A.J. Jacobs read by candlelight to channel mind-set of Founding Fathers
For his newest book, “the Year of living constitutionally,” A.J. Jacobs lived as an 18th-century gentleman, donning a tri-corner hat and writing with a quill, to better understand the country’s founding fathers and the constitution they endowed us with. Jacobs has used himself as a human guinea pig for his other books, such as “the Year of living biblically,” “drop dead healthy,” and “the puzzler,” as a way, often comedic, to explore the big ideas that shape modern life. A contributor to npr, the new York times, and esquire, Jacobs lives in new York city with his family.
BOOKS: what are you reading?
JACOBS: for most of my adult life, I’ve been a heavy nonfiction reader but I can’t read that before bed. It gets my brain thinking too much. so, I started reading detective stories at night. I went to the beginning of the genre and read wilkie collins’s “the woman in white.” It was one of my favorite reading experiences.
BOOKS: what made that book so good?
JACOBS: he was so creative. According to my superficial googling, he was the first writer to use multiple narrators. It also helped build my tolerance for uncertainty. I have a bad habit of looking at plot summaries because I get too stressed out. In a romantic comedy, in particular, I need to know if the main characters get together in the end. Also, when you read a mystery, you have to decide if you want to solve it like a puzzle or just be swept along like you are on a lazy river. with wilkie, I didn’t try to solve it and enjoyed playing dumb.
‘I have a bad habit of looking at plot summaries because I get too stressed out.’
BOOKS: what was your last best read?
JACOBS: I loved charles Mann’s “the wizard and the prophet,” which is about these two scientists and their approaches
to the environmental crisis. one, William Vogt, had a luddite philosophy about technology and the other, norman borlaug, thought technology could get us out of this crisis.
BOOKS: How would you describe your taste in nonfiction?
JACOBS: i like big ideas, like Yuval noah Harari’s books. i also like taking something small that reflects on something big. one of my favorite recent reads was a biography of the founder of the AspcA, Henry bergh — ernest Freeberg’s “A traitor to His species.” that made me think about where we are in the history of animal welfare.
BOOKS: do you read self-help books? JACOBS: For my new book, i read ben Franklin’s autobiography, which could be classified as the first selfhelp book. there was so much i took away. one is the daily schedule he kept. i love the idea of planning your day because otherwise i’ll be doom scrolling all day. He also started every day by asking himself what good he could do. i wrote that with my quill and hung it over my desk. When i start to get angry, like if my instagram post didn’t get enough likes, i’ll ask myself if that is really my north star.
BOOKS: did you read anything for your new book that you would recommend?
JACOBS: Jamal greene’s “How rights Went Wrong,” which is about the meaning of rights. in early America, rights were not these absolutes, like having the right to free speech regardless of the consequences. rights were weighed against the common good. other countries think that way, according to greene. We are outliers in thinking rights are absolute.
BOOKS: How did living constitutionally affect your reading?
JACOBS: My goal, whenever possible, was to use 18th-century technology. i tried to read by candlelight. i woke up much earlier and read in the morning. i read most things in actual book form. some i got on kindle. i read the books that people would have read then, like Marcus Aurelius, and “the new england primer,” which was an education book for kids then. each letter had a drawing and a saying. there was an hourglass for g, with the line “runs the glass, our life doth past,” like, “Hey kids, you’re going to die.” it was not a fun, have-a-good-time era.
BOOKS: What was it like to read by candlelight?
JACOBS: there’s something soothing about the little flickering but it can be straining. sometimes i’d have to light two candles. if you are right by the candles, and hopefully don’t catch fire, it’s lovely.
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter @GlobeBiblio. Amy Sutherland is the author, most recently, of “Rescuing Penny Jane” and she can be reached at amysutherland @mac.com.