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by: A. J. Jacobs List Price: $29.95 Amazon.com's Price: $21.27 You Save: $8.68 (29%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Dewey Decimal Number: 220 EAN: 9780743569972 Format: Abridged, Audiobook ISBN: 0743569970 Label: Simon & Schuster Audio Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio Number Of Items: 5 Publication Date: October 09, 2007 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Sales Rank: 90922 Studio: Simon & Schuster Audio Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: 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 grow his beard. To stone adulterers. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal. Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally, including the Amish and the Hasidim. He discovers ancient Biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the 21st-century brain. Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. Sure to charm listeners both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliffs-Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to stop listening. Amazon.com Review: Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: Make no mistake: A.J. Jacobs is not a religious man. He describes himself as Jewish 'in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant.' Yet his latest work, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, is an insightful and hilarious journey for readers of all faiths. Though no fatted calves were harmed in the making of this book, Jacobs chronicles 12 months living a remarkably strict Biblical life full of charity, chastity, and facial hair as impressive as anything found in The Lord of the Rings. Through it all, he manages to brilliantly keep things light, while avoiding the sinful eye of judgment. --Dave Callanan Amazon.com Subtitled: '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 Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Great Read!!! What a wonderful story. It is so refreshing to take a break from my own soul to look into someone else's. I love reading an author that is completely honest with a reader the way you are!! I know for a fact after reading your book that you check your Amazon ratings consistently or at least did. So I'd like to tell you directly that I feel like a better person after having read your book. My father is a Christian minister and being a pastors kid has made religion a subject I'm easy to shy away ... Read More Rating:  - sweeping the desert in search of yourselfSo if you were going to live your life by the Bible, litteraly and figuritavely could you do it? I don't think I'd want to (or more so need to), but if you had the mindset of A.J. Jacobs you were more than likely destined to. He appears to be an incredibly inquisitve type and has the perfect mindset, hey It would be FUN RIGHT???? Jacob's book is born out of his secular upbringing by his Jewish family and his existence of living in the Big Apple. He makes a sort of pilgramage for himself ... Read More Rating: - An Attempt to Live BiblicallyA. J. Jacobs admits to having obsessive-compulsive disorder, which makes him a perfect candidate for following rules and regulations in the Bible as literally as possible. The only problem is that he doesn't believe in God. Yet, on his spiritual journey he decides to pray anyway. He also engages in spiritual battles like his struggle with one of the seven deadly sins: Lust. He also restricts himself from gossiping and lying. He really struggles the most with telling the truth. Still, in this ... Read More Rating: - An amazing book with an extremely interesting subjectAs a preface, let me say that this book was a birthday present. Not to say it in a demeaning way, but what I mean that I had expected it to be a mildly interesting book at best. However, I have found that this was one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. One of the few books I am able to read for hours without putting down. The reason for this can be attributed to largely three things: Writing style, subject matter, and open minded approach to subject matter. To begin, ... Read More Rating: - HOURS O FUNFirst book I have read on my kindle. I very much enjoyed the story and would write much more on the matter were I not also attempting to write this review from my kindle. Very funny! |
