[.ca] The Complete Idiot's Guide To The Bible (ISBN 1589268180)

From Amazon.com:
At first glance, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible seems irreverent at best, but as the saying goes, "Judge not ... a book by its cover." This little addition to the Complete Idiot's series tackles one of the most intimidating and misrepresented subjects of the past 2,000 years and succeeds in producing a competent and thorough guide to the world's all-time bestseller. Jim Bell and Stan Campbell's success is largely due to their humorous and conversational writing style, as well as candid snapshots of what's actually in the Bible. Their treatment of the Old Testament in particular is both an intriguing and hilarious ride through the drama of biblical history. With chapter headings like "Abraham: the not-so-accidental tourist" and "Tell-a-Vision Personalities (Isaiah Through Malachi)," the authors provide a memorable picture of the goings-on in the first 39 books of the Bible. The Abraham chapter includes, among other noteworthy (and entertaining) facts, how Israel became the Hebrew "Promised Land," the origin of the phrase "fire and brimstone," and some of the less illustrious deeds of the so-called "man of faith". In addition to the movie-traileresque treatment of biblical content, the Idiot's Guide is supplemented with an extensive index, advice on buying a Bible, and a day-by-day plan for reading the Bible in a year. Whether you need a quick overview or are considering some in-depth study but don't know how to begin, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible is a momentum-building first step. --Benjamin Gebhardt

Thank you:
You helped me overcome my intimidation - Very witty at times! Excellent!

Lots of great info! You'll learn a lot.:
The Idiot books manage to pack in lots of info, with sidebars and so on mixed in throughout the book. Every area of the Bible is well-covered. I have kept this as my Bible reference book. The chapter on the Book of Revelation is the first place I've ever seen someone make any sense out of it!

Good, but biased:
It is written by religious people for religious people. It fails to point out the the Hebrew people were not awear that a bat is not a bird among other scientific errors. But if you want to read about the good parts of the bible, this book is for you; because it only focuses on the book's good side.

Enjoyable Overview:
I quite liked The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible. It gave me a nice overview of where to find things, and had a nice amount of humor without overdoing it or being sacreligious. I didn't agree with everything they said, but I'd still give it four stars.

Complete Idiots Guide to the Bible:
As a youth director for our church, I was looking for somthing to teach the scriptures without loosing this younger generation's intrest. This is the ticket. The authors are well informed yet they do not teach down to the kids. The information is interesting yet uterly valid and to the point. Almost every page has a quote or trivia box that gets their attention. Our kids are getting it, and thats good. The are reading on their own and loving it. Thank you for this book, I am recommending it to my colleague's for their youth groups, and for the adult Bible study too. Thank you. Tom Smith