Esquire editor-at-large A.J. Jacobs turns his curiosity and subsequent humiliations into New York Times bestsellers. After delivering book reports on the two most daunting tomes in Western civilization—Encyclopedia Britannica (The Know-It-All) and the Bible (The Year of Living Biblically)—Jacobs collates some of his smaller experiments in The Guinea Pig Diaries. For some, 256 pages of stunts involving morality, marriage, and objectification might seem more like a guide to the care and feeding of an outsized ego. But perhaps due to experiences like posing nude for Mary-Louise Parker, Jacobs’ Diaries are delightfully unpretentious. —Hilary Crowe

Read the full City Lights pick here; deets below the jump.

JACOBS SPEAKS AT 7 P.M. AT SIXTH & I HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE
600 I ST. NW.
6 IN ADVANCE, $8 AT DOOR
(202) 408-3100.