Reading: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University

I've been on a little "gimmicky book" trend with my reading. I've read The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All, two other books based on someone taking on an offbeat "challenge". This book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose pairs really well with The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. Roose is actually something of a mentee to Jacobs,so there are many similarities in their approaches and writing styles. I have a particular fondness for this style - sincere but not without humor - so overall I found this book to be a good read.

Let me start by saying that this is not a book that bashes Christianity and supports atheism or vice versa. If you're looking for a book to provide concrete support for own beliefs, whatever those may be, you should probably look elsewhere. This book doesn't argue for or against biblical events like Noah's Ark or creationism. While those things are touched upon, they are far from the focus of the novel. Roose has a sincere interest in learning about life at a school that is completely different from his own. This manages to take him away from his liberal college comfort zone at Brown University and sits him down, quite literally, in Jerry Falwell's backyard at Liberty University for a semester. With only a quick cram session on Christianity 101 from a friend, Roose moves into the Liberty dorms and quickly insinuates himself into christian college life. He attends classes on creationism, goes on a "mission" trip to save spring break partying Floridians, and struggles with the conflicting feelings he has towards the people he meets and some of their views.

This book really drives home many of the differences between the secular and non-secular worlds. Regardless of which side you stand on - or even if you're a fence sitter - there is a lot of insight to be gained from this book. Roose does his best to articulate the reasoning behind his Christian classmates' actions and shares the reactions that his largely non-religious family has to his project. In short, I would definitely recommend this book.