INTRODUCTION I know the name of Turkey’s leading avant-garde publication. I know that Bud Abbott was a double-crosser and John Quincy Adams married for money. I know that there’s a heated controversy over who invented the accordian. I know that dwarves have prominent buttocks. I know that Hank Aaron played for a team called the…
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Here’s a dirty secret: I don’t ACTUALLY know it all. In my year reading the encyclopedia, I began to fathom just how much information there is in the world. Everyone knows there’s an ocean of knowledge out there, but you don’t realize quite how big that ocean is until you try to drink it cup…
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INTERVIEW Q: Why in the name of God did you do this? A: There were two reasons. First, my IQ had done a slow but steady swan dive since I graduated college. If things continued, I’d be spending my days watching Wheel of Fortune and drooling into a bucket. I thought something drastic needed to be done….
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INTRODUCTION As I write this, I have a beard that makes me resemble Moses. Or Abe Lincoln. Or Ted Kaczynski. I’ve been called all three. It’s not a well-manicured, socially-acceptable beard. It’s an untamed mass that creeps up toward my eyeballs and drapes below my neckline. I’ve never allowed my facial hair to grow before,…
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A.J. Jacobs embarks on a year long journey to follow the many rules, guidelines, and suggestions he uncovers in the Bible. He tackles not only popular injunctions like the Ten Commandments but obscure and perplexing rules like the ban on wearing clothes made of mixed fibers and the blowing of trumpets on the start of…
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Assemble a biblical feast for book club members using food items commonly listed in the Bible. Popular items include: wine, grapes, pomegranate, figs, cucumbers, olives, chickpeas and lamb. You may procure goats milk, the dairy product of choice at your local specialty grower or find a store online. Additionally, Jacobs recommends chocolate covered crickets from…
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At the beginning of the year, I wrote down every rule, every guideline, every suggestion, every nugget of advice I could find in the Bible. It’s a very long list. It runs 72 pages. More than 700 rules. Some rules were wise, some completely baffling. Some were baffling at first, then wise. Some were wise…
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Just follow in my sandal-steps. Wear sandals As this site itself says, these sandals are “comfortable enough to wander in for 40 years.” www.biblicalsandals.com Eat Ezekiel Bread Perhaps the best recipe in the Bible is the bread that God commanded Ezekiel to eat for 390 days straight. It’s got wheat, rye, millet, lentils and beans….
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During my year, I never achieved the moral heights of Gandhi or Angelina Jolie. But I was certainly more angelic than my normal, non-Biblical self. Here, some techniques I picked up: HOW NOT TO GOSSIP One of my spiritual advisers gave me a good image here: Think of negative speech as verbal pollution. Visualize insults…
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