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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.

Average Customer Rating:

Awesome Book!	Customer Rating:
I devoured this book in two and a half days. Its a fascinating read filled with details and Biblical information that I somehow missed growing up in a religious home. The author offsets all the details with plenty of humor and it never gets boring. This book is great for people from all walks of life, religious or not.

Just What I Needed

Customer Rating:

Two sad events converged in my life to lead to my decision to buy this book in the New Orleans airport. First of all, I attended my mother's funeral the day before and needed a book with some laughs. And, I did laugh out loud frequently while in the airport waiting for my flight and on the airplane on my way home. Secondly, I have had some members of my religion verbally attack me and my family as straight on our way to hell while we try our best to be loving, conscientious members of the group. In this book, I feel swept up and included in the author's quest. He has done some things I would have enjoyed doing and he has furthered my knowledge on my spiritual quest. Though he is not a Christian, he does what our family tries to do to the best of our inadequate ability - to recognize us all as God's children and part of the kingdom. The book makes me feel as though I've been invited to the party and encourages me to continue on my quest to bring as many people in as I can during my lifetime. We can all benefit from the wisdom of various religions and all types of people. I like reading books that support me on my spiritual path. This book actually inspired me to dance as I moved forward during the days I read it. The author writes clearly and with a genuine sense of fun. To me, cheerfulness and optimism are important to convince others of our faith. In these characteristics, the author outdoes some of us who profess to have great faith. And, he walked the talk for an entire year. He has encouraged me to try harder to match my actions to my beliefs.

Not quite there

Customer Rating:

I found Jacob's book to be funny but lacking. I had no expectations of the book when I began reading it but by the end I couldn't help but be disappointed. The premise of the book is worthwhile and I had no trouble filing this book under "humor." Jacobs on the other hand, seems to take both himself and this project far too seriously. The book is funny, I did laugh out loud but after a hundred pages or so the jokes became stale. I specifically had a problem with the alter-ego Jacobs created for himself. What is the point of living a year biblically if he purposely makes the distinction that it is not actually him? I can understand that suddenly being devoutly religious would feel foreign and unnatural, but I suspect the alter-ego was to keep Jacobs' real ego intact. After every single segment of religious exposure or meditation he was quick to remind us that he wasn't a believer yet. I felt all of the special and sacred opportunities he was afforded during the year came to nothing but material to write a mediocre comedy. I was also disappointed with the way Jacobs chose to deal with the New Testament. It seemed that he spent that part of the project seeking out extreme branches of christianity instead of determining the rules and following them. Probably because abiding by the rules in the new testament would not have been nearly as funny. Why didn't Jacobs go to his neighborhood church service? He seemed to have sought out a mainstream christian advisor but in experiencing the new testament in action Jacobs went to see snake handlers and visit mega churches. And what is with all the OCD garbage in the book? It seemed like Jacobs was trying to validate his neuroses in respect to his son by including them and pointing out that his wife disagrees (the explanation of "helmet" is hilarious and I did laugh out loud at that). The book is definitely worth reading, but take it with a pillar-sized grain of salt.

Bland	Customer Rating:
Whatever humor is in this book is too obvious. I found the premise too internal. It was more of a biblical lesson than an experience. Had the author focused more on how the world viewed a biblical dweller, we would have learned much more about religion, people, and how the world fits together.

Good Job

Customer Rating:

The book was educational and entertaining, and wasn't meant to be, not to be funny, an abreviated encyclopedia of the Bible. Just one man's journey and experiences. As a non-Jewish agnostic, would I have liked to have seen more New Testement living? Perhaps. This is not Mr. Jacobs responsibility to me though; he can't write for each individual personnally. He can share with us his experience and hope we enjoy the ride. He wrote an insightful, well-researched, entertaining book, well worth the read. Good job I say. I enjoyed the ride.