“Hendrices”! How excellent is that! And it’s left alone, uncommented-on, and all the better for it. There’s new vocabulary: “diblings” have a single sperm donor father but different mothers.Īnd in a chapter about twins and their annual celebration, Twins Day (in Twinsburg, Ohio), Jacobs describes the theme of the Twins Parade he attends - the 1960s - in which the participating monozygotics are required to dress in identical ’60s-style costumes: “The parade is a stream of double flower girls, double Barbies, and double Jimi Hendrices.” We’re seeing more and more gay and trans parents. And at the end of each chapter come differently fonted progress reports on this book’s humorous quest - Jacobs’s efforts to organize that Guinness-worthy biggest family reunion ever.īut the bulk of “It’s All Relative” is colored by Jacobs’s offhand-sounding efforts to amuse and entertain the reader.

He tells us what he learns about cousin marriage, his own forebears, others’ shameful and worthy ancestors, polyamory, our recently expanded definitions of the word “family,” the Hatfields and McCoys, the Temperance movement (because he’s trying to decide whether there should be alcohol at a family reunion he’s planning), and so on.Įach of the 46 short-take chapters is loosely organized around a single topic, such as the Mormons’ genealogical research and the author’s efforts to involve celebrity cousins, however distant, in his project. Jacobs’s new endeavor, “It’s All Relative,” explores the territory of genealogy and kinship, with the professed aim of contributing to the idea of global unity. In “The Know-It-All,” Jacobs told of his 18-month effort to read the entire “Encyclopaedia Britannica,” using its abecedarian entries as prompts for reflection and anecdotes. “The Year of Living Biblically,” for example, described his efforts to abide by the over 700 rules he finds set down - by, well, Whom? - in the Old and New Testaments. Or humorous quest-stunt books is most like it. IT’S ALL RELATIVE Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree By A.J.

The know it all by aj jacobs