The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

A.J. Jacobs

Simon & Schuster/non-fiction humour

Release Date: September 9, 2009

Bestselling author and human guinea pig A.J. Jacobs puts his life to the test and reports back on the surprising and entertaining results.  Learn what it’s like to go undercover as a woman.  And impersonate a movie star.  And say whatever is on your mind (as in, no filter, ever).  And outsource every part of your life to India- including reading your kids bedtime stories.  Plus several other life-altering experiments- one of which involves public nudity.

Filled with humor and wisdom, The Guinea Pig Diaries will change the way you think about everything- from love to work, from national politics to breakfast cereal.

I remember when A.J. Jacobs first entered my life.  It was a dark and stormy night…well, okay, a Sunday afternoon in September 2004, most likely warm and sunny.  As I perused the newspaper after lunch I spotted a review for The-Know-It-All, the story of one man’s journey to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica.  I’m not sure, but I think I probably swooned.  This man was living my dream. (I may or may not have started reading the encyclopedia in elementary school when I could not longer get people to play my thesaurus based game during free time.)

I became the kind of A.J. Jacobs fan that drives people crazy- always bringing up random factoids from The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically.  I wondered if he and his wife had more children after their infertility struggles.  I pondered that he probably prefers his apple pie with vanilla ice cream and not a slice of cheddar cheese.  Creeped out yet?  It wasn’t quite that bad, but it was obvious that I was hooked.

Imagine my surprise when purusing the shelves of our local Dollar Tree and I saw The Guinea Pig Diaries.  Initially, I couldn’t believe that I had missed an A.J. Jacobs book release.  My consternation quickly turned to joy as I realized I was about to score a new, hardcover A.J. Jacobs book for $1.08.

The book did not disappoint.  Witty and honest, it makes you jealous of his life and sympathetic to his wife.  Could A.J. Jacobs be my separated at birth twin? This quote has me wondering… ” I envy the 1970s Hugh Hefner, not because of his daily sexual intercourse with buxom women, but because he got to stay in his house wearing pajamas all the time.”  Give me a call, bro, and we’ll do something crazy, like start reading all the 1978 Redbook magazines….out. of. order.

My verdict:  Read it!  It is not my favorite Jacobs’ book (that is The Know-It-All), but it is still well worth your time.  Especially if you are considering outsourcing any of your life.

If you are lucky enough to be in New York for the Writer’s Digest Conference in January, you can catch him speaking.  He’ll probably be the guy in his pajamas.  Or dressed as a woman.  Or naked.  You know what? Maybe you should find out what his next book is going to be, before you make plans….

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