A review by khornstein1
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs

5.0

Loved this book! I had been resistant to reading it because I thought (mistakenly), it would make fun of the Bible and talk about how silly all the Biblical rules are...I think it's the cover with A. J. Jacobs looking like a silly Moses. Anyhow, I bought this from neighbors having a tag sale so I didn't have much invested should I decide I didn't like it. As the reviewers point out, the strength of this book is the open-mindedness with which Jacobs approaches the Bible, both New Testament and Jewish Bible. To wit, while pointing out that the admonishment to not wear garments of mixed fibers seems silly, he then meets Jews who do take this literally. Rather than making fun of them, he really probes why this might have been a command back in Biblical days and what it means to us today. In fact, in the guise of a humor book, he really looks at the Bible and thinks about (and makes us think about) what indeed the Bible's language means, how literally we could take the commandments in it, and also relays how he changes as a person by following those commands. The book is also laugh out loud funny. Some of his writing interestingly reminds me of how Casey Kasem used to sound on the radio..pausing for effect, using the word, "well," like a very good-natured storyteller. Highly recommended!