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Book Review of The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
ceebeegeebee avatar reviewed on + 11 more book reviews


this is an exact copy of my own review from amazon.com

This book is disappointing on two levels. First is my disappointment. I thought the book was going to be more of a journal of Jacobs biblical year. It is more a dissecting or study of the oddities he found in the bible mixed in with some of his daily events. The second is Jacobs disappointment. I felt he found no spiritual enlightenment. It almost seemed like the whole year was over and the project was a failure but I have to write the book anyway.
I'm not sure if I liked the book. A book I enjoy reading I anticipate and look forward to my next reading. YoLB wasn't like that. Some days I'd look at it and wonder if I should continue reading or put it on hold and read a more entertaining book or just stop reading it without finishing.
The author and I are two really different people. I don't know how much this factors in but here is how we are different. Jacobs has many compulsive behavior problems. Lying is his worst. I despise liars and avoid lying in my own life. Jacobs has a problem saying "No" to his two year old son and mentions this numerous times in the book. Not me , children need limits. This is relevant because of the number of times Jacobs writes of this. Saying "No" or the inability to do so is a pet peeve of mine. This lessened the books enjoyment for me. Jacobs also loves pop culture. I have no use for pop culture. Jacobs uses pop culture references in many of his one liners and zingers. Most of them I'm sure are funny but since I am not familiar with the pop culture reference I did not get the jokes.
I am not saying this book is bad it's just not very good , certainly not a page turner. For me it goes back to one of my opening remarks. It felt like Jacobs wrote the book despite the fact that the project wasn't overly successful. To emphasize my point the conclusion of YoLB is more superficial than spiritual and that was very disappointing.