Grades: 9-12
From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.
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 etc. 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 and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.
Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally and he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain. Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges.
I was really surprised I liked this book. I feel like even though Jacobs is a proclaimed agnostic he really gives the "Good Book" fair treatment.
Thou shalt not be able to put it down.
