Unfortunately, I do not get to knock any height off the “to read” stack with this book since my brother Ron actually gave me this as a gift after I had compiled this year’s reading list. With that said, it was definitely worth the time to read it. I have been a fan of A.J. Jacobs since I read his first book The Know It All. This led to the second book I read of his, The Year of Living Biblically. This particular offering was previously published as the Guinea Pig Diaries and consists of a collection of short stories on various experiments A.J. has taken upon himself. I happen to consider myself a lab rat as well but tend to put myself through experiments related to health and fitness (P90X, Core Performance, running philosophies, weight loss tricks etc.). If there is a genuine thought on how to improve yourself physically or make you better at athletics, I’ve probably personally validated it or in most cases refuted it. A.J. has taken this well beyond the next level and puts himself through some pretty bizarre experiments and in some cases, ones I would NEVER attempt. Take for instance the Radical Honesty section where he tries out Brad Blanton’s philosophy to happiness. You guessed it, say what you think without concern of implication. Once again, we get a glimpse as to what an angel his wife must be to put up with these crazy ideas. Linda would be horrified to have me around her friends knowing at any moment I could say something that might embarrass her. A.J’s wife does take exception to his response to her friend’s meeting request, but for the most part is pretty tolerant of this specific experiment. On a side note, this happens to be one of his funniest experiences I’ve read in all his books.
One of the nice things about this book was the ability to start and finish a particular experiment in a relatively short amount of time making it the perfect bedtime reading material. That is, of course, if you can actually go to sleep after laughing so hard. One of these days I might have to catch his regular articles for the Esquire magazine. If I remember correctly, most of the chapters in this collection were compiled from those articles. If you enjoy journalistic experimentation and have a similar passion for human behavior A.J. is your guy. On top of all this, his sense of wit rivals any stand up comic out there. One word of caution though. Do not and I repeat DO NOT let your wife or girlfriend read the section on Whipped – this is not a concept we want to get any traction.
Hit the jump for a summary of my take-aways from the read.
