A. J. Jacobs

Last updated
A. J. Jacobs
AJ Jacobs at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.jpg
Jacobs in April 2009
Born (1968-03-20) March 20, 1968 (age 56)
New York City, New York, U.S.
StatusMarried
Education Brown University
Notable credit(s) The Know-It-All ,
The Year of Living Biblically
TitleEditor at Large, Esquire magazine
SpouseJulie Schoenberg
Children3
Website ajjacobs.com

Arnold Stephen Jacobs Jr., commonly called A.J. Jacobs (born March 20, 1968) is an American journalist, author, and lecturer best known for writing about his lifestyle experiments. He is an editor at large for Esquire and has worked for the Antioch Daily Ledger and Entertainment Weekly .

Contents

Early life and education

Jacobs was born in New York City to secular Jewish parents, [1] Arnold Jacobs Sr., a lawyer, and Ellen Kheel. He has one sister, Beryl Jacobs. He was educated at the Dalton School and Brown University. [2] [3]

Career

Jacobs has said that he sees his life as a series of experiments in which he immerses himself in a project or lifestyle, for better or worse, then writes about what he learned. [4] The genre is often called immersion journalism or "stunt journalism". [5] [6]

In one of these experiments ("stunts") Jacobs read all 32 volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica , which he wrote about in his book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (2004). In the book, he also chronicles his personal life along with various endeavors like joining Mensa. The book spent eight weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. [7] NPR's Weekend Edition ran a series of segments featuring the unusual facts Jacobs learned in each letter. [8] Jacobs also wrote a column for Mental Floss magazine describing the highlights of each volume. [9] The book received positive reviews in The New York Times , [10] Time magazine [11] and USA Today. [12] However, Joe Queenan panned it in the New York Times Book Review . Queenan called the book "corny, juvenile, smug, tired" and "interminable" and characterized Jacobs as "a prime example of that curiously modern innovation: the pedigreed simpleton." [13] Four months later, Jacobs responded in an essay entitled “I Am Not a Jackass”. [14]

In 2005 Jacobs out-sourced his life to India such that personal assistants would do everything for him from answering his e-mails, reading his children good-night stories, and arguing with his wife. Jacobs wrote about it in an Esquire article called "My Outsourced Life" (2005). [15] The article was excerpted in The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. [16] Jacobs also talked about his outsourcing experiences on a Moth storytelling podcast. [17]

In another experiment Jacobs wrote an article for Esquire called "I Think You're Fat" (2007), [18] about the experiment he conducted with Radical Honesty, a lifestyle of total truth-telling promoted by Virginia therapist Brad Blanton, whom Jacobs interviewed for the article.

Jacobs' book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (2007) chronicles his experiment to live for one year according to all the moral codes expressed in the Bible, including stoning adulterers, blowing a shofar at the beginning of every month, and refraining from trimming the corners of his facial hair (which he followed by not trimming his facial hair at all). The book spent 11 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, [19] and Jacobs gave a TED talk about what he learned during the project. [20] In May 2017, CBS Television picked up a TV series based on the book. [21] It was originally renamed By the Book for television, but later changed to Living Biblically .

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment (2009) is a series of first person essays about his experiences with various guides for human behavior, including thanking everyone for the morning cup of coffee. [22]

Jacobs is the author of The Two Kings: Elvis and Jesus (1994), an irreverent comedic comparison of Elvis Presley and Jesus; and America Off-Line (1996).

In his book Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection (2012), he explores different ways humans can bring their bodies to peak health, from diet to exercise. [5] He wrote the book while walking on a treadmill. [23] Jacobs gave a related TED talk about this health quest entitled "How Healthy Living Nearly Killed Me". [24]

From 2011 to 2012, Jacobs wrote the "Extreme Health" column for Esquire magazine, covering such topics as high-intensity interval training [25] and the quantified self. Since 2012, he has written the "Modern Problems" advice column for mental floss magazine. The column compares modern day life to the horrors of the past. [26]

As of May 2013, Jacobs writes a weekly advice column for Esquire.com called "My Huddled Masses". [27] The column is crowdsourced to Jacobs's 100,000 Facebook followers, who give etiquette and love advice. [28] [29] He also writes the regular feature "Obituaries" for Esquire, which consists of satirical death notices for cultural trends, such as American hegemony. [30]

On June 6, 2015, Jacobs hosted the Global Family Reunion at the New York Hall of Science. [31] Satellite events were held in Salt Lake City, Utah (in partnership with FamilySearch; [32] [33] Cleveland, Ohio (at the Western Reserve Historical Society; [34] Zionsville, Indiana; [35] and Independence, Missouri (at the Midwest Genealogy Center). [36] His project aimed to connect as many people as possible to the global family tree at Geni.com and WikiTree, and the event was planned to be the largest family reunion in history. His experience planning and hosting the event is documented in his 2017 book It's All Relative.

On December 5, 2016, Gimlet Media announced Jacobs as the host of Twice Removed, a podcast focused on genealogy. In June 2016, Gimlet announced that the podcast would not be renewed for a second season.

Jacobs' April 2022 book The Puzzler reframes global issues as puzzles. [37] [38] In the fall of 2023, the daily podcast The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs was launched. [39] [40]

In September, 2022, The New York Times published a story by Jacobs detailing a 1988 kayaking excursion in which he and his sister were lost overnight in the waterways of Glacier Bay National Park. [41] They were eventually saved by an unknown group of campers on Kidney Island and a search seaplane rented by their father.

Personal life

Jacobs is married to Julie Schoenberg and has three sons: Jasper Kheel Jacobs (born March 11, 2004) [42] and twins Zane and Lucas Jacobs (born August 24, 2006). [43] [44]

Jacobs is a first cousin, once removed, of the legal scholar Cass Sunstein. [45]

Jacobs is a member of Giving What We Can and pledges 10% of lifelong earnings to charity. He donates to the Against Malaria Foundation and other effective altruism organizations.

Bibliography

Books

Essays and reporting

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin</span> Biblical figure and son of Jacob and Rachel

Benjamin was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was also the progenitor of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. Unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan according to biblical narrative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck Klosterman</span> American author and columnist

Charles John Klosterman is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for Esquire and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman is the author of twelve books, including two novels and the essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. He was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor award for music criticism in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Gladwell</span> Canadian journalist and science writer (born 1963)

Malcolm Timothy Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has published seven books. He is also the host of the podcast Revisionist History and co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rees (cartoonist)</span> American humorist

David Thomas Rees is a humorist and cultural critic. He first rose to prominence as a cartoonist whose best-known work combined bland clip art with "trash talk". Rees later created an artisanal pencil sharpening service and published a related book on the subject. He co-created and hosted two seasons of the television series Going Deep with David Rees.

<i>The Departed</i> 2006 American crime thriller film by Martin Scorsese

The Departed is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang; the character Colin Sullivan is based on the corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, while the character Frank Costello is based on Irish-American gangster and crime boss Whitey Bulger. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, with Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson and James Badge Dale in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Rapaport</span> American actor and comedian (born 1970)

Michael David Rapaport is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include Zebrahead (1992), True Romance (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Metro (1997), Cop Land (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), The 6th Day (2000), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Big Fan (2009), and The Heat (2013). On television, he headlined the Fox sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007) and was a series regular on the Fox drama Boston Public (2001–2004), the fourth season of the Fox serial drama Prison Break (2008–2009), and the Netflix comedy drama Atypical (2017–2021). Rapaport held recurring roles on the NBC sitcoms Friends (1999), My Name Is Earl (2007–2008), and Justified (2014). Outside of his acting career, Rapaport directed the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest about the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Active on several podcasts, he is the host of the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast.

<i>The Know-It-All</i> 2004 book by A. J. Jacobs

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World is a book by Esquire editor A. J. Jacobs, published in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Birbiglia</span> American comedian, actor, director, producer, and writer (born 1978)

Mike Birbiglia is an American stand-up comedian, actor, storyteller, director, producer and writer. He is a frequent contributor to This American Life and The Moth, and has released several comedy albums and television specials. His feature-length directorial debut Sleepwalk with Me (2012), based on his one-man show of the same name and in which he also starred, won awards at the Sundance and Nantucket film festivals. He also wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy-drama Don't Think Twice (2016). His 2010 book Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Birbiglia has appeared in films such as Your Sister's Sister (2011), Cedar Rapids (2011), and Trainwreck (2015), played a recurring role in Orange Is the New Black, Billions and has guest starred in episodes of Girls, Inside Amy Schumer, and Broad City. He also filled in for Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show for a week, as Kimmel caught COVID-19.

Joe Queenan is an American satirist and critic. He is the author of nine books, including Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon and If You’re Talking to Me, Your Career Must Be in Trouble. His memoir Closing Time was a 2009 New York Times Notable Book. 

Immersion journalism or immersionism is a style of journalism similar to gonzo journalism. In the style, journalists immerse themselves in a situation and with the people involved. The final product tends to focus on the experience, not the writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Moore</span> American evangelical leader

Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore is an American Anglican evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is president of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization she founded in 1994 to teach women. Living Proof Ministries is based in Houston, Texas. Moore, who is "arguably the most prominent white evangelical woman in America", speaks at arena events and has sold millions of books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Gilbert</span> American journalist and author (born 1969)

Elizabeth Gilbert is an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. The book was also made into a film of the same name in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Lachman</span> American writer and musician

Gary Joseph Lachman, also known as Gary Valentine, is an American writer and musician. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the bass guitarist for rock band Blondie. Since the 1990s, Lachman has written full-time, often about mysticism and occultism. He has written more than 22 books on consciousness, culture, and the western esoteric tradition, written for journals in the US and UK, and lectured on his work in the US and Europe; his books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Ferriss</span> American entrepreneur, investor, author, and podcaster (born 1977)

Timothy Ferriss is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He is known for his 4-Hour self-help book series—including The 4-Hour Work Week, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef—that focused on lifestyle optimizations, but he has since reconsidered this approach.

<i>The Year of Living Biblically</i> 2007 book by A. J. Jacobs

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible is a book by A. J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire magazine, published in 2007. The book describes a year that the author said he spent trying to follow all the rules and guidelines he could find in the Bible, which turned out to be more than 700.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Sacks</span> American writer and magazine editor

Mike Sacks is an American author, humor writer and magazine editor based in New York City. Sacks is currently an editor at Vanity Fair and formerly worked for The Washington Post. He contributes to the New Yorker, McSweeney's, Esquire, Salon, Vanity Fair, GQ, Believer, Vice, the New York Times and the Washington Post. As of 2022, Sacks has published a total of ten books, six of which have been under his own imprint.

<i>The Guinea Pig Diaries</i> 2009 book by A. J. Jacobs

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life As An Experiment is a book by A. J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire magazine, published in 2009. On a mission to improve aspects of his life A. J. Jacobs becomes a human guinea pig, putting himself through a series of extreme lifestyle experiments.

Matthew Hussey is an author, British dating coach and YouTuber. He is known for his 2013 book Get the Guy and his 2024 book, Love Life: How to Raise Your Standards, Find Your Person, and Live Happily .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encyclopedic knowledge</span> Extensive knowledge of a wide group of subjects

To have encyclopedic knowledge is to have "vast and complete" knowledge about a large number of diverse subjects. A person having such knowledge might, sometimes humorously be referred as "a human encyclopedia" or "a walking encyclopedia".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TTK Services</span>

TTK Services Pvt Ltd, is an Indian business conglomerate with a presence across the world, In different segments of industry including virtual assistant services and Real estate services, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. TTK Services Pvt Ltd is a company of the TTK Group; The TTK Group was founded in 1928 as an indenting agency by Mr. T.T. Krishnamachari. The Group also has other subsidiaries like TTK Healthcare Limited, TTK Protective Devices Limited, Cigna TTK Limited and Prestige Smart Kitchen.

References

  1. ↑ Jacobs, A J. "The Year of Living Biblically" . Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Nonfiction Writing in the World: Our Sources of Inspiration and Nonfiction Beyond Brown | English Department". www.brown.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  3. ↑ Queenan, Joe (2004-10-03). "'The Know-It-All': A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  4. ↑ A. J. Jacobs: My year of living biblically. TED video. Filmed December 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Print: One Man's Journey Into Stunt Books", Mathew Honan, Wired , July 28, 2010.
  6. ↑ By the Book, By HANNA ROSIN, Published: October 14, 2007
  7. ↑ "The New York Times > Books > Best-Seller Lists > Paperback Nonfiction". The New York Times . 2014-04-10. Archived from the original on 2014-04-10. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  8. ↑ "NPR Search". NPR. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  9. ↑ AJ, Jacobs (23 October 2007). "Guest Blog-star: AJ Jacobs!". mental_floss. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Maslin, Janet (20 September 2004). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; A Walking, Wisecracking Encyclopedia". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  11. ↑ Stein, Joel (4 October 2004). "The Know-Everything Party". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  12. ↑ Blais, Jacqueline (1 December 2004). "If you really must know, these smart reads are for you". USA Today. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  13. ↑ Queenan, Joe (3 October 2004). "A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  14. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (13 February 2005). "I am not a Jackass". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "My Outsourced Life" Archived June 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine , Esquire , September 1, 2005
  16. ↑ Ferris, Timothy. "Outsourcing Life" . Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  17. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (30 June 2011). "The Moth Presents AJ Jacobs: My Outsourced Life". The Moth. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "I Think You're Fat", Esquire , July 24, 2007
  19. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers: Nonfiction". The New York Times. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  20. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (17 July 2008). "AJ Jacobs: My Year of Living Biblically". TED. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  21. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (2017-05-12). "'Living Biblically' Comedy Picked Up To Series By CBS, Renamed As 'By The Book'". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  22. ↑ "A.J. Jacobs On Being Thankful – Blog". Joe Coffee Company. 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  23. ↑ Minzesheimer, Bob (9 April 2012). "Author takes on his body in quest to be 'Drop Dead Healthy'". USA Today. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  24. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "How healthy living nearly killed me". TED. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  25. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "The Case Against Jogging". Esquire. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  26. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "AJ Jacobs Can Solve all Your Modern Problems". mental_floss. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  27. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "My Huddled Masses: Crowdsourced Life Guidance". Esquire. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  28. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (23 May 2013). "Crowdsourced Advice with Author A.J. Jacobs". Boing Boing. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  29. ↑ Chaey, Christina. "Dear Abbys: A New Esquire Column Sources Life Advice From 100,000 People". Fast Company . Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  30. ↑ "Esquire Search". Esquire. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  31. ↑ "Global Family Reunion".
  32. ↑ Leonard, Wendy (2015-06-06). "Salt Lake City joins Global Family Reunion, celebrating family history". KSL .
  33. ↑ Sorenson, Yvonne (2015-05-15). "The Global Family Reunion Block Party at the Family History Library". FamilySearch Blog . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  34. ↑ "Global Family Reunion". Western Reserve Historical Society.
  35. ↑ Ambrogi, Mark (2015-06-10). "Visitors research roots during Global Family Reunion". Current. Zionsville, Indiana. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  36. ↑ Newill, Cody (2015-06-08). "Midwest Genealogy Center Promotes Family History At Global Family Reunion Event". KCUR . Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  37. ↑ "AJ Jacobs on following the whole Bible, a life of self-experimentation, and reframing global problems as puzzles". 80,000 Hours . Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  38. ↑ Triola, Cate (2022-03-01). "The Puzzler: One Man's Quest To Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life" . Library Journal.
  39. ↑ Cite web |title=Introducing the Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-the-puzzler-with-a-j-jacobs/id1709071922?i=1000629176010 |date=2023-09-26
  40. ↑ Cite web |last1=Piña |first1=Christy |title=iHeartMedia, A.J. Jacobs Team for Daily Puzzle Podcast |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/iheartmedia-daily-puzzle-podcast-1235531692/, |date=2023-07-09
  41. ↑ Jacobs, A. J. (2022-09-18). "Sending Out an S.O.S." The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  42. ↑ Jacobs, A.J. The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. (2004) Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. p. 371.
  43. ↑ Jacobs, A.J. The Year of Living Bibically (2007) Simon & Schuster. p. 314-316.
  44. ↑ Jacobs, A.J. (28 April 2016). "The Maximum Good: One Man's Quest to Master the Art of Donating". Esquire. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  45. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "Cass Sunstein and Samantha Power: Fun Couple of the 21st Century". Esquire . Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  46. ↑ Dickerson, John (2024-05-05). "A.J. Jacobs on "The Year of Living Constitutionally" - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  47. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (1 September 2005). "My Outsourced Life". Esquire. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  48. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (24 July 2007). "I Think You're Fat". Esquire.
  49. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "My Life as a Hot Woman". Esquire. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  50. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "The 9:10 to Crazyland". Esquire. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  51. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (27 July 2012). "How to Blurb and Blurb and Blurb". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  52. ↑ Jacobs, AJ. "Overly Documented Life". Esquire. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  53. ↑ Jacobs, AJ (20 April 2013). "Grading the MOOC Universe". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.