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The Guinea Pig Diaries
A.J. Jacobs
My Life as an Experiment
Simon & Schuster
September 2009
On Sale: September 8, 2009
256 pages ISBN: 1416599061 EAN: 9781416599067 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
For his first book, The Know-It-All, A. J. Jacobs read the
entire Encyclopædia Britannica from cover to cover in a
quest to learn everything in the world. In The Year of
Living Biblically, he followed every single rule of the
Bible -- from the Ten Commandments right on down to stoning
adulterers. Now comes a collection of his most hilarious and
thought-provoking experiments yet. In his role as human
guinea pig, Jacobs fearlessly takes on a series of
life-altering challenges that provides readers with equal
parts insight and humor. (And which drives A.J.'s patient
wife, Julie, to the brink of insanity.) Among the many adventures: • He outsources his life. A.J. hires a team of people in
Bangalore, India, to take care of everything in his life
from answering his e-mails to arguing with his spouse.
• He spends a month practicing Radical Honesty -- a
movement that encourages us to remove the filters between
our brains and mouths. (To give you an idea of what
happened, the name of the chapter is "I Think You're Fat.")
• He goes to the Academy Awards disguised as a movie
star to understand the strange and warping effects of fame.
• He commits himself to ultimate rationality, using
cutting-edge science to make the best decisions possible. It
changes the way he makes choices big and small, from what to
buy at the grocery store to how to talk to his kids. And his
revelations will change how you make decisions, too.
• He attempts to follow George Washington's rules of
life, uncovering surprising truths about leadership and
politics in the twenty-first century. He also spends a lot
of time bowing and doffing his hat.
• And then there's the month when he followed his wife's
every whim -- foot massages, Kate Hudson movies, and all.
Depending on your point of view, it's either the best or
worst idea in the history of American marriage. A mix of Bill Bryson, George Plimpton, and Malcolm Gladwell,
A.J. explores the big issues of our time -- happiness,
dating, morality, marriage -- by immersing himself in
eye-opening situations. You'll be entertained by these
stories -- some of which are new, some of which had their
start in Esquire magazine. But you'll also learn to look at
life in new ways. The Guinea Pig Diaries is a book packed with both laughs and
enlightenment -- and that's a promise we can make with
Radical Honesty.
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