at his journey to "become the smartest person in the world" by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, all 44 million words of it.
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