by A. J. Jacobs
Hardcover- N/A
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very funny, insightful. Jacobs tries to take every command in the Bible literally, with very funny results.
Brings up a lot of things to discuss especially if you are a person who believes in the Bible. How literally do you take it? Why do we pick and choose which of its commands to follow? Funny, but thought provoking!!
The book is well written and easy to read - also nice share of humor throughout. I think the best feature of this book is that you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it. Even learned some doctrine I didn't know. I felt his New Testament lacking in many areas, but he only gave his attention to it for 4 months. I plan on reading his other book though as he has an enjoyable writing style.
AJ Jacobs combines information with a great sense of humor. It's just a wonderful book! An excellent choice for book groups. He leaves you wanting for more.
The blog-like format of this book lent itself well to reading it during daily commutes. Watching it as a documentary might have been a better use of time but a lot of the posts' meanings would have been lost since Jacobs is quite a verbose, interpretive writer. The premise is so simple and amazing; Jacobs tries to be pragmatic and open-minded, but it's pretty clear he's hamming it up for the most part. "Boastful" would be the best word to describe it -- he's following *all* the rules to the letter, out-talking a Jehovah's Witness, creating strain in his marriage and with his son, out-smarting the Bible with feeble substitutions (stoning adulterers by dropping pebbles on their shoes or using a Nerf bat to "beat" his son) in order to check them off, and then there's his biggest vanity: his enormous beard. Overall, the book is entertaining, especially when exposing us to the absurdities that comes from the Bible. Jacobs provides numerous perspectives throughout the book while keeping true to his original purpose, and ultimately concludes that people should strive to be more conscientious.
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