"I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said"

I'm not really sure which is the title and which is the subtitle of The Yogi Book by Yogi Berra. But that really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things. This is a little book that takes about 10 minutes to read, one of those you might find near the checkout counter of a large book store chain. But it is filled with the delightful sayings of Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher with the NY Yankees, Manager, and coach. Yogi goes through each one of his famous one-liners and cites the origin and the circumstances in which it "just came out." The sayings and explanations are accompanied by photographs of Yogi with some of the best know baseball players of his era, as well as friends, family members, childhood playmates, etc., many of them from his family's personal collection.

Who could forget great lines like these: "It ain't over 'till it's over"; "I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question"; "If I didn't wake up I'd still be sleeping"; "90% of the game is half mental"; or my favorite, when asked for directions, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Contrary to the subtitle, "I really didn't say everything I said," these are all legitimate quotes by Mr. Berra himself. Every one has an origin although a couple of them he doesn't remember saying but admits that he probably did.

A fun book for all, but as Yogi would say (and did) "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."

The Know-It-All

This morning I completed the latest of my "morning reading" books. Regular readers of this blog will know I read every morning before work...about 30-45 minutes depending on if I have to drop off my son at school or not. Here in summer time I seem to be getting almost an hour each morning so I tend to finish up the books a bit faster. And no, I can't seem to adjust my sleep cycle so that I get an extra 15-30 minutes of sleep each day. I'm funny that way.

The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs is subtitled, "One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World." This is actually his first majorly successful book to be published but a few months ago I read his second big book, The Year of Living Biblically. I liked it so much I just had to go buy this one as well. Mr Jacobs is a humorist and excels at describing what it's like when a "normal man" is put in abnormal circumstances. In this book, he decides to read the entire Encyclopedia Britanica, all 22 volumes of the 2002 edition. He points out the obvious: reading tons of unrelated facts does not lead to wisdom per se but it does lead to numerous interesting anecdotes. And it's amazing how often seemingly unrelated people and events really are connected...like a huge spider web.

However, this is not a book that simply crams trivia into a collection nor is it a summary of the Britanica. Rather this is a memoir. We get to experience what the author experiences during the course of his reading: over a year's worth of time spent reading millions of words on facts both common and obscure. He takes time to describe his visits to various people and institutions commonly associated with "intelligence" including Mensa meetings, an interview with Alex Trebek of "Jeopardy", a visit and day of work at the actual Britanica offices, as well as his successful attempt to become a contestant on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" and the amusing result.

Along the way we see the author's evolving relationship with his father, his wife, his brother-in-law and a host of quirky relatives and aquaintances. We feel his agony as he and his wife strive to conceive a child and rejoice when it finally happens. We laugh with him when he inserts trivia in casual conversations only to be the victim of rolling eyebrows. Haven't we all been there? And when he finally completes his quest and reads the last entry in the last volume we feel the same sense of accomplishment juxtaposed with the disappointment of it all being over and the overwhelming feeling of "What now?" This book has mass appeal and deserves the positive reviews it has received. And it's also the type of book that you can read just a little bit at a time if you are so inclined.

Now...to peruse my shelves for the next book in my morning reading program. Since I usually spend more days/weeks with these books I like to think it over instead of just pulling something off the shelf to read next. So you'll just have to be surprised when I blog about it in a couple of months :)