A.J. Jacobs: On Faith, Choice, Writing and Family

What if you could instantly trace your connection through an online family tree to nearly anyone on the planet?
Put another way, what if every person alive was your cousin?
Enter A.J. Jacobs, the master experimenter and mega-NYT best-selling author known for running crazy, year-long experiments on himself.
In the past A.J. has spent a year living every rule in the Bible (in NYC), tried nearly every health and fitness tip ever offered in an attempt be the healthiest person on the planet, and even read the entire encyclopedia. Each adventure became a book, and together, they became a fascinating life.
In our conversation, today, A.J. outlines his newest, boldest experiment, and this time, he's making it about you. Jacobs is on a quest to build the biggest family tree in history, then invite everyone on it to the largest family reunion . . . ever.
In fact, every person on the planet is invited to his Global Family Reunion on June 6th in NY. And, since we're all his "fave" cousins, A.J. has graciously set up a special link where you can register for 25% off.
In this week's episode, we talk about what inspired A.J. to run yearlong experiments with his life, then turn them into books. We explore how showing we're all related is really about a much bigger mission to cultivate tolerance and understanding. And we also dive into the creative process, the writing life, habits, the downside and upside of choice, fear of rejection, faith, atheism and so much more.