The Year of Living Biblically

A.J. Jacobs has been on the New York Times best selling list before with his book, The Know It All, where he took an entire year to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z. Now he's back trying to live as the bible commands as literally as possible for a year in his book The Year of Living Biblically. He set up a lot of biblical advisers to help him understand the many interpretations of the bible and he carried around a list of things he was supposed to do because he couldn't remember all of them.

His quest was to obey the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply (his wife was pregnant with twins). To love his neighbor. To tithe his income. But also to abide by the oft-neglected rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers. To stone adulterers. To leave the edges of his beard unshaven (Leviticus 19:27). He tried to obey the entire Bible, without picking and choosing. In preparation for his project, A.J. read the bible every day for five hours for five weeks. As he read, he typed in every rule, guideline, suggestion and nugget of advice he found. When he finished he had seventy-two pages.

It must have been rather hard on his wife during this year and he must have gotten some odd looks walking around in his white tunic, long beard, and staff. Luckily, he lives in New York where there are many unique individuals walking around.

This book is a fun read and maybe you'll learn a little more about the bible as you read it. Now I need to go back and read The know it all as the reviews say that is an even a better read. If you want to read more about A.J. Jacobs and how he decided to live a biblical year, click on these sites: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21186291/& http://www.ajjacobs.com/books/yolb.asp