I adored this book. Spiritually, obsessively, and neurotically, A.J. is at a very similar place than me, and I found his sense of humour and manner of conveying information very effective. As a fellow journalist who wants to write, I think it's a great example (among many others, of course) as to how journalism, non-fiction, and great entertainment can go together. ( )

The Year of Living Biblically was an entertaining book: AJ Jacobs has a light and humorous writing style, which makes the book zip along.

I felt he managed to look at literalism & the Bible in a generous and surprisingly respectful way, despite the apparent irreverence of the project. He admits himself that he was far more comfortable with the Old Testament portion, being of Jewish descent (although agnostic himself) and it does show. The first 8 months or so spent on the OT are far stronger than the months devoted to the NT.

Some of the time he plays with literalism, doing some rather obvious set-pieces or skits: for example, where he stones a sinner (by dropping a pebble on his foot surreptiously) was laugh-out-loud-funny. At other times, he looks at the more out-there rules of ancient living more seriously and delves into what they could mean, with help from various religious advisors and through reading voraciously. Generally he finds the explanations and the historical context more plausible than he expected.

I felt there were issues and opportunities which he missed or treated more superficially than I'd have liked. His enjoyment of and absorption into the all-male Hasidic Jews' dance and the flicker of awareness when he consoles his wife with the knowledge that at least the women get to watch the dancing through viewing windows, a case in point. His wife seemed to have put up with an awful lot throughout the experience and I was delighted each time she got one over on him, such as while she was "unclean" sitting on every chair in their home so he could not. There were many other apparent inequities, issues and confusions which could have been examined or challenged in the book, but were not really touched upon.

He accepted as a given such things as morality needing to be instilled through religion, (the raising of his son being one of the matters that raised his interest in the project in the first place), which to me is not a given... Of course, it would have been a much larger tome had he attempted all I wanted him to!

In the end, it was a most engaging and amusing book, with some interesting insights. Not perhaps as profound as it could have been, but interesting. ( )

I just loved Jacobs's last book - the idea of spending an entire year reading the Encyclopedia Britannica just amazes me. Not only would I never have the time to accomplish such a feat - I don't have the memory that he does. I'd spend all that time trying to absorb that knowledge - and then draw a complete blank whenever asked for an obscure fact.

The beauty of Jacobs's books is that he immerses himself in the task. Not only does he read, eat, live and sleep the project he's undertaken - he adds side trips. In this book he ventures out to Amish country, to Jerry Falwell's mega church and to Israel. He doesn't simply follow the outline of his project - he truly fleshes it out and allows the reader to experience these overwhelming years along with him.

I laughed a lot more while reading "The Know-it-All" - but thought a lot more during "The Year of Living Biblically". I, too, am agnostic, and though I have no desire (or chance, really) to ever try and change that aspect of myself - I am always interested in people of faith and how they can maintain that faith in the face of so much violence, hatred, exclusiveness, corruption, etc. that seems part and parcel with religion.

That being said, I have always had a great reverence towards the miracles of our world. I don't believe that a supreme being created the world - but I do believe that we are incredibly lucky to have a universe, a world, a country, an environment that contains such amazing awe-inspiring aspects. As far as I am concerned, there is only this life, this world - and I count myself incredibly lucky to be a part of it, if only for a short while.

But enough about me. I enjoyed this book and learned many things from it. Not only were there many biblical laws/rules/stories that I'd never heard of - I appreciated Jacobs's musings on the reasoning behind them. (Also - I learned about the Thomas Jefferson bible - and I'm going to buy one!!!)

On another note? Judging by the photos of his facial hair progression? Jacobs grows hair faster than any man I've ever seen!

I can't wait to read his next book and take another year long journey with A.J. Jacobs. ( )

This was an entertaining book. The premise -- that you might be able to enhance your spirituality and perhaps even convert from an agnostic to someone who believes in a higher power by following as many biblical rules as possible -- is fun to think about, but ultimately, I thought, for any rational person, the answer was bound to be "no". The author said that after his year of following the old testament for 8 months and the new testament for 4 months, he did feel more connected to a spiritual side, was able to stop and say "thank you" for those things he felt were blessings in his life. My question is, will this still be true a year from now, when he has gone on to a different project? I hope he will give us an update. I thought the best parts of the book were the interviews with people who were naturally inclined to followed the bible literally, like the Amish, the Hasidim, the conservative Christian groups and others. ( )

This book not only opened my eyes to some of the lesser-known rules of the most popular religion(s) in the world, but made me giggle the entire time I read it. I would recommend this book to both non-relgious people (like myself) and to religious people; it was extremely educational. Not only that, it was just plain a good, funny, honest read. ( )