Know-It-All - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) S. 2,089 pages, nearly one-sixteenth of the total, are used up by the 19th letter of the alphabet.
• A2) Dalmatian. Wikipedia disagrees, stating that other higher primates also pass uric acid, and from a genetic point of view, that makes more sense. In all other mammals, the uric acid is converted to allantoin before elimination.
• A3) Yale. The future U.S. Vice President would eventually get both a B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of Wyoming.
• A4) A search for intelligent life in the universe. Astronomer Frank Drake named his SETI project for Princess Ozma, the leader of Oz during most of the Oz stories.
• A5) Reggie Jackson. In game 6 of the 1977 World Series the New York Yankees slugger went deep off of three different Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers, driving in five runs, enough to clinch the championship. Jacobs attended the game with his father, who had them leave the stadium and head home before the third homer. In his father's defense, the Yankees led 7-3 before Jackson's crowning moment in the eighth inning.
• A6) Fibonacci. The 13th-century mathematician's name is synonymous with the number sequence that begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34... and is the basis for some flowers' petals and the Boggle word game scoring system.
• A7) The toilet. Queen Elizabeth I's godson installed one in the palace.
• A8) Jujubes. After softening and moistening in the mouth, the multicolored and multiflavored hardened gumdrops are similar in taste and texture to Gummi Bears.
• A9) LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the hallucinogen in 1938 and needed assistance to get home after testing the drug on himself the first time.
• A10) Portugal. During the 19th century, a large wave of immigrants arrived in Hawaii from Portugal, Spain, Japan, and China.
• A11) Red blood cells. Despite calling using his phone-a-friend lifeline to call his brother-in-law Eric, Jacobs's run on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ended on this multiple choice question (he guessed "serum" after using the 50-50 lifeline). The mistake on the $32,000 question dropped him all the way down to $1,000.
• A12) False. Moses Cleaveland worked for the Connecticut Land Company. The first 'a' was cleaved out to fit better on an 1832 newspaper masthead.

Know-It-All - Random Trivia Questions

Esquire magazine editor A.J. Jacobs's 2004 book The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World provides the material for this week's random quiz. Thousands of factoids pervade the book, as his journey references just over 400 of the 65,000 entries in the 30,000+ pages of the Encylopaedia Britannica as springboards into discussions on anything and everything. Are you a Know-It-All?

Know-It-All Questions

• Q1) To which letter of the alphabet does the Encyclopaedia Britannica devote the most pages?
• Q2) What dog is the only mammal besides humans whose urine contains uric acid?
• Q3) From what university did Dick Cheney flunk out?
• Q4) What was Project Ozma, begun in 1960?
• Q5) Who was the only baseball player hit three home runs in a World Series game?
• Q6) Who is Leonardo Pisano better known as?
• Q7) What household device did Sir John Harington invent in the 16th century?
• Q8) What American candy was named for a plum-sized Chinese fruit?
• Q9) What drug originally comes from the ergot fungus on grain, especially rye?
• Q10) From what country's machada did the Hawaiian ukulele develop?
• Q11) What component of blood is also known as erythrocyte?
• Q12) True or false: Cleveland, Ohio was named for President Grover Cleveland.

Know-It-All Book Review

Name	The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
Author	A.J. Jacobs
Published	2004 (first hardcover release)
Length	386 Pages

Description: Know-It-All covers an Esquire magazine editor's journey through the entire 2002 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The entries range from interesting details to witty comments to stories of Jacobs's life to metamusings about his quest. While Jacobs may honestly have once thought himself to be the smartest kid in the world, the subtitle of the book is intended as a wry joke. Indeed, the author proves himself to more of a comedian than an intellect, showing off a fairly impressive memory for facts while failing to express a deeper understanding of much of anything.

Jacobs joins Mensa based on nearly two-decade-old SAT scores, embarasses himself at a trivia contest (although not because of his results), gets trounced in a chess game, and bottoms out in a crossword puzzle tournament. "Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none" would greatly overstate the author's knowledge, which widens and flattens considerably as he traverses the alphabet. He also attempts to become a contestant on the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which his encyclopedia study both helps with its tons of facts and hinders with its lack of pop culture and current events.

Fortunately, Jacobs's one strong area of expertise is storytelling. Married and attempting to become a father for the first time as the book begins, his character evolves and grows, just like in a good novel, spurred both by the esoteric knowledge he is gaining and the life events that are transpiring. He's a likeable guy whom you'll find yourself rooting for except when he's showing off with minutia (his wife eventually decides to fine him a dollar for each irrelevant comment).

Conclusion: Know-It-All is an entertaining read, especially for trivia lovers who will find a slew of factoids sprinkled throughout the simultaneously alphabetical and chronological story. Experiencing his feat vicariously is enough to make you feel like you've done it and glad that you haven't.