Books I'm Reading: The Year of Living Biblically

I just finished The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2007), by A. J. Jacobs. As the title suggests, the book is a chronicle of the author's attempt to spend a year following the numerous recommendations, strictures, and commands of the bible literally (focusing on the Old Testament in the first part of his biblical year, the New Testament later in the year). He makes a point of ignoring convenience, vowing to obey all of the rules, not just the easy ones or the ones that seem sensible--not killing, for example.

He shuns clothes made of linen and wool. He attempts to stone an adulterer (although he doesn't try very hard in this case). He learns to play the ten-string harp. He wears white clothing. He grows a long beard. He sacrifices a chicken. He goes forth and he multiplies (his wife has twins near the end of the year).

The book is an absorbing mix of the comical and the serious--one man's spiritual evolution. I must admit that I picked it up expecting to be more amused than enlightened, but it turned out to be deeper than it first appeared. The author is honest about his secular upbringing and his skepticism, but also about the unexpected changes in his thinking that occur as a result of living biblically for a year.  I found myself also enjoying the glimpse the book gives of the author's wife, who has to put up with the project.

Recommended. I may read this author's other book now. In that one, he reads an entire encyclopedia A to Z--something I've considered doing myself, although we all know it's one thing to consider something and quite another to actually do it.