[5][6] In one of these experiments ("stunts") Jacobs read all 32 volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which he wrote about in his book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (2004).

Queenan called the book "corny, juvenile, smug, tired" and "interminable" and characterized Jacobs as "a prime example of that curiously modern innovation: the pedigreed simpleton.

[14] In 2005 Jacobs out-sourced his life to India such that personal assistants would do everything for him from answering his e-mails, reading his children good-night stories, and arguing with his wife.

Jacobs' book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (2007) chronicles his experiment to live for one year according to all the moral codes expressed in the Bible, including stoning adulterers, blowing a shofar at the beginning of every month, and refraining from trimming the corners of his facial hair (which he followed by not trimming his facial hair at all).

The book spent 11 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list,[19] and Jacobs gave a TED talk about what he learned during the project.

In his book Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection (2012), he explores different ways humans can bring their bodies to peak health, from diet to exercise.

[24] From 2011 to 2012, Jacobs wrote the "Extreme Health" column for Esquire magazine, covering such topics as high-intensity interval training[25] and the quantified self.

[28][29] He also writes the regular feature "Obituaries" for Esquire, which consists of satirical death notices for cultural trends, such as American hegemony.

[31] Satellite events were held in Salt Lake City, Utah (in partnership with FamilySearch;[32][33] Cleveland, Ohio (at the Western Reserve Historical Society;[34] Zionsville, Indiana;[35] and Independence, Missouri (at the Midwest Genealogy Center).

[39][40] In September, 2022, The New York Times published a story by Jacobs detailing a 1988 kayaking excursion in which he and his sister were lost overnight in the waterways of Glacier Bay National Park.