A Year of. . . Experimental Journalism

You're a writer, and you're interested in something-- say, like an odd historical fact, a burning existential question, a new way to "go green" or save money. What do you do? Well, you can research in dusty archives, visit places, interview people and  produce a perfectly good book. Or you can take an increasingly popular path and insert yourself into the narrative.  

What happens if I do this for a year?

1. The Happiness Project, or why I spent a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle, and generally have more fun Gretchen Roth
2.  The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion
3. The Know-It-All: one man's humble quest to become the smartest person in the world A.J. Jacobs
4. Helping Me Help Myself: one skeptic , twelve self-help programs, and one whirlwind year of self improvement Beth Lisik
5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot
6. The Art of Eating In: how I learned to stop spending and love the stove Cathy Erway
7. Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen: how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living Julie Powell
8. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life Barbara Kingsolver
9. Following Atticus: forty-eight high peaks, one little dog, and an extraordinary friendship Tom Ryan