goodreads | The Year of Living Biblically

Title: The Year of Living Biblically
Author: A.J. Jacobs
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 332
Date read: August, 2010

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

As a Christian who believes in a mostly* literal interpretation of the Bible, I found this memoir absolutely fascinating! First of all, it was interesting to see the Bible through a non-religious Jew POV. And secondly it was fascinating to see anybody attempt to follow all the laws of both the Old and the New Testament.

I really enjoyed A.J. Jacobs' writing style, and was releaved to see how respectful his approach was. He actually ended up teaching me a thing or two about how to follow the Bible as well.

I've wanted to read this book for ages and was very gratified to see that it completely lived up to my expectations.

* There are some passages that are obviously meant to be taken figuratively - when Jesus calls the disciples "salt of the earth", He didn't actually mean they were made of NaCl ;)