The excitement of the Toronto International Film Festival on the streets above didn’t stop roughly 200 print enthusiasts to set up shop in Indigo’s basement to welcome New York Times bestselling author and editor-at-large of Esquire Magazine, A.J. Jacobs.
Jacobs is in Toronto promoting his newest book The Human Guinea Pig which is in line with the other social experiment-type books he has written in the past.
A shaky introduction from the “events co-coordinator of Indigo” who admitted to not even reading any of Jacobs work brought sneers and even presented a heckler from the audience.
Jacobs didn’t seem to mind and mounted the stage in a casual attire and a geeky smile that is very close to the picture of him on the sleeve of his new book.
“I would like to see it as the end of a trilogy,” said Jacobs from a make-shift stage in the lower levels of the Indigo book store at Bay St. and Bloor St. explaining his third book.
Jacobs' first book was about his goal to become the smartest man in the world by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica over a one year period. Throughout the book, he breaks down his experiment into alphabetical order and gives his insight into the items he read about. Jacobs also takes time to point out the fun tidbits that he learned. “I learned things like an opossum has 13 nipples,” he proclaimed gleefully.
After cradling his want for knowledge, Jacobs took on a more spiritual role as he embarked on his second journey by living one full year of his life by following the bible as literally as possible which is written about in A Year of Living Biblically. He writes about his times stoning adulterers in Central Park and not sitting in a public seat as it could be translated as “impure” by the bible.
His most recent bout with a year long goal has seen him take on a more physical adventure. He spends this year of his life doing small experiments like outsource his life tasks out to India, becoming a woman, and to be as honest as possible for one of those months.
“Just to give you an idea, the chapter about radical honesty is entitled, ‘I think you’re fat,’” which brought laughs from the crowd.
Throughout The Human Guinea Pig, Jacobs takes part in a slew of random experiments and writes about the hardships of his endevours including trying to keep his wife and three kids to stick with him through his adventures.
Jacobs told me during the question and answer period that he is excited with the release of his new book and is looking forward to new challenges.
“I don’t know how Hollywood works, but a movie might be the next thing,” he said.
Following the discussions, Jacobs signed copies of his new book for his fans that ranged in age and background. All were equally fascinated by the man and his strange social experiments though.
His newest book hit shelves on September 9 and is selling for just under 30 dollars at most print retailers.
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