| The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 364 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4130
Category: Book
Author: A. J. Jacobs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Label: Simon & Schuster
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0743291476
Dewey Decimal Number: 220
EAN: 9780743291477
ASIN: 0743291476
Publication Date: October 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: Make no mistake: A.J. Jacobs is not a religious man. He describes himself as Jewish "in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant." Yet his latest work, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, is an insightful and hilarious journey for readers of all faiths. Though no fatted calves were harmed in the making of this book, Jacobs chronicles 12 months living a remarkably strict Biblical life full of charity, chastity, and facial hair as impressive as anything found in The Lord of the Rings. Through it all, he manages to brilliantly keep things light, while avoiding the sinful eye of judgment. --Dave Callanan Amazon.com
Subtitled: "One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible," Jacobs, or A.J., as his two-year-old son calls him, does just that. It is likely that no one but A.J. Jacobs could have accomplished such a feat. After all, his last book, The Know-It-All, chronicles his reading of the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica, from A to Z. No one but a smart, witty, self-deprecating, nitpicky kinda guy would undertake two such daunting tasks, and complete them with grace, no pun intended. Jacobs, a New York Jewish agnostic, decides to follow the laws and rules of the Bible, beginning with the Old Testament, for one year. (He actually adds some bonus days and makes it a 381-day year.) He starts by growing a beard and we are with him through every itchy moment. Jacobs is borderline OCD, at least as he describes himself; obsessing over possible dangers to his son, germs, literal interpretation of Bible verses, etc. He enlists the aid of counselors along the way; Jewish rabbis, Christians of every stripe, friends and neighbors. In an open-minded way he also visits with atheists, Evangelicals Concerned (a gay group), Jerry Falwell, snake handlers, Red Letter Christians--those who adhere to the red letters in the Bible, those words spoken by Jesus Himself, and even takes a trip to Israel and meets Samaritans. Through it all, he keeps a healthy skepticism, but continues to pray and is open to the flowering of real faith. Jacobs is a knowledge junky, to be sure. He enjoys the lore he picks up along the way as much as any other aspect of his experiment. One of the ongoing schticks is his meeting with the shatnez tester, Mr. Berkowitz. He is the one who determines whether or not your clothes are made of mixed fibers, in keeping with the Biblical injunction not to wear wool and linen together. The two become friends and prayer partners, in only one of the unexpected results of this year. In the end, he says, "I'm now a reverent agnostic. Which isn't an oxymoron, I swear. I now believe that whether or not there's a God, there is such a thing as sacredness. Life is sacred." Not a bad outcome. --Valerie Ryan
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| Customer Reviews: Read 359 more reviews...
 Not as Literal as He Says August 25, 2008
This book is hilariously funny. That's the good news. The bad news...don't read it unless you are open to other viewpoints. Otherwise, it will make you mad. The author decided to take an entire year and attempt to live all of the Bible in the most literal way possible. As is the Bible, the first two-thirds are devoted to the Old Testament and the latter third to the New. The OT section is great. It's a laugh-a-thon as he tries to live and OT life in modern New York. The funniest sections involve how his wife works around his project. The NT section is not as great, partly because he mixes in too much OT, without concentrating wholly on the NT. The New Testament is about giving one's life to Jesus, but Jacobs never goes that far.
Sadly, Jacobs goes into the project with his own mindsets intact, instead of opening himself up completely to new ideas. Two great examples are the issues of creation and homosexuality. His thinking is basically this, he believes in science and has gay friends, therefore skip that section on the literal interpretation. If he believes that way, fine. But the project was to immerse himself in a literal interpretation. He does cover himself in the end by preaching his view that a cafeteria-style religion is best for everyone. In other words, just take what you like from God's word and discard the rest, a New Age philosophy that denounces any belief in the sacred word. The main problem with his cafeteria belief is that if you take something from the buffet line that he doesn't approve of, then you've gone too far. Isn't that always the way it is- any person with more standards than you is a legalist, ultra-conservative, hyper-fundamentalist and anyone with fewer standards than you is a liberal wack-job.
With all that said, buy the book for a few laughs, but expect some of it to make you mad.
I felt like I was there. :) August 23, 2008
A.J., You are probably sitting in your living room reading this right now. :) Hopefully, it's Sunday and you haven't forgotten to keep "Sabbath". ;)
I just read your book and it was fantastic! I want to thank you for your reverence. You were so open minded to everything you tried and I appreciate the way you never put one group of religious extremists down or put another on a pedastol.
I have been a Christian since the age of well, I can't even remember not being one. I was about twelve when I took a step to make my faith my own. I read the entire Bible. Afterward, I had so many questions about all the things I had read. The biggest question I had was: why does the New Testament seem so vague about the teachings of the old?
When I was about 17 years old, I decided to delve even further into what I believed and I began following the Old Testament as much as I could. I think the biggest thing that I personally came to realize was that Jesus is even more of a Savior than I ever pictured Him as being. He made it OK for us to not have to follow the OT to be saved. :) Stoning isn't mandatory anymore! I do still try to keep Kosher, I love the Sabbath, and I celebrate the feasts and a few other mitsvoth, but these commandments remind me of my sin and why Christ came for me.
Your book reminded me so much of my own thoughts and feelings on the Bible. Thank you for provoking my thoughts!
 Amazing book!! August 15, 2008
I had been really hesitant about reading this book as I am not overly religious. For months and months my friend had told me to read it, knowing my sense of humor she knew I would enjoy it. I am happy to say as soon as I started I couldn't put it down! I would find myself at random times laughing out loud while reading it, which attracted quite a few stares but started conversation about what I was reading which led to many recommendations to other friends to read it. I highly recommend it!
 Funny and Not August 15, 2008
So many good reviews, maybe I just missed something.
What Foreskins Lament is to those who lived the bible and wanted out, Living the Bible is to those who are Clueless and want in. I found this book to be funny and entertaining in the begining, but could not bring myself to finish it. It seemed trite and boreing. I heard the author on NPR speak about throwing stones at an adulterer and thought it sounded stupid - and therefore humor -but intriguing enough to want to see what he and the book were all about.
Perhaps some of my negativity comes from having read three cups of tea, and the kite runner, and newspapers. Where the world of the Taliban is depicted and the act of stoning women for adultry far from humorous.
But then, there is also the discussion about checking clothing for combination fabrics. This is common among orthodox Jews and I felt his take on it disrespectful.
So, while I did laugh out loud at times, I was equaly turned off at other times.
Funny and Not.
A Week of Laughing Openly August 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's a gimmick. Yeah, the author admits that. Take the Biblical rules--every last little letter of the law--and apply them to your own life for a year. Chronicle the journey. Package it as a book, complete with burly beard and a robe of unmixed fabric.
The gimmick works, though, and here's why: Jacobs approaches his subject with a disarming mix of reverence and skepticism. He sprinkles the entire batter with a heavy dose of leavening honesty, and manages to come off sounding, well, like a man who's not half-baked.
From the extremes of snake-handlers and Bob Jones University, to out-of-the-closet evangelicals, to rabbinical rules and crusty ol' fornicators, Jacobs gives a thorough treatise on his subject of religion. He admits his failings, his doubts. He confesses to moments of near-revelation and desire for something more. He pokes fun at himself as he goes through the process, and thereby manages to question a number of oddities about the Bible without sounding like either Christopher Hitchins or Pat Robertson. He sounds like a regular guy, an American with a clever idea for a book, and the cajones to actually live it out for a year (sometimes at the expense of wife and friends).
I laughed quite a bit, scratched my head at certain things, and found my own preconceptions challenged on a number of levels. In the end, Jacobs didn't change my own beliefs--and I don't think he meant to. He simply gave me a week of easy reading, while allowing me to evaluate my own spiritual walk and the way that it plays out in daily affairs.
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