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Loading... The Year of Living Biblicallyby A.J. Jacobs
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  thelistener | Dec 31, 2009 |  I love AJ Jacobs. I think he is a brilliant writer who is honest, funny, and poignant, all at the same time (which is hard for many to do). The premise of the book is obvious: Jacobs decides to live as close to the literal word of the Bible as he can for a full year and see what he can learn about religion, fundamentalism, and his own view of God. The reader is taken away on his journey with him and it's almost easy to let all those little beautiful moments slip by as he describes them with such grace. I was impressed with the level of commitment he had to not judge the fundamentalist religions until after he had talked to them, despite his previous leanings--and that shows through in his work. While he doesn't become a fundamentalist himself, he learns to open his mind in new ways--and I feel like I did a little too. I don't mean to sound crazy in my praise of this book, but I was really impressed by it. As it says on the back cover, thou shalt not be able to put it down. (  ) Alliebadger | Dec 30, 2009 | Fabulously funny, you must have a sence of humor to read his book. He really does live and entire year by the "book" the Bile that is! from not shaving to giving up shoes and coffee. I was crying at some points because I was laughing so hard. His next took is about reading the entire encyclopia britanica in its entirety, driving family and friends crazt with facts. Great liesure read, and a must if you are looking for humor! (  ) ronda73ca | Dec 16, 2009 | There are some people who have the talent of being able to take any situation and turn it into a great story (like the guy from "Supersize Me", Morgan Spurlock). A.J. Jacobs is another such engaging individual. He is smart, witty, and charmingly neurotic. His latest project is to pull every single commandment from the Bible he could find (over 700) and try to live each one as literally as possible for an entire year. So not just the 10 Commandments (which are pretty tough to get right all the time anyways) but ALL of them, even the ones most people think are crazy and don't understand.What follows is an almost day-to-day account of Jacobs' successes and failures (it's hard to conquer lust when you work for Esquire magazine) in a very real, very personal way. In his quest to better understand the Bible and its' rules, he meets with various individuals including deep-south snake handlers, Creationalists, and Samarians while in Jerusalem to name a few. Perhaps my favorite interview was when he met with a Jehovah's Witness - whom he actually ended up out-talking. The man finally begged leave when his wife called him at 10:30pm wondering when he was going to come home.As a side note, one reason why I liked this book so much is becuase he is constantly including lists - lists of rules, various Biblical interpretations, things he wants to work on, etc. I love lists and I like other list-makers, so thank you.Surprisingly, although humorous, this book also constantly had me thinking about my own personal spirituality - which I don't think is necessarily intended, but a logical extension. Most likely it was due to Jacobs' honesty - if he could be so brutal in self-examination, why not me? But that doesn't mean I would only recommend it to someone religious - I think just about anyone would enjoy this engaging book.And to A.J.'s dad: if you're reading this, I hope you click 'yes' that this review was helpful to you. (  ) mmillet | Dec 14, 2009 | Mike's Quick Capsule review: piece of shit. Secular Jewish man follows Old and New Testaments, decides to circumcise his son out of respect for tradition. Is a New York neurotic hipster douchebag, a poor journalist and unsympathetic human being, pissing and moaning and hand wringing. Piss poor. Seriously, look to the other reviews if you need a list of all the things wrong with this man's project, provided you maintain a secular, progressive viewpoint all you can see is a man making excuses for weary doctrine and following traditions by rote. Which is all very well, it's important to determine which existing thought is enlightened and venerate cultures that help people lead moral lives, I can see arguing for that. What I can't argue for is a book written by such a weaselly man: A journalist for Maxim who talks about his children as if they're immensely fragile flowers and agonizes about their safety and upbringing and his suitability to take care of both like a hysteric. Then he chops the tip off one. This isn't funny, it's dross. (  ) Interositor | Dec 9, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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Amazon.comSubtitled: "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
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:19 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English (5)
So he finds the bible is contradictory, ambiguous or just plain daft in some areas, but he also finds that following a routine, removing choice and trying to be a good person are fulfilling.
Not sure what I wanted from this book other than to try to understand why dome of the bible's rules are there, but it was quite enjoyable. (