Give him credit: A.J. Jacobs is not one to shy away from a challenge.

In 2005 it was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica cover to cover for The Know-It-All: One Man"s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. This year, it"s The Year of Living Biblically: One Man"s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Simon and Schuster).

In a telephone interview with NJ Jewish News, Jacobs, a Manhattan resident, described himself as a secular Jew. "I"m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian," he said. He had no religious schooling, no bar mitzva, no holiday celebrations save a couple of nontraditional seders. He considers himself just as vice-ridden as the next guy, so it wasn"t surprising that his family and friends took the announcement of his biblical marathon with arched eyebrows.

"I went in not to make fun of religion, but to try to understand it and find what"s good in it that I could apply to my life," he said.

So following the dictates of the Bible, Jacobs stopped shaving and gradually conformed his attire to obey the proscription against mixing fabrics. The overall effect was a Ted Kaczynski look.

"New York is a city where there are a lot of people doing strange things," Jacobs said. "But even [there], a guy with a huge beard, dressed in white, sometimes robes, gets second glances."

He abstained from lying, even white lies to his then toddler son Jasper, eschewed lashon hara (malicious gossip), and avoided contact with any woman not his wife, among scores of other requirements.

While there was much in his research to which wife Julie Jacobs, director of sales and marketing for Watson Adventures, a company that arranges scavenger hunts, objected, he said, "There was lots that she loved," including celebrating Shabbat and the fact that her husband transformed himself into a "more grateful and tolerant person."

Jacobs also spent four months "living" the New Testament. "I felt much more comfortable doing the Old Testament, because [that"s] where most of the rules are. And also I am Jewish, so it just felt like I was trying on the sandals and robes of my forefathers. With the New Testament, I felt like I was in totally new territory and I was nervous. I am glad that I did it, because I felt I learned a lot [but] it was a little more stressful."

During the year, Jacobs maintained his "day job" as editor-at-large for Esquire magazine. One assignment — a profile of Rosario Dawson — tested his newfound resolve. "I interviewed her while trying to look askance," he said of the seductive actress. It didn"t help that she also "has the dirtiest mouth in Hollywood," according to Jacobs.

His "re-entry" into his nonbiblically guided project world "was kind of bumpy and disorienting because I had lived in this religious way with all these structures, and then suddenly to be thrust out with no structure was overwhelming. There was something to be said for the freedom from choice."

The experience, he said, "has changed me in a hundred ways, from the small to the large."

Nevertheless, Jacobs still commits some journalistic sins "like lashon hara, and some lying, and coveting, but I"ve cut down by about 40 percent, so I"m proud of that, because it"s not easy when you"re in New York and in the media; there"s a lot of sinning going on."

"A lot stays with me," said the now clean-shaven writer. The family — which includes twin sons Lucas and Zane — now regularly celebrates Shabbat. They've also joined a synagogue, and Jasper attends a Jewish preschool.

His next humble quest? "My wife says I owe her big time. She wants me to do a year of giving her foot massages. Also she likes the idea of me taking her to all the great restaurants in New York — but I don"t know if the publisher will go for that."

Jacobs said he expected a great deal of controversy from his latest book, but the reaction, at least from Jewish audiences, has been "so far, so good... Maybe you"ll start the backlash."

Just talking about his success — the book has been optioned for the movies by Paramount Pictures and a script is in the works — gives him a feeling of "unbiblical boasting."

For the book tour he embarked upon, "the publisher made a cardboard cut-out, but that seemed like idolatry to me.

"But I do have my beard in a zip-lock bag."

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A.J. JACOBS will discuss The Year of Living Biblically on Monday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. as part of the Ninth Annual Festival of Books, Culture, and the Arts hosted by the JCC of Greater Monmouth County in Deal. Suggested admission is $5. For further information, call 732-531-9100.