The guinea pig diaries

This autobiographical book is a collection of experiences of the author as he puts himself through all sort of new or just different experiences. These include: managing his gorgeous nanny's contacts on an online dating site and screening potential dates for her; trying to live by the rules that George Washington lived by; trying not to multitask at all for a month; outsourcing his life to India for a month; attempting to be perfectly honest for a month; and more. It's a short book and a quick read, consistently amusing and occasionally enlightening. More people should try experiments like this. I'd rate it higher, but I was disappointed how short it is, and I felt the author touched each subject a bit shallowly, it just felt as if there could have been more to it. Still, an enjoyable and occasionally thought-provoking read.

If you've got a rebuke to the literary mission of A.J. Jacobs, he's already heard it and put it behind him. He knows his wife is a saint. He knows he isn't as natty as Plimpton or Robert Benchley. And he knows that his work could be called market-ready fluff. I'm sure that feels like a day well spent at the office for some critic. To me it's like dissecting a rendition of "Happy Birthday." You may be perfectly right. You're also a humorless jerk.

To this reader, Jacobs' experiments are about understanding oneself, making life more interesting and showing the reader a good time. And I love them for it.