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Product Details
Simon & Schuster, October 2007
eBook, 368 pages
ISBN-10: 1416553223
ISBN-13: 9781416553229
Description
After his hilarious chronicle about reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z -- actually a-ak to zyweic -- our fearless author, A.J. Jacobs, tackles a new intellectual adventure -- an exploration of the most influential book in the world: the Bible. A.J. determined the best way to explore the Bible was to live it, as literally as possible. For one year.
There are 700 rules in the Old and New Testaments, A.J. discovered -- some wise, some general, some contradictory. Some from Jesus, some from prophets, some from God. A.J. assembled a board of spiritual advisors -- rabbis, ministers and priests, some conservative, some of them "one four-letter word away from excommunication" -- who would provide guidance and advice throughout his journey. But the journey was, by necessity, arbitrary. DIY religion.
In The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. explores the Bible chronologically, from Old Testament (crucial, given the Ten Commandments) to the New Testament (crucial, given America's powerful evangelical movement and its literal interpretation of the Bible) -- and lives the Bible on every level. He obeys the Ten Commandments, he is fruitful and multiplies (A.J.'s wife had twins during his year!); he remembers the Sabbath and keeps it holy. But he also obeys the oft-neglected rules, such as avoiding clothes of mixed fibers, and refraining from shaving the edges of his beard (Leviticus 19:27). So throughout the year A.J. is commonly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. Or Moses.
While A.J.'s wit and humor are irrepressible, The Year of Living Biblically is not acerbic satire. As with The Know-It-All, this is a quest for knowledge. While the struggle of a modern-day Manhattanite attempting to live by 700 Biblical rules is necessarily hilarious, A.J. also treats his subject(s) with great respect. Whether visiting Negev, the huge desert in southern Israel where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob once dwelled; or the Answers in Genesis Museum (under construction) near Cincinatti
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"A.J. Jacobs is so funny he can make watching his beard grow hilarious. The Year of Living Biblically is the most unexpectedly delightful - and consistently charming - book I've read in a long time. It will have you laughing out loud, nodding in disbelief, and rethinking what you believe about the Bible. It will also have you tallying your sins: I coveted his humor and envied his facial hair. And that's no lie."- Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born
"A.J. Jacobs has written a - how else to put it? - Good Book. Let me take my review from the original, Psalm 2, verse 4: 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' And let me suggest that readers, whether they know their Bible or not, get to know A.J. Jacobs. But not in a biblical sense, please."- P.J. O'Rourke
"The Year of Living Biblically is an extremely compelling book, appropriately irreverent and highly entertaining. More significantly, it is a tale of an intense and intelligent spiritual search that will speak powerfully and instructively to a generation of seekers."- Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College
"In the twenty-first century few, if any, Christians truly attempt to follow the Bible in its literal entirety, even us evangelicals. In this yearlong experiment A.J. Jacobs attempts just that, with disarming sincere, refreshingly humorous, and unexpectedly insightful results. I commend this inspired narrative to anyone actively exploring the continued relevance of biblical living, religion's need for critical self-reflection, and the timelessness of authentic faith."- Reverend Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics and president of Sojourners/Call to Renewal
"A. J. Jacobs has written about the Bible in a manner that is brilliantly funny but unerringly respectful, learned but goofy, deeply personal yet highly relevant. I am covetous and wish him smited."
-- Mary Roach, Bestselling author of Spook and Stiff
"A book that is at one and the same time delightfully readable and profoundly memorable is a wonder! The Year of Living Biblically is exactly that. A. J. Jacobs has perceived the distinction between the wisdom of the Bible and its absurdities. It is a shame that so many of both our clergy and our politicians seem incapable of making that distinction."
-- John Shelby Spong, author of Jesus for the Non-Religious and former Episcopal bishop
"As a man incapable of developing any facial hair aside from a really amazingly cruddy moustache, I would have bought this book for the astonishing big beard chronicle alone. That The Year of Living Biblically grows, beardlike, into a long, hilarious, tangled, and ultimately moving story of spiritual growth is all the more astonishing. But why should I continue to be surprised at what springs from A. J.'s head? He is a brilliantly hilarious writer who truly lives up to that oft-misused adverb/adjective combination and then some. Plus: HE IS GOING TO HEAVEN. So how can you not afford to tithe your salary to his cause and buy this book?"
-- John Hodgman, Daily Show correspondent and author of Areas of My Expertise
"Seeing that most people violate at least three of the ten commandments on their way to work -- even people who work from home -- says a lot about the scale of A. J.'s feat. The fact that you need to buy six copies of this book to unlock the code to save all humanity...well, that's just pure genius."
-- Ben Karlin, cocreator of The Colbert Report and coauthor of America: The Book
"Setting out to explore the consequences of strict adherence to biblical laws, A. J. Jacobs encounters a series of experiences that are as hilarious as they are thought-provoking. Along the way he teaches us both the fallacies of modern day religious fundamentalism and the joys of discovering the transcendent and timeless truths of faith."
-- Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director, Human Genome Project, author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
"Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism."
-- Publishers Weekly (Starred)
"Impressive and often tremendously amusing.... The author's determination despite constant complications from his modern secular life (wife, job, family, NYC) underscores both the absurdity of his plight and its profundity. While debunking biblical literalism -- with dinner party-ready scriptural quotes -- Jacobs simultaneously finds his spirituality renewed. ...A biblical travelogue -- and far funnier than your standard King James."
-- Kirkus Reviews
U-Wire.com, March 19, 2009
...assumed I was fleeing Brown,' he said. The idea for the project came when Roose was interning for A. J. Jacobs '90 and the two visited Liberty founder Jerry Falwell's famous church as part of Jacobs' book, 'The Year of Living Biblically.' ...
A. J. Jacobs's Books
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The Guinea Pig DiariesA collection of A.J.'s hilarious adventures as a human guinea pig, including "My Outsourced Life," "The Truth About Nakedness," and a brand new essay.Read More
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The Know-It-AllJacobs's hilarious and hapless odyssey to fill in the gaps in his traditional Ivy-league education by reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A-Z.Read More
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