Unfortunately it is not available on line, but I just re-read
"The Book of Knowledge" by Steven Harvey
It was first published in River Teeth - a journal of creative non-fiction I'd highly recommend (available as individual ebook issues from Amazon and elsewhere as well as paper). It was also chosen for this years Best American Essays (2013).
This is an excellent essay/memoir that truly combines all the things embodied in the title of this thread information, memoir, creative presentation and a true sense of wow.
There's a brief part of the essay (beginning) here:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&typ...3.2.harvey.pdf