About book Walking The Bible: A Journey By Land Through The Five Books Of Moses (2005)
As the subtitle suggests, the author retraces the Pentateuch as best he can, Bible in hand and affable expert in tow. Mostly a disappointing book, I’m afraid. First, Feiler is a rather laborious writer – the 424 pages are packed with rather stilted purple prose at times (his imagery is wild and uninformative: mountains resemble pies, “a drip castle,” “sweet potatoes,” “rancid hamburger meat,” or bizarrely, “melting dinosaurs” [!]). Second, Feiler is one of those travel writers who feels the need to make every single thing an epiphany: this is okay for places like Mount Ararat, or the possible site of the burning bush; but I counted at least ten places where Feiler recorded a soul-shaking discovery (Egypt isn’t the bad guy in the Bible!, The actual spot where things happened doesn’t matter! “The desert was part of my own geography”! The desert gives you confidence by showing you how small you are! Etc etc). By the way, he feels fear of that inner geography ebbing away not once, but twice. Third, Feiler is a rather naive scholar. He tries to get at the “truth” of the Bible by asking stupid questions about the context of the stories: yes, they really had birthrights that could be sold, for example. Well of course: the stories don’t take place in a fictional universe, they’re products of their time! It’s like approaching the “truth” of Dickens by triumphantly showing that people really did talk like his characters in 19th century London.His naivete is deeper than that: “I basically believed there was a unified notion of God,” he writes. What?! He never considered that God differs in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, even within the Bible itself?! Is he really the best person to write this book? Obviously not. There’s a lot that’s very informative and interesting in this tome – ruminations on and possible explanations for manna, Moses’ name, the location of the Sea of Reeds, even the abundance of quail during the exodus. But there’s too few gems to justify slogging through this mountain of banality, really.
I thought I might go to Israel and almost did...twice. Once I had my passport ready and had nearly signed up to go with my pastor's tour, but had to stay to help move the family. And this time...walking through the bible with Bruce Feiler. This author (who I have heard comment on All Things Considered (NPR) started at Tigris/Euphrates and up to Mount Ararat and migrated to Canaan then traveled to the Nubian Nile up to the pyramids of Giza then through the Sinai peninsula on to Petra and then to the edge of the promised land on Mount Nebo. All the while, I virtually saw and rode with him and experienced not only the adventure, but the passion and awe that only this land could bring to the words of Moses from Genesis to Deuteronomy. I enjoyed knowing the bedouin way of experiencing the vast Arab desert. I am glad it was Bruce and not I who took a camel through many of these miles uphill and downhill.I came away with much more than archaeology or history. I came to a knowledge of why our Lord picked this particular place on the planet to form a nation of people to know and worship Him only...with especially these deserts and these hills and these wadis and these rivers. I count this book as a unique insightful blessing and a humorously rough travel guide to the first five books of the Bible which I will keep handy when I eventually do have the opportunity to actually go to the holy lands.And... I see Bruce Feiler's heart in illuminating how this place...the birthplace of faith... is set apart to hold the key to world peace.
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c2001. My first thought is that there were not enough maps in the book to be able to follow the various trips. There are 2 maps but I seemed to want more as I was reading. This is certainly more than a normal memoir of a journey as there is a lot of religious interpretation and discussions that are included. Only natural, though, considering that this was, at its heart, a personal journey for the author on many levels. The writing is lyrical and the anecdotes about the various people met along the way definitely helped to lift it from a 'didn't like' to 'its okay'. The rating has more to do with what I thought I wanted from the book rather than what it delivered. I am not sure that any of the normal crew would enjoy this so unfortunately unable to recommend." The last thing you notice about the desert is the noise. In preparing for this part of our journey, I steeled myself for the silence. The desert would surely feel isolated, an island of seclusion. But once I stepped into the open terrain I was amazed by the din - the wind whining through the mountains, the sand tinkling against your face, the rocks crunching beneath your feet."
—Ruth
I wasn't sure how much I would like this book, but I ended up loving it. At first I was afraid it was going to be all about searching for physical proofs to the biblical stories which is not that interesting to me. But the author spends very little of his time on questions about physical proof. Most of the book is spent describing the land and the people Feiler meets and reading the bible passages in their settings. I felt like I understood the text much better after seeing how people live in the areas where the stories were written and took place, and encountering the trials, dreams and joys that the desert inspires.I'm not usually good about writing down quotes, but here is one of my favorites from early in the book:Abraham was not origionally the man he became. He was not an Isrealite. He was not a Jew. He was not even a believer in God, at least innitially. He was a traveller, called by some voice not entirely clear, that said, "Go. Head to this land. Walk along this route. Trust what you will find."
—Kathy
I read this about 10 years ago and it's been on my to-buy list ever since. (I don't quickly spend money, period). I picked it up off the New Books shelf at my library, and really loved it. It gives a first hand modern day perspective on the places in the Torah I believe. Feiler is Jewish, but admits that the faith part of his life was never important, but on his "walk" it comes to life a bit. I love that he integrates theownership of all three major faiths to the places he visits and tells the stories of the places' importance.
—Libbydale
