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

Written by A. J. Jacobs

Narrated by A. J. Jacobs

Now a TV series Living Biblically streaming on CBS All Access!

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible. A.J. Jacobs chronicles his hilarious and thoughtful year spent obeying―as literally as possible―the tenets of 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 9, 2007
• ISBN: 9780743569989

A. J. Jacobs

A.J. Jacobs is the author of Thanks a Thousand, It’s All Relative, Drop Dead Healthy, and the New York Times bestsellers The Know-It-All, The Year of Living Biblically, and My Life as an Experiment. He is a contributor to NPR, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids. Visit him at AJJacobs.com and follow him on Twitter @ajjacobs.

Reviews for The Year of Living Biblically

[kunz-31 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a questioning agnostic myself, I could relate to much in the book and found many parts hilarious, but it did tend to drag a little for me. Perhaps too detailed regarding Biblical prohibitions, restrictions, absurdities, and inconsistencies that it grew a little tiresome in spots. However, overall, I enjoyed his quest, his humor, his spiritual seeking, his examination of a variety of religions. I really laughed in the description of the NY atheist meeting....I can imagine how difficult it is for them to solicit new members since atheists are such nonconformists and resist any dogma....even other people's atheistic ideas. I know because when I was young, I swung from a traditional Lutheran to absolute atheist and eventually mellowed into an agnostic who prays sometimes "just in case"...Great idea for book...original and insightful.

[readingfiend_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love how A.J. Jacobs delves into subjects. He decides to spend the year "living biblically". He grows his hair and beard, wears clothes according to the bible, lives with his wife according to the bible and talks to various experts along the way.It was fascinating. I've never read much of the bible (even though I went to 8 years of catholic school!) and it really opened my eyes to the literal interpretations of it.

[terribooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I checked this book out, expecting some light reading, a bit of humor. And it was that. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much more I got. The author was not afraid to share how his year's immersion in the Bible provided spiritual insights and growth, and gave him real experiences of God -- to his surprise. This is a very easy book to read, and I would recommend it highly. My only warning is that you can't equate today's Orthodox Jewish practices with the Old Testament - a fallacy the author occasionally seems to fall into.

[dubiousdisciple · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read any A. J. Jacobs before? This is more of the same serious humor he?s known for, this time on a topic dear to me: my Bible.Jacobs was raised in a secular family, but decided one day to dive into the world of the Bible. What better spiritual journey could one imagine? Determined to obey every dictate of the Bible for an entire year, he vowed to follow not only the Ten Commandments, but even the less publicized rules. Love your neighbor. Be fruitful and multiply. But not both at the same time.Some rules are easier than others. The Law says to tithe ten percent of your fruit, but nobody on the street wanted to take two slices of his orange. Nor was it easy to stone adulterers as the law commanded. Jacobs carried pebbles in his pocket for this very purpose, and one day the unthinkable happened: he met an adulterer. Problem was, the guy didn?t take kindly to being beaned with a pebble. It was a stoning that Jacobs nearly didn?t survive.What do you wear when clothes made of mixed fibers are disallowed? What do you eat when only unleavened bread is kosher? How do you read the newspaper without bringing graven images into your home?This was a year Jacobs was happy to see come to an end. Both funny and enlightening, you?ll learn more about your Bible from this book than in a year of Sunday school classes.

[luvoldnew8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. The author goes on a spirital quest for a year and decides to live his live according to the letter of the bible. Funny, compelling, tender, full of questions but not all of the answers. He is the editor-at-large for Esquire magazine.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just and awesome look at the trials and tribulations of trying to live by the exact word of the bible! So many rules and so many inconsistencies! And the author reveals how so many religious groups "pick and choose" what to follow, what not to follow, and what to judge others on! Wonderful! Most of the book focuses on the Old Testament, but I really think he did a great, and respectful job the whole way through! Bravo A.J.!

[puckrobin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great fun! Irreverent without being disrespectful, Jacobs' journey into what it would mean to a modern man in modern times to try to follow the guidance of the Bible very literally is a call not only to laughter, but to seriously consider what it s you value and why you value it in your own life. I have lent this book not only to peers and colleagues, but to a young lady at the school where I taught, a student who was a leader in our Muslim Student Association, and she found it to be informative as well as entertaining.

[bluesgal79 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second of A.J. Jacobs' books that has made me enthusiastic about offering recommendations to folks who aren't sure what they want to read. The first, The Know-It-All, was his outrageously funny memoir of a year he devoted to reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. As it chronicled his alphabetical descent into most-avoided-person-at-cocktail-parties, it also touched on the struggle he and his wife were having conceiving.


Well, they finally did, and after his son was born, Mr. Jacobs felt he needed to brush up a bit on his heritage. He is Jewish, but in a very secular and dispassionately interested sort of way.


This journey led him to wonder at all the rather bizarre rules laid down in the Jewish scripture -- things like not mixing fabrics, and not eating most bugs, and hundreds (literally) of other things that don't make any sense to us today -- and the challenge to himself to see how many of these things he could incorporate into modern living.


His wife was not amused. It is hard to live with a man who ceases to shave, and who wanders about the city dressed like he is on the cover of the book -- let alone a man who takes so seriously the directive to refrain from flattering speech that in a casual "let's do lunch" moment he announces to the old friend of his wife that no, he just doesn't want to do that. They have quite enough people in their lives, thank you.


By far, the funniest moments in the book are those tied to his need to participate in the most common form of punishment in the Jewish scripture -- stoning. He doesn't want to be stoned, of course, but he is pretty sure that he needs to participate as a stoner in order to grasp the idea. He sets off to find an adulterer, pebbles in his pocket, and winds up on a park bench with an elderly man who not only confesses to adultery, but with whom he winds up having a spirited pebble tossin' session. To Jacobs' credit, he did ask the man if it was okay if he tossed a couple of them at him.


Underneath the humor runs a deeper current -- Jacobs, who did not set out to become a more religious man by pursuing this quest -- begins to discover that somewhere in all these ridiculous proscriptions is a beauty and order and much evidence of God's mercy.


In his search he meets and spends time with people from all across the religious spectrum -- highly observant and Orthodox Jews, very conservative Christians -- and it is a testament to his spirit of learning that he never makes fun of any of them. He actually comes away from some of the most potentially volatile meetings with a respectful view of each of their convictions.


This is not a book meant to convert anybody, its intent is not to bring anybody into any fold at all, but it is scathingly funny, unusually thoughtful, and one of the best things I read in 2007.

[bibleblaster · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of those "hooks" for a book that I wish I had thought of first. It's amazingly tall (confusing, impossible) order to fill (living Biblically), as Jacobs soon finds out, but you'll have a good (and often meaningful) time watching him try. And you might be surprised how many companions he finds along the way. As he points out, there's no such thing as a (completely) obscure Bible verse. Somebody, somewhere, finds it important indeed.

[klburnside · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i have to agree with pretty much everything becky said about this book. even though i had already read becky's review, i was still expecting this to be mostly light-hearted and pointing out amusing inconsistancies and archaic practices in the bible. however like becky said, "in addition to these light hearted examples, what I was most struck by in this book was how sincere AJ Jacobs as well as his religious advisors were." (Burnside, Becky. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible Goodreads review. Nov. 11, 2008.)

There were so many parts in the book where I really had an appreciation for people who sincerly use the Bible as a guide for their lives. I loved the part about the Hasidic dance party, the snake handler, and many of the other religious experiences he spoke of. So many people he met wtih were just so genuinely conscious of how they were living and trying to live with real spiritual intention. I really liked how he became defensive of biblical literalists to his athetist and agnostic friends.

THe book also had a really good balance of humorous elements too, and I really enjoyed the writing style of the author. There were lots of times I laughed out loud or just smiled about how lovely someone or something was. I definitely recommend it to everyone.

[arblock_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book a lot, especially the parts on Judaism. Jacobs has a great sense of humor and irony. His self-insight is keen, and his odyssey is well told. The last section of the book, on Christianity, seemed gratuitous and superficial.

[5eva5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a funny man Mr. Jacobs is (and what a pain to have to live with!). I read The Know-It-All a while back and really enjoyed not only the topic, but the writing style. Here, although the topic is not one of direct interest to me, the writing style still makes me laugh. I really love Jacobs' discoveries, or rather his poor wife's responses to them. All time favorite? When he gets to the point in the Bible where is says you can not sit on a chair where a menstruating woman has sat and his wife promptly sits on every chair in their apartment. Jacobs says he spent a lot of the year standing up. I appreciate that he goes out of his way not to make fun of even the weirdest of religious ceremonies, but just records his reactions to them - he even makes some pretty unrelenting fundamentalists sound almost normal. For me, more than anything, it's Jacobs, his (due-for-sainthood) wife, and his family that are really worth reading about.

[bibliotropic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As fascinated as I am with all the various interpretations of what's in the bible, I couldn't resist picking up a copy of this book when it was on sale, and I don't regret a single penny of its cost. Jacobs has a wonderful style, fluid and funny and educational, and he manages to effortlessly draw the reader into his adventures and misadventures until it feels like we're living the very same project.This book does a wonderful job of showing, for one thing, how a lot of people cherry-pick which rules they do and do not follow from the bible. I'm sure by now everyone's heard the old argument against homosexuality that comes from Leviticus, but the very same book contains admonitions against eating shrimp and rabbit, and not wearing clothes of mixed fibres. But a lot of bible-thumpers in cotton-polyester suits convenienty pass over those other laws, for any number of reasons. Jacobs sought to incorporate every aspect of biblical law into his life, including such tricky things as not touching any surface on which his menstruating wife sat, or wrestling with the ethics of stoning people in this modern age. He struggles to reconcile the conflicting messages and rules within the bible, and seeks out other worshippers of all flavours in order to better understand and get to the heart of religion itself.What comes out is a hilarious example of just how both Christianity and Judaism have changed since their respective inceptions, and also brings to light just how few people who claim to follow the bible actually bother to do so. It reveals just how many differences in interpretation are rationalized. It shows how living "old-school biblically" doesn't often work nowadays. It offers great insight into the minds of believers and nonbelievers alike, from varying perspectives, and it's an enjoyable ride the whole way through.For those who enjoyed David Plotz's Good Book, I highly recomment A Year of Living Biblically, and vice versa.

[becha_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though I found the idea interesting, and the narrative amusing - halfway into the book I found myself losing interest and hoping for it to finish. Probably because by that time the newness of the concept had worn off, and too little of substance remained.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it, it's sent me back on my quest for more serious comparative religion literature.

[maggie_rum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[glade1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have become a fan of the genre they're calling "participatory journalism." I enjoy reading about authors' adventures with various challenges. I particularly like Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman and their "stupid boy projects," but A. J. Jacobs is becoming a favorite as well. In The Know-It-All, he took on the challenge of reading the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica, with interesting and often humorous results.

In this book, The Year of Living Biblically, Jacobs tackles the question of how to live a religious life. He decides to live by the laws of the Bible as literally as possible, again with interesting and often humorous results. Jacobs skillfully handles topics that could easily be explosive, by using his own self-effacing wit and admissions of his own questions and doubts, as well as his wonderfully open mind, to explore religion. He learns the value of ritual and law, and has some of his preconceptions turned upside down.

This is a wonderful story of exploring one's faith and being willing to keep learning throughout life. Because Jacobs is of Jewish descent, he concentrates far more on Old Testament scriptures, concentrating on the New Testament for only one month in the year. I would have liked him to have spent more time with this area but understand why he didn't. What I liked most about this book was Jacobs's wonderfully open mind. He resisted scoffing at many things that seemed bizarre or unexplainable, and came away with new perspectives. I loaned this book to a coworker, who did not enjoy it as much as I did; I believe he felt some of Jacobs's lightheartedness was offensive or sacriligeous. If, however, you are willing to be open-minded along with the author and not allow your own faith to be threatened, you are in for a treat with this book! I highly recommend it.

[gamecockgirl_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I hate to admit it, but I kept the hardback copy of this book on my shelf for over a year before reading it. That said, I'm glad that finally took the time to read this book. As a Christian, I am sometimes put off by writers who poke fun at Christianity, but I was relieved that this was not the case at all with this book. Jacobs admittedly is not a "observant" Jew, but he does seem sincere in his desire to follow the laws of the Old Testament, and later on, the New Testament. Jacobs seems tjo have the same questions and qualms that many Christians have with our beliefs and practices. I really enjoyed this book and I am currently reading Jacobs' first work, "Know it All," which I will review when I am finished with it. For those of you looking for someone to bash religion (Christian and Jewish) you will be dissapointed in this book. For those readers looking for an entertaining, light read, this book will be right up your alley.

[maggiereads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I noticed a theme running through recent books read. Most stories occur within a year time frame. For example, Mudbound focuses on the first year the McAllans dwell on the farm. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was written in a year by a victim of stroke who communicated through eye blinking. In High Cotton one follows Zack Killebrew through a full year of cotton production. Even this year?s book discussion choice, Eat, Pray, Love, takes place within a calendar year.Continuing the theme, The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, is packed with twelve months of entertainment. Author Jacobs is a writer for Esquire magazine and author of The Know-It-All where he read the Encyclop?dia Britannica from A to Z. This new book is another daunting task which he manages to write without being sacrilegious.Jacobs plans to spend a year taking the Bible literally and growing closer to God. First, he cannot decide which version of the Bible to follow, thus he gathers a stack: Revised Standard Version, King James Version, Good News Bible, Torah, and a copy of The Bible for Dummies. Secondly, he needs to omit dangerous rules. Any rule that ask one to cut off or gouge out a body part is skipped. If, by freak accident, he kills another man?s cow, he will pay for said cow instead of purchasing one to kill. Thirdly, he must breakdown the Bible parts to thoroughly cover all rules. His decision turns out to be the format of the book, eight months (first eight chapters) within the Old Testament and the rest within the New Testament. Lastly, he needs advisors such as rabbis, ministers, and priests with both conservative and liberal backgrounds. Furthermore, he promises to visit with, ?the ultra-Orthodox Jews, the ancient sect of Samaritans, and the Amish.? On day 46 he actually out visits a visiting Jehovah Witness.By day 62, Jacobs is becoming comfortable obeying rules; although, many like the wearing of tassels still baffle him, but now he faces Leviticus 20:27, ?They shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them.? He knows legally he cannot heap stones at another person. His solution or loophole is to gather small pebbles from New York City?s Central Park and pebble people. Every Saturday and Sunday he walks by the newspaper guy and chucks pebbles at the small of his back for not observing the Sabbath. The funny thing, the man never feels them.After reading The Year of Living Biblically, I now have a better understanding of the word literal as it pertains to the Bible.

[jenners26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title pretty much says it all! The author spends a year trying to literally follow all rules and laws given in the Bible -- starting with the Old Testament and then ending with the New Testament. Along the way, he has many hilarious adventures and also some eye-opening spiritual experiences. Although the author definitely approaches his quest in a humorous way, he can't help but be touched by the experience and this translates over to the reader. This is one of my favorite types of books -- books where you end up learning a lot but in an accessible and enjoyable way. There are some laugh-out-loud moments but also some real thought-provoking ones as well.

[mjgrogan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I state that I didn?t expect a snarky, cynical expose of a New York journalist attempting to follow a book riddled with misinterpretations and absurd, provincial, MAN-MADE exhortations, then I would seem like somewhat of a spiritual, compassionate soul. Unfortunately, this was indeed what I expected, judging from the coffee cup and stone tablet toting chimera on the cover (backed by a disconcertingly reversed New York City skyline). I say unfortunate as this is not what Jacobs delivered. What was produced is an imminently reasonable ? even convicted ? year-long journey of an Jewish-born agnostic seeking a more comprehensive understanding of the ?Good Book? (well, both books) and how it has influenced the various factions that abide by it in differing ways. It?s fairly interesting and, following his previous foray into the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, it?s equally well organized (by days, each day introduced with a Biblical extraction that relates to the story that follows). The issue for me is that, whereas the Encyclopaedia?s volumes of condensed world knowledge enabled Jacobs to highlight numerous factoids and relate them comically to his personal outlook and current life issues, here there?s something noticeably different going on. Perhaps the main contrast is the, no doubt, genuine connections he attempts with different religious personalities (Jewish and Christian, mainstream and whacko). Because of the relative personal proximity ? as opposed to reading some dead historian?s account of Descartes? crossed-eye fetish ? Jacobs refrains from a certain level of critical response. This high-road approach is also likely due to his purposeful immersion into the moral tenants of the book that proscribe the type of smart-ass outlook that he seemingly had prior to this venture. He apparently writes this while, if you will, under the spell, as opposed to a detached standpoint post-immersion (he frequently discusses the internal contrast between old, agnostic A.J. and new, sympathetic Jacob?the latter seems to be the sole author). Thus it comes off as a bit too much like a feel-good, coming-of-age autobiography that suppresses biting commentary; the end result of which comes dangerously close to a likeable ? but certainly not digestible ? family blog. To be sure, there?s some humor in this. I especially enjoyed his experience stoning (flick of a small pebble) an adulterer (self-confessed, cantankerous 70-something old fart) in Central Park. Hilarious! But aside from a few such scenarios, I found large tracts of this a bit stale.

[stephenbarkley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While browsing through Rivendell (a great second-hand bookstore in Barrie), my friend Brian plucked this volume off the shelf and told me I had to buy it. Since he knows my sense of humour better than pretty much anyone, I brought it home.This book is hilarious. I don?t use that superlative often, but it?s apt?apt, I tell you! The Year of Living Biblically is Jacobs? attempt to follow every rule he could discover in the Bible, especially the odd ones. He devoted two thirds of his time to the Hebrew Bible, and the last third to the New Testament.His sense of humour makes this book worth buying, but it?s his honesty that empowered the experiment. As a self-admitted agnostic, it was interesting to see how habits like daily prayer modified his outlook on life. As a pastor, I could only wish that the believers I know would approach their spiritual journey with such candor.He wrote a book before this one (The Know-It-All), and another one after (The Guinea Pig Diaries). I?ll be launching into them soon.

[interositor · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.

[coolmama_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant.I love AJ.What a bright, funny, articulate, neurotic guy he is!Keep it coming!!

[fulner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My Aunt Maryls gave me this book last December (but not for Christmas?) I started reading it in January and finally finished it now. Really it reminds that one of the things I really love about library books, due dates. So I couldn't give it 5 stars because if it was that great, even without a due date I'd be done by now, oh well. Still pretty good. basically AJ Jacobs decides he's going to try to take the bible literally (think "don't shave your beard" "don't were mixed fibers" "keep the word of God at your finger tips") in an attempt to mock Christianity. Jacobs is over Jewish decent but he's "about as Jewish as Olive Garden is Italian" in his own words. Through the year he really finds God, though he resists the urge to truly become born again (he got damn close with the snake handlers). I think it would be good for mainline Christians who think that evangelicals take things too literally, it is good for evangelicals who think they know everything God has to say, its good for atheists who see it all as hog wash. But it still leads something that we need to do. It still needs the extra push. To find God in what appears to be ridiculous, and to find ridicioulness in the love of Christ. The book claims to be humor, thought I didn't find it funny, take that as you like. I still felt it was 4 star worthy. There were two parts towards the end that were hard for me, circumsing his son, and shaving his beard.

[amyelizabeth_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Year of Living Biblically, by A. J. Jacobs, was exactly what I expected. Jacobs, an agnostic of Jewish descent, decided he would try to live out the laws of the Bible as literally as possible. To do this, he enlisted the help of many religious scholars, rabbis, and friends. Jacobs really did his research; not only did he completely read the Bible, but he read many books on the interpretation of the Bible, and learned how the laws of several millenia ago pertains to life today.The book is split up by months, and within that section a Bible verse is listed before the particular day that verse played a part in Jacobs' life. This made it very easy to follow and easy to find a place to stop. However, it didn't necessarily lend itself to swift reading. This was a book I took my time with and, while I was never bored with it, sometimes I had had enough Bible laws for the day.One thing I didn't care for was the way Jacobs' wife, Julie, was presented. She just didn't seem very supportive and Jacobs only seemed to relate the instances where he was particularly annoying her. Of course, that made it funnier, but it just didn't seem very nice.I learned a lot through this book. For example, I did not know that ultra-Orthodox Jews and ultrafundamentalist Christians both need the Third Temple in Jerusalem to be built; the Jews need it so their Messiah will come, and the Christians need it because they see the Jewish Messiah as the false Messiah, or antichrist, which will cause the true Christ to begin the apocalyptic battle and begin the thousand-year reign of peace on earth. And how does all of that start? With a red cow. I also learned that Spock's famous "live long and prosper" split-fingered salute is also a sacred hand position used by the Jewish priestly class.Jacobs' wrote a book that is chock full of information I never would have learned even if I had read the entire Bible, as well as funny anecdotes that can only occur when one is trying to live as a Bible literalist in the 21st century. Overall, I'd give this 3 out of 5 stars. It kept me interested, but it didn't keep me hooked.

[sdunford_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

humorous and serious at the same time -

[Jerzy Jurus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and fun! I would have gladly listened to na unabridged version.

[labibliophille · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Year of Living Biblically is one of the funniest books I?ve read in a long time. A.J. Jacobs tells the amusing but thought provoking story of the year he spent trying to live, literally, by the rules of the Bible.Jacobs? first task is to figure out what those biblical rules are. He struggles to understand how they apply to modern life in general, and to his own life in particular. There are so many rules in the Bible, and many of them are seemingly contradictory.One of the easiest rules to understand, but one of the most difficult to follow, is the rule against lying. Jacobs struggles to keep even seemingly insignificant lies from escaping his mouth. His attempts are very funny. His battles against coveting and lusting are particularly difficult, since he also works at Esquire magazine.Jacobs researches numerous Judeo-Christian religious traditions. In the name of his research, he visits an Old Order Amish community, Hasidic Jews, the Creation Museum, and the late Jerry Falwell?s Liberty University. It would be very easy for a gifted writer to ridicule these fundamental believers, but he remains interested and respectful.While reading this book, I had to laugh out many times. This doesn?t happen so often with me. It?s so rare to find a funny, literate, interesting book. I highly recommend this one!

[mephit_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.