Pocket Guide to the Bible by Jason Boyett

Product Detail ISBN:0-9768175-4-3 Format: Softcover - Trade Paper Trim Size: 5x7 Page Count: 208 Carton Qty: 48

The Pocket Guide to the Bible is a sometimes-humourous book about The Bible, its contents and its history. I enjoyed it. Though, in a couple places, it felt like he may have sacrificed relevance for the appearance of hipness. Unfortunately, in those places, the hipness falls a little flat, too. On the whole, I thought it was pretty good.

It includes:

Biblicabulary

a list of terms

Cast of Characters

a run-down of significant(and not so much) people

What Happens Parts 1 & 2

a book-by-book synopsis of both the Old and New Testaments

The Brief History of Holy Writ

a timeline of The Bible itself

Versions and Perversions

Comparisons of some of the most well-known, if not popular, versions of The Bible

List Ye Be Smitten

a chapter of lists, kind of an appendix, that didn't fit elsewhere in the book, i.e. "The Four Best Moments for Donkeys"

Selected Bibliography

Not funny, just a good reference for further reading or research

The book's strengths are 'The Brief History of Holy Writ' and 'Versions and Perversions'. The 'Biblicabulary' and 'List Ye Be Smitten' had some good bits. I thought the 'Not to be confused with' and 'Please use it in a sentence' sections of each definition was a great idea, even if the jokes didn't always land. What's left wasn't bad, per se, he did as good a job with summarizing the entire Bible, book-by-book, mind you, in under 50 pages as anyone could. The same can be said of the 'Cast of Characters'. The sysopses and character lists were the weakest parts of a pretty good book.

That being said, what people find funny, or offensive, or inappropriate is subjective. Some people may buy this book _not_ expecting to see the words 'apeshiznit','beeyotch', or 'bazongas', or more to-the-point expecting _not_ to see them. These people may be disappointed...or pleasantly surprised. It's really going to depend on the individual's attitude. Some people will find this to be hilarious, some will not. Either way, it will give you something to think about, and may even teach you something.