The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as...

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible | A. J. Jacobs | They don't get it

books:

The Year of Living...

	The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible A. J. Jacobs Simon & Schuster, 2007 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 344 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for The Know-It-All. His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.

Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.

Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.

for more information click here

Funny, thought-provoking book

My cousin, who is my favorite book-recommender, not only urged me to read this memoir, but actually bought it for me. I had a wrong notion that it was a Bible-reading devotional at first, but once I actually read the first pages, I found out it was a memoir of one secular man's year long attempt to live Biblically. My cousin and I were raised in a very legalistic religion, where obeying the letter of the law was hugely desired. I thought we'd been hit with every single commandment, and was frankly amazed at all the other non-cultural Biblical laws we somehow missed. The tone of the book is even-handed, non-judgemental and wryly sweet, with occasional flashes of outright hilarity. Kind of a Jewish Bill Bryson, talking religion. I was relieved that the snake-handlers weren't made objects of derision, but treated with dignity. Though Mr. Jacobs apparently didn't intend such a thing, I came away from the book oddly at peace with my own beliefs. Recommended reading.

for more information click here

They don't get it

I've been reading the reviews of this book--especially the one-star reviews. Just curious how anyone could not like this book. I think those who don't get this book don't understand the premise. The premise is not that he's going to keep all the laws of the Bible and teach us the "deep dark secrets of religion." But rather the premise is how impossible, and even presumptious, to think that anyone can. Jacobs keeps an open mind (not sachryinne,(sp))and proves that legalism at worst is impossible, at best, exhausting. He adroitly lays the foundation for grace and mercy. That's where I'd like to live.
Plus the guy is hysterically funny. A.J., if you're reading this (may grace and mercy cover your pride), keep on going. I'll buy the next one too. Blessings.

for more information click here

Brilliant!

I absolutely loved this book! I picked it up in an airport bookstore, as something to pass the time away and couldn't put it down over the next few days. It made me laugh, it made me think and it made me re-evaluate my own spiritual life. I would thoroughly recommend this book to my friends, those with a faith, and those without!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

I just happened to stumble across this book at a book store and I am so glad that I read it. It is the first book that I have ever laughed out loud while reading. It was sweet and funny and interesting all at the same time. I hope there will be more to come like this from A.J. Jacobs.

for more information click here

let me clarify

please let me clarify that i am no discriminating reader. my criterion is as follows: i want to keep reading it. it doesnt have to be educational or high-brow. so, anyway, despite that, i am learning a bit even WHILE i enjoy this book! having considered myself a christian, i am somewhat surprised at how much i did NOT know. and i can appreciate the restraint the author shows in, as a liberal NY jew, not condemning the wacko right. i cannot promise that i would show same. the only thing that bugs me is his wife cried at the ultrasound because she isnt having a girl. that seems really... i dunno... ingrate. american yuppie. your baby is healthy! you should be thankful! or at least dont cry. anyway, i like this book; it is along the lines of bill bryson meets augusten burroughs meets david sedaris. i havent finished the book yet but am hoping the author picks up, at some point, on the vegetarian messages in Isaiah and Genesis.

for more information click here