THE KNOW-IT-ALL

The vehicle for the author's quest is the entire Encyclopedia Britannica--this is the story of how he plows through all 33,000 entries contained therein. Along the way, we glean a great deal about a great deal of things and by the end have learned far more about the author than about the topics in the EB. Narrator Geoffrey Cantor is really in an impossible position because he has to translate Jacobs's amusing anecdotes without slipping into obnoxiousness. He succeeds, for the most part, but, overall, his tone is too smart-alecky, as opposed to funny. Also, he tends to read too fast at times and has a tendency to swallow words and letters. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]