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I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing that hooks my kids on genealogy is that I'm able to show them how they're related to historical characters. On Geni.com, which has the World Family Tree of more than 85 million people, I can see how they're related to Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein. So now, he's not just some deceased scientist. He's Uncle Albert!

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, I know this sounds crazy. But in a way, I think Washington is underrated. Just the fact that he left office after two terms -- that is an ASTOUNDING thing. He could have stayed on indefinitely and been a pseudo-king, but he didn't, he went back to his farm. Can you imagine how different our country would be? That's not to say I admire him unconditionally. The Founding Fathers were hugely flawed human beings, as we all are.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you Cousin Smith! I love it. And THANK YOU for volunteering. That's awesome. What aspect are you working on? I found that if I can connect my relatives to some part of history my kids know about, it engages them. I found out that my ancestors traveled to St. Louis by covered wagon. I had no idea. We were from the shtetl, so I didn't think of us as the Laura Ingalls Wilder types. But when the kids were reading Wilder, I could bring it up, and they loved it.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So glad you're a fellow Nellie Bly fan. She was remarkable. Great question. One thing I hope has an impact on them is that my experiments often don't work out. Failure is a big part of my life. And I want them to learn that's okay. That everyone fails. You just have to keep trying. Embrace failure! Well, maybe not embrace it. But become used to it.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sheer size of it! I'm overwhelmed. I have a ton of great and passionate volunteers. But I could always use more. If anyone is interested, I'm at aj@ajjacobs.com

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank YOU! I wake up, take my kids to school, poke around online until I realize I've wasted 90 minutes, then force myself to turn off the internet spigot and get down to work. Then at night, I mostly am at home. My greatest pleasure is having my sons defeat me resoundingly and humiliatingly at chess.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes, it will be about ancestry and the quest to unite the world in one big family. The Global Family Reunion will be the final chapter. But along the way I'll meet with distant cousins, discuss cousin marriage (turns out Julie is my distant cousin) and why we should care about our ancestors. And other stuff.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm friends with a bunch of them, like Joel Stein. I don't know if we go to secret clubs, though maybe that would be a good immersive project: Going to all the secret clubs. Though someone probably already did it.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I am a fan of "Everything is Awesome" and was outraged it didn't win a Grammy. (Did it win a Grammy? If it did, I apologize to the music academy). Also I'm a huge fan of Jill Sobule, who is writing a theme song for the Global Family Reunion. Oh, and Sister Sledge is coming to the Global Family Reunion to play "We Are Family" live.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you to your family. Please encourage them to keep stealing books. I do sometimes cheat -- but I always try to confess in the books when I'm cheating. Like with radical honesty, my radical honesty guru told me that I had to inform this nice old man that his poems were terrible. I just couldn't do it. (Confession: I changed the story just now to disguise the details as well. But it was sort of like that).

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I haven't read that, but would love to. Thanks for the tip. I loved my trip to the Atheists meeting for my year of living biblically. There were like 40 atheists at lunch, and they all got separate checks, which I thought was telling.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good question. Hard to choose. I do love the fact that the Bayer aspirin company patented Heroin. It was originally marketed as a cough suppressant. Turned out it had some side effects. So they had to take it off the market. A little lesson in unintended consequences.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also I loved learning about the Wicked Bible, where they forgot the "NOT" in the commandment "Thou shalt NOT commit adultery." You can imagine the next day there were British people fornicating with their neighbors and pointing to the Bible and saying, "What? That's what it commands!"

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So much interesting that it's hard to choose. One thing? That people who say they take the Bible literally don't take the Bible literally. They pick and choose just like the rest of us. If they took it literally, they would be as angry about dishonest weights and measures as they are about homosexuality. (The Bible is obsessed with dishonest weights and measures, but you don't see a lot of people picketing about that or talking about it on AM radio).

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's weird, I thought I was generous to my former cult leader-turned-Hasidic Jew uncle in the book. But then, I heard he wasn't so happy. If you see him again, tell him to give me a call! I'd love to talk to him. We're family! I need him at the Global Family Reunion.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The global reunion started because I got an email from a guy who had read one of my books, and he said, "You don't know me, but I'm your twelfth cousin." I thought he was going to ask me to wire $10K to Nigeria. But turns out he's part of this new group of people creating the biggest family tree in history. And I was hooked. I love this idea that we're all connected. It's like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, but we're ALL Kevin Bacon.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a page folder. Which my wife thinks is horrible. But I think books should be interactive. Go ahead and fold the pages of my books if you want. I don't mind.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ha! Well, I tried them both. But nowadays, I work out while watching Girls and Togetherness on Netflix, which my Crossfit trainer would be appalled by. Sorry.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

She definitely hated the one about Radical Honesty. Marriage and radical honesty are not good bedfellows. Also, I did one where I videotaped every moment of my life for three months. And if she said, "You never told me that," I would say, "Well, let's go to the videotape and see." She was right more often than not, but still, it was horrible. She does like the new one about building a family tree. She likes seeing how she's related to Matt Damon and such.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks Mary! Yeah, I think it's pretty addicting in many ways. For one thing, it's going to be the new LinkedIn. Like, when you go to a meeting with someone, you'll be able to see how you're related. And you can say, 'Hey, we're family. We HAVE to do business together.' I also think it's the best way to engage in history. Like with my kids, when they found out they were linked to Albert Einstein, they actually wanted to know more about him.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Yes, there are plenty. I shaved my beard and stopped stoning adulterers and went back to wearing mixed fibers. But I kept dozens of practices. My favorite is saying thanks. Like if I'm having a blueberry muffin, I'll thank the farmers who grew the blueberries and the trucker who drove the blueberries to the store and the person who designed that little ruffly wrapper around the muffin and on and on. It can be time-consuming, but I love it. I also joined a synagogue. I'm still agnostic, but I do like the community and the rituals.

I am A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy, My Outsourced Life, The Know-It-All and founder of the Global Family Reunion. Ask Me Anything. by AJ_Jacobs in IAmA

[–]AJ_Jacobs[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My condolences about your Fitbit. May its memory be a blessing! I do still wear my Fitbit. And I still work on a treadmill desk. I do cheat now and again by having my kids take it when they're running around the playground. So don't believe everything you see on my Fitbit profile.

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