What I've Read: The Year of Living Biblically

Reading a book about a guy who decides to live a — literally — biblical life for one year doesn't exactly sound like the kind of reading material one would think I would get into. But when this book is written by AJ Jacobs, you can count me in.

You see, Jacobs got me hooked on his writing when I loved his first book, The Know-it-All. In that book, he decided to read the entire encyclopedia front beginning to end. It was his quest to become the smartest person alive, and reading the entire encyclopedia was, in his opinion, the route to take. It was a hilarious book, and I even learned a few things he wrote about. Like, for instance, my wife is worth at least 20 spears in African cultures. 20 spears. She's convinced she could fetch at least 30, but I told her to calm herself. I mean, it really depends on high-end those spears are. I think he sells reading the encyclopedia better than this guy did back when we were kids.

In this follow-up to the encyclopedia book, Jacobs decides to live according to the Bible for one year. He takes it seriously, no doubt, but it gets hilarious when he starts getting in the parts of the Bible where he has to wear certain clothes, sacrifice chickens and avoid his wife during her menstrual cycle. I don't want to spoil how he ended up in his quest, whether he felt compelled to live a more religious life or if he felt the rules of the book were just not for him. He definitely lays out some interesting material to consider, but I was certainly not moved to start wearing white robes, blowing up abortion clinics or handling snakes.

I was born and raised as Roman Catholic. Went to catholic elementary school and even attended an all-male catholic high school (check out this hilarious ESPN show from 1991). I don't regret them, but I have since lost all my faith in organized religion. Believe what you want, just don't try and make me one of your followers. I am going down my own path. But the book is worth reading, so check it out.