Search This Blog








2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (2)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Ireland (1)





2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Monday, February 05, 2018
Cousin Jacobs' Newest a Fun, Upbeat Look at One of My Favorite Hobbies
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)

To show you Jacobs' writing style and highlight some of my favorite quotes, I'll leave you with these passages:
"In a sense, family history is simply highbrow Google-stalking of the dead. And while it can be fascinating, it can also make you feel queasy" (156).
"On the one hand, genealogy is the most self-aggrandizing hobby ever. Look at all these thousands of ancestors who all teamed up to create their ultimate masterpiece: Me!
On the other hand, once you get started, you see that the tree is enormous and you're just a tiny leaf. If you flip your perspective, you understand that each of your ancestors spawned thousands of descendants. You're not the center. You're nothing special. Suppose your seventh-great-grandmother time-traveled to the twenty-first century. She'd barely have time to pinch your cheek before she'd be off to visit her other offspring" (197-198).
And because there are too many "Mormon Mentions" in It's All Relative to do a separate post, here's a few I especially loved:
"The Mormons, as you know, are genealogy superstars. They dominate the field. Think of how Brazilians dominate supermodeling. Or how the Austrians rule skiing. Or how Floridians excel at driving naked while high on bath salts" (201).
"Why are Mormons drawn to family history? Partly it's for the reasons I've heard from every family historian: It makes them feel a sense of belonging. Family is everything. They owe it to their ancestors who sacrificed so much (and the Mormons were indeed persecuted). But for Mormons, it's more than that. It's also part of their religion" (202).
"The Salt Lake City Global Family Reunion had thousands of attendees—as well as Japanese drummers and bagpipers—because Mormons are better at organizing events than any group of humans on Earth" (273).
Referring to his RootsTech 2016, at which Donny Osmond also performed: "There's no shame in being less popular than an Osmond in a predominantly Mormon crowd."
That should give you a glimpse of what you'll find in It's All Relative. Although I don't agree with everything Jacobs says in the book, I definitely enjoyed reading about his experiences with family history. If you're into genealogy and don't mind a funny, somewhat irreverent look at the hobby, you'll love this one as well.
(Readalikes: Style-wise, I'm sure it's similar to other A.J. Jacobs books, although I haven't read any of his others.)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (1 F-bomb, plus milder expletives), rude humor, and references to sex
To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of It's All Relative from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)




Reading
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

Listening
The War Librarian by Addison Armstrong



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
-
Review of Matilda2 hours ago
-
-
-
-
The Change by Kirsten Miller11 hours ago
-
-
#ThrowbackThursday. Herta Müller15 hours ago
-
-
-
#AmReading17 hours ago
-
-
The Jeweller of Stolen Dreams by M J Rose19 hours ago
-
-
The Faithless20 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reread: Seraphina1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Just finished and currently reading.2 days ago
-
-
-
-
Authors I First Read in 20222 days ago
-
-
2023 Goals (and 2022 in Review)3 days ago
-
Sunday Post #4886 days ago
-
-
-
My Bookish Goals for 20231 week ago
-
Top Ten Books of 20222 weeks ago
-
Books Read in 20232 weeks ago
-
December Monthly Wrap-up3 weeks ago
-
-
-
Thinking Out Loud: Our Wives Under the Sea2 months ago
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?3 months ago
-
-
HEARTS OF BRIARWALL by Krista Jensen5 months ago
-
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ▼ 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)