The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

In this book, Jacobs attempts to live by all the rules set forth in the Bible, both New and Old Testament, for a year. Since he was raised in a secular Jewish family, this wasn't the easiest task. Also, being Jewish (and because most of the rules are), he spends most of the year working on the laws from the Old Testament.

Jacobs' writing style is excellent. This comes, I'm sure, from his years writing for Esquire. The book was extremely readable, especially for a topic that could have been deathly dull. But his humor, good grace, and honesty all make the reader really involved in his mission.

He didn't have much problem with some of the laws (such as animal sacrifice, since that's only to be done at the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Romans destroyed the Temple a long time ago). Others, such as not touching his wife or anything she sits on during her menstrual cycle are significantly more difficult.

What's most revealing about the book is that we learn a lot of the thoughts on the reasons why the biblical rules came about. Obviously there are the face value reasons: God said so. But then there are reasons that are out of vogue (no pork to avoid spoiled meat) and current cultural anthropological thinking (no pork to establish a clear group identity, as opposed to say, the Samaritans).

I could go on a lot longer, but suffice it to say that the pictures of Jacobs' beard from the beginning of the year to the end of the year tell a story of his commitment. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a lot along the way which is some high praise from me.