Tuesday, January 1, 2008

The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs

Very interesting book! Kudos to A.J. for doing all that for an entire year, and props to Julie too! Not sure I could handle all that going on with my husband and being pregnant at the same time.

This was different than my usual type of book I like to read since it was more of a journal than a story. I like how he was open to just about anything, and I'm glad that the experience changed his life even if it was just a little bit. So many times I was like oooo he's got it!

I love the way this guy thinks. He'd be in the middle of something really serious and then come up with these hilarious comments about the situation. Fun to read!

Here are a few fun parts of the book that I marked as I went along:

Page 95 - Talking about prayers and our place. "They make me feel more connected, more grateful, more grounded, more aware of my place in this complicated hummus cycle. They remind me to taste the hummus instead of shoveling it into my maw like it's a nutrition pill. And they remind me that I'm lucky to have food at all. Basically, they help me get outside of my self-obsessed cranium."

Page 124 - The whole page is good on his realization of sabbath. I wish everyone would experience that, even if it is by accidentally getting locked in a bathroom. "This is what the Sabbath should feel like. A pause. Not just a minor pause, but a major pause. Not just a lowering of the volume, but a muting. As the famous rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel put it, the Sabbath is a sanctuary in time."

Page 213 - On being with others in the journey. "My quest is a paradoxical one. I'm trying to fly solo on a route that was specifically designed for a crowd."

2 comments:

jsd2c said...

I just read the part with the Jehovah's witness. After talking with this guy for three hours he says, "And then it hits me: I have just done something few human beings have ever achieved. I have out-Bible-talked a Jehovah's Witness." Thats classic..

jsd2c said...

I just finished the book. I would definitely recommend it to others. Its kinda funny to watch Jacobs experience stuff like prayer and other regular religious activities. He did as good of a job at immersing himself in biblical living as I think is humanly possible in today's society. I enjoyed this book and would like to read his other book about reading the encyclopedias.
Peace out!!