Here's the article But there are so many insignificant and unfunny rules that bible lovers have got to follow and he doesn't spend nearly enough time focusing on the big/potentially funny ones like all those rules about envy and thy neighbor's wife. Jacobs actually did that (!) in an Esquire article that is easily one of the best magazine articles I've ever read. You could write a long entertaining article about what life would be like telling nothing but the absolute truth to those around you. Take, for example, do not lie, thou shalt not lie, or however they say it in there. Here's the problem: There are so many retarded things the bible says you should and shouldn't do. I got about 200 pages in when I realized, I can't fucking stand this guy, and his story is getting old quickly. Its a great fun book to read and this little bit of moralising is like the salt on your food, it would be nice without it but that extra savour makes it even more enjoyable.Īug 1, 2022, I seem to have a thing about rewriting old reviews rather than trying to catch up on the 150+ books awaiting a review or at least completing one.Īsk yourself: 'Would it be fun to literally follow the bible for one year?' If, like most people I know, would answer no, then run away from this book as fast as you can. To fulfil not lying, when his wife meets old school friends who say let's get together for a play date he tells them no, he's not interested in making new friends right now and so it goes.Īlong the way, practising the laws in ridiculous ways or trying to understand ridiculous laws he points out the side benefits - the peace and rest of the sabbath day, the inner thanksgiving prayer calls forth and perhaps most important, the utter gratitude to anyone or no-one just for having life and a family. Like buying the guy behind him in Starbucks a coffee, a guy he doesn't know to be generous. Living biblically for AJ means dressing in white robes, growing a ZZ Top beard and trying to literally fulfil each commandment even if terribly embarrassing.

The last third addresses the New Testament in the same way. AJ Jacobs is a secular Jew (me too) and spends two thirds of this book researching biblical law and trying to live it. So funny in parts that if you are drinking coffee, its going to come spluttering out of your nose.

Living the bible literally for a year