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

I downloaded a sample of this book on to my kindle and found myself laughing out loud the first couple chapters. So, I went ahead and bought the book. The problem was it just wasn't that great. The author is funny and clever, but the book was a whole lot of the same thing throughout. I got bored halfway. I found myself skimming for a while until I got to the part where he lives the new testament, only to be dissatisfied. He basically skips over the new testament. Cute book, but too long and a lot of fluff, not much meat.

i bought this book, well after the buzz about it had subsided, because i'd heard such good things about it. and i was not disappointed. it was one of the more fun and thought-provoking non-fiction works i've read this year.

the author is a self-described secular jew, and has lived his whole life in new york. he's an editor at esquire magazine. and, previously, he published a best-selling book about read the entire britannica encyclopedia, called The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (which i just ordered for my kindle). while reading through the encyclopedia, all the post about judaism and christianity caught his attention, and he thought it might be interesting to try a little experiment: live an entire year - as the subtitle says -- with as literal an interpretation of the bible as possible.

jacobs spends 8 months of his year trying to live by the entire old testament, and his final 4 months trying to live a literal new testament interpretation.

of course, one person's literal interpretation is another person's heresy (or, at least, wackiness). so jacobs spends a good deal of real estate sifting through which literal interpretation to try to live by. the results are almost always interesting, often insightful, and occasionally hilarious.

here's the thing that really surprised me: i expected this to be a book that would make me wince. it did -- but for different reasons than i expected. i expected to wince as he mocked christians and observant jews. but jacobs turns out to be beautifully gracious. in a sense, that's what caused me to wince! here was a non-believer, seriously trying to live "our way" (well, some of it is "our way"), and treating the entire thing with much more respect and grace and serious inquiry and thoughtful mind, heart and soul pursuit than a major slice of those who actually call themselves christians! ouch!

we also get a glimpse into jacobs' own spiritual journey, as he genuinely tries to be open to the potential reality of god and the jewish/christian story of reality. and there is some movement, which he rejoices in and expounds on.

no, there's no big conversion story at the end. but it's a great romp through both the follies of literalism, the challenge of scripture, and the sometimes-positive implications of the book of God.

I had high hopes for this book, and unfortunately, they weren't met. I had expected that this book would be about someone who truly had an entire year free of any other responsibilities other than to search after God. Instead, what I saw was a guy attempting to do what so many of us attempt to do in our everyday lives -- to carve out a little corner every day for God, in between soccer practice and carpooling and trips to the dry cleaners, and Starbucks and all that other stuff. . . I guess I assumed that the difference between me and this Famous Author Dude was that he had decided that his "job" for a year was to live like the Bible mandates. I guess I assumed that that would mean that living biblicaly would be front and center for him all year. Quite frankly, I expected a lot more praying and fasting. There wasn't any fasting at all! The questions I had hoped he would deal with were things like "what makes people hunger for God so much in the first place -- that they're willing to devote their entire lives to memorizing chunks of Scripture, spending time in a community of faith and so forth . . " Actually, I felt like he was way too easy on himself, and never really entered fully into the experiment. I would have liked him to go into the desert to contemplate the state of his soul. He didn't do that. For a serious person of faith, this book will read very much like Scripture Lite.

I was given this book from a friend who thought I would enjoy it. This is probably the best gift ever given to me. This book covers the Bible pretty much from A-Z with insight and humor. As a Christian I could not read this book without digging deeper into my own spiritually. This book prompted me to "walk the walk" a little better. Okay, I'm not quite the fanatic that A.J. Jacobs (Jacob) was, but hey, who is? I cannot recommend this book enough. I want to start a Bible/Book study to discuss this with my friends. Heck, they already think I'm "out there" so what do I have to lose anyway? I had to sign on to the Amazon website link (just in case Mr. Jacobs is checking his standings -- read the book, you'll understand). All I can say is, buy this book, you won't be disappointed!

This book take us on a journey, in the comfort of our reading chair, of re-examining the questions that one ask myself now and then or everyday. This book is definitely not just for those with Jewish tradition, the author go through issues we all face.
This book should be read by everyone. This should promote understanding across religions. Concerned parents of faith other than Judaism, should feel safe, this is not a book that is likely to convert your sons and daughters to another or a faith.
Safe your money from get rich and self help book, instead this is a good easy going one that you should enjoy.The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible