Book Review: The Guinea Pig Diaries

Book Review: The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment
By: A.J. Jacobs

What if you took a father of three who edits Esquire magazine and had him run experiments on his everyday life? Well, you might find him acting on behalf of his female nanny and turning down men on online dating sites, or listening to an East Indian man reading a bedtime story to his son over speaker phone. Or how about putting his wife in charge of his every action for a month, or maybe striving to follow all 110 of George Washington’s Rules of Civility? Or scary thought–being radically honest (that’s a great way to build relationships with the in-laws). Maybe you’ll even find him posing in the nude for a magazine shoot or dressing in a tux to go to the Oscars as a famous actor (which he is not).

The lovely thing about Jacobs’ books is that you learn while you are entertained. For example, I learned a lot about George Washington and outsourcing. All while laughing my butt off at his shenanigans. With several short essays discussing his antics and the results of such behaviours, it is a book that would make a good gift for pretty much anyone on your Christmas list.

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