I loved A.J. Jacobs' first two books, The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically , so I was very excited to see The Guinea Pig Diaries available in the bookstore.
Unlike his first two books, which each focused on one project, The Guinea Pig Diaries is a collection of essays detailing several of Jacobs' "experiments". With an open mind and an (extremely) patient and tolerant wife, he undertook challenges from pretending to be a woman (to help his children's nanny find romance in the online dating world) to practicing Radical Honesty.
My favorite escapade, though, was his outsourcing of his daily tasks to two call centers in India. A delegated weekly phone call to his parents (status report provided) saved him "at least half an hour of sweaty-eared phone time".
The Guinea Pig Diaries is a funny book, but also thoughtful. Obviously these experiments are extreme, but with each one there is something to be learned.
extreme yes. That call center one sounds hilarious!
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