Know-It-All. One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, Paperback/A. J. Jacobs

While others might take to reading a broadsheet at the weekend, Jacobs chose to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bill Bryson meets Schott's Original Miscellany meets Woody Allen. Part assemblage of fascinating trivia, part journey through adulthood, all laugh-out-loud funny.