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The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible | 
 enlarge | Author: A. J. Jacobs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  430 reviews
Sales Rank: 1003
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0743291484
Dewey Decimal Number: 220
EAN: 9780743291484
ASIN: 0743291484
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
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
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 425 more reviews...
 Soul Warming No Matter Your Religion January 9, 2009
A wonderful book! I was brought up in a family that lacked religion, so most books on this topic might as well be in a foreign language to me. This book however was spirtually inspiring and humorous at the same time. Quite often I had to stop and read parts out loud to others. It's a book that must be shared with others!
Great Read!!! January 8, 2009
What a wonderful story. It is so refreshing to take a break from my own soul to look into someone else's. I love reading an author that is completely honest with a reader the way you are!! I know for a fact after reading your book that you check your Amazon ratings consistently or at least did. So I'd like to tell you directly that I feel like a better person after having read your book. My father is a Christian minister and being a pastors kid has made religion a subject I'm easy to shy away from. Thanks for helping me realize, what I needed to realize. I'll leave it at that. On the other hand I'm a huge rock and roll history fan and I want to know if anything has ever come of your neighbor's book? I'm extremely eager to read her words even if incomplete. Will you Blog on the progress of her book, or shoot me an e-mail? Thanks Mr. Jacobs.
 sweeping the desert in search of yourself January 6, 2009
So if you were going to live your life by the Bible, litteraly and figuritavely could you do it? I don't think I'd want to (or more so need to), but if you had the mindset of A.J. Jacobs you were more than likely destined to. He appears to be an incredibly inquisitve type and has the perfect mindset, hey It would be FUN RIGHT????
Jacob's book is born out of his secular upbringing by his Jewish family and his existence of living in the Big Apple. He makes a sort of pilgramage for himself to write about his spiritual quest, to live the life by the Bible for one year. No not just go to church, or follow dietary restrictions, AJ takes litteral passages and transforms his life physically and emotionaly in an atempt to understand what this giant "tome" is all about.
The book I would describe as reading an entertaining Cliff notes version of the Bible. AJ segues from humorous stories, to situations that challenge his beliefs, to events he witnesses that he never would have placed himself into before. AJ's writing is fairly straightforward, almost too much, but his gift in finding details and making them appealing to the reader makes "The Year of Living Biblicaly" pleasurable to read.
AJ has a mind like a steel trap. The amount of detail he covers about the Bible is exhaustive. It's no surprise that one of his previous books was to document his experience to read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica. At many times this book feels like you are reading a young man coming to grips with his spirituality with a feverish academic compactness. Can't say I've run into that to often. If anything it sounds like his great wife also has a lot of patience.
AJ's enthusiasm can get carried away in telling his stories. There were 2 examples where he early sets up a scene but never follows through to tell you what happened. There is a discipline scene where he catches his kid cursing, and you wait for his response but nothing comes of it and we're quickly moved on to the next topic (Hey did you know that in Deutoronomy etc.. etc..). This also happens early on when he talks about an estranged family member named Gil, sets up the story of going to meet him, but then doesn't discuss him again till much later. It seemed a little disjointed.
However, criticism's are few and for the most part it's easy to read and enjoyable to find about all these interpretations and people that AJ meets along the way. The Bible has so affected their lives so much but nothing AJ writes or says is ever critical or pandering. Most of all its non-judgemental. Fairly entertaining read, and something everyone can learn something about.
An Attempt to Live Biblically January 5, 2009
A. J. Jacobs admits to having obsessive-compulsive disorder, which makes him a perfect candidate for following rules and regulations in the Bible as literally as possible. The only problem is that he doesn't believe in God.
Yet, on his spiritual journey he decides to pray anyway. He also engages in spiritual battles like his struggle with one of the seven deadly sins: Lust. He also restricts himself from gossiping and lying. He really struggles the most with telling the truth. Still, in this book he is refreshingly honest even to the point of considering his desire for a second wife (I think it was supposed to be funny and his wife seems to play along.) In actuality, repressing his sexuality makes him more creative.
Instead of making people look foolish for wanting to follow so many laws (his original intention) he ends up making the reader respect anyone who follows religious laws (within reason). He also makes growing cucumbers and playing a harp seem like fun. He even has a go at herding sheep.
After reading about his Old Testament adventures I was eager to read how he would interpret the New Testament. Since I've read a book called: Hear Him! The One Hundred Twenty-Five Commands of Jesus. I wanted to know how he would follow them. The few moments he spends on the New Testament are hardly enough time so it is a bit of a disappointment. Still, A. J. Jacobs becomes a better person when he shows love. He also becomes less angry when he stops swearing.
In the section exploring various religions it was interesting to learn that Bono is a member of the Red-Letter Christians. However, for the most part, A. J. Jacobs seems attracted to the extremes of Christianity and doesn't really experience the comforts of a local church. Instead he meets with snake handlers and participates in a singles group Bible study (he is married after all).
For the most part this book is highly enjoyable and there are laugh-out-loud moments throughout. This book might even inspire you to consider following the Ten Commandments more consistently. I now look forward to reading other books by this author. If you enjoy this book you may also enjoy anything by Lee Strobel.
~The Rebecca Review
An amazing book with an extremely interesting subject January 3, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a preface, let me say that this book was a birthday present. Not to say it in a demeaning way, but what I mean that I had expected it to be a mildly interesting book at best. However, I have found that this was one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. One of the few books I am able to read for hours without putting down.
The reason for this can be attributed to largely three things: Writing style, subject matter, and open minded approach to subject matter.
To begin, the author, A.J. Jacobs, has a very good writing style. The entire book is written in sort of a 'journal' method. As the days passes, Jacobs records his experiences in various journal entries. This makes it very easy to read through the book. Furthermore, Jacobs has a humorous writing style which is able to make sometimes bland situations seems funny, which increases the readability of the book.
Next, of course, is the subject matter. The subject is one which has wide reaching appeal. We all know that it is simply impossible to live like people in the Bible (for many reasons), but we nonetheless want to see someone try to do it. Although Jacobs inevitably had to compromise in some situations, I think he rather pulled it off admirably. He made sacrifices, he stoned adulterers, he punished his children, and he dresses for the part.
The open minded way he approach the subject also helped immensely. Truthfully, I myself am an atheist (former Christian), but not really the 'Richard Dawkins' type atheist. It would have put me off greatly if he had approach the subject matter with disdain or outright hostility. However, I was happy to find he approach them all with a very open mind. He interviewed several groups, several famous people, and generally try to present the perspective of groups that are often maligned due to lack of understanding.
If there is any complaint about the book, I do have one. I was somewhat disappointed to find that he wasn't able to get into the New Testament as well as he could get into the Old Testament. However, I do find it to be completely understandable. Not only is Jacobs agnostic, but he's also Jewish. I would imagine that getting into the Christian Bible would have been highly difficult and, as he says in the book, awkward to his ancestors.
Regardless, I do highly recommend the book. Not only is it intensely enjoyable, but it is also very educational. I learned many things from the book (much of which from reading about his visits with Christian groups) and I receive a new perspective on how to see the Bible. Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone looking to enjoy a good read.
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