This is a book review of The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs
Stars: ****
Simon & Schuster (2009)
Humour/Essays
235 pages
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Summary: One man. Ten extraordinary quests.
Bestselling author and human guinea pig A.J. Jacobs puts his life to the test and reports on the surprising and entertaining results. He goes undercover as a woman, lives by George Washington’s moral code, and impersonates a movie star. He practices “radical honesty,” brushes his teeth with the world’s most rational toothpaste, and outsources every part of his life to India—including reading bedtime stories to his kids.
And in a new adventure, Jacobs undergoes scientific testing to determine how he can put his wife through these and other life-altering experiments—one of which involves public nudity.
Filled with humor and wisdom, My Life as an Experiment will immerse you in eye-opening situations and change the way you think about the big issues of our time—from love and work to national politics and breakfast cereal.
The Guinea Pig Diaries
I am well familiar with A.J. Jacobs having read two of his other book: The Know-it-All and The Year of Living Biblically. I also have another of his books I haven’t read yet. I love his books and this one is no different.
In this one he shares the essays he wrote for Entertainment Weekly where he used himself as an experiment to see what would happen with various things for example going undercover as a woman and impersonating a movie star. He goes all in with his experiments often annoying his very patient wife and taking things to the (funny) extreme.
Whereas his other two books were all about one experiment, this book covers 9 experiments. I loved the one where he outsourced his life to India. Hilarious. Although the book is old (considering 2009 was 17 years ago) and doesn’t include life with our faces stuck in our smart phones, the lessons he learned while experimenting with his life were not just funny, they were interesting and important.
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