Rating: 
Summary: Liked the First One, Liked This One too
Review: A friend gave me the book 1,001 Things You Always Wanted to Know About the Bible. This is the sequel, and I bought it for myself. It is full of neat little offbeat facts about the Bible, like how famous writers and artists and politicans used the Bible, things named for characters in the Bible, lots of odd items from American history. The cover has Easter eggs on it, so naturally I just had to open it to find out what the real connection with the Bible is (since I knew Easter eggs arent mentioned in the Bible!) I like these kinds of books, nice to just browse through.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource!
Review: From the moment I first picked up this book, I found it hard to put down. Whether you are a new Christian or a long-time pastor, I'm certain that you will find this publication to be a very valuable tool. This book explains some areas of Christian Doctrine in simple, easy-to-read "packets." It also gives you a brief biography of key people in the Bible, it tells you how important people in history felt about the Bible and Christianity, outlines key places in the Bible and so much more. If you want to improve your understanding of God's word and have a good time doing it, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down!
Review: I found this book while browsing in the store where I work. After looking at it a couple of minutes, I decided that it may be interesting. I showed it to two co-workers who also wanted to buy it! I bought it just three days ago. I put it down to go to work and to go to church. I'm not even half way through it and I have already learned a lot about the Bible that I didn't know. It sort of puts some things into perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Long Title
Review: I love this book and I own it, so I can say without a doubt that it's both entertaining and informative. But I disagree with the title of the book, it should be something like, 1,001 things about the Bible and other religious topics. For example, one of the "things" mentioned in the book pertains to Leonardo Da Vinci, which as we all know is not a figure found anywhere in the Bible. But his reason for being in this book is simple, he was the master artist behind the famous "Last Supper" painting, which I found very intriquing since I never knew who actually did the splendid art. In fact, an entire chapter (chapter 15 Music and Art, with numbers 811-867 of the list of things) lists people and selected works of various artists, who in some form or fashion, have used the topic of God in their life and/or their craft. And this is just one such chapter, there are others. So the book is NOT totally dedicated to the Bible itself. This is not to say that this book is not fascinating. On the contrary, it's one of the most fascinating books I have ever encountered and well worth the money that was paid for it ( it was bought by my sister as a Christmas present for me). You will learn interesting facts about the Bible you may or may not have been aware of, and about famous people. This is a book that anyone can read and enjoy. I higly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Full of facts, but a little biased
Review: I love to read about Christian theology, and I love trivia. So of course I had to get this book. For the most part, this book satisfied both cravings. I learned more about Bible places and personalities, sayings and history, than I thought possible in one book. That said, I found the book biased to some degree to the conservative view (though give Lang credit for noting that the Bible is not a science book.) For example, in talking about Campbell and the Campbellites, he seemed to favor the conservative offshoot, the Churches of Christ, over the more liberal Disciples of Christ. I've been in the Churches of Christ and am now a member of the Disciples of Christ, and having seen both sides, I'd argue that the DOC follows more closely the spirit of first century Christian worship, contrary to Lang's opinion (which he shoud have stated as such. More disturbing, under the heading of "excommunication," he uses the passage in Matthew 18:15-17 to justify shunning the unrepentant, that we are to treat them as "a Gentile and a tax collector." But as a Christian mediator once pointed out, Jesus treated tax collectors and Gentiles as humans worthy of his love, even to the point of eating with them. Wonder if Lang had thought of that interpretation? So bottom line, read it for the facts, but if your views are more liberal, you might find Lang's views a little hard to swallow.
Rating: 
Summary: My Kind of Bite-Size Book
Review: Maybe I've spent too much time playing video games and surfing the Net, so yeah, I'll admit I just can't read through a long book any more. But I can handle one like this, 1,001 items that are mostly one paragraph each, all connected in some way with the Bible. I expected there would be items dealing with the people and places in the Bible, and there are, but there are chapters dealing with movies about the Bible, songs, art works, even words and phrases that are rooted in the Bible. I guess the author figured most of us aren't even aware that we use 'Bible language' all the time without realizing it, and he was right, at least in my case. Anyway, it's written with a kind of light tone and it isn't boring, and I wish there were more of these bite-size books around.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read, and a Good Education
Review: My family members and friends know I like "browsy" books I can take to the beach or while I'm waiting at the doctor's office. This is the "browsiest" book I've ever had, and a lot of fun--1,001 items all relating to the Bible, talking about its notable people and places, and also all kinds of pop culture things like movies, books, songs, words and phrases, anything related to the Bible. Each of the 1,001 is brief, just one paragraph, sometimes 2 or 3. It is very "bite-size," which I think is great. One thing I liked about it also is that it isn't preachy, just a lot of good information. However, my church's pastor told us he uses tidbits from this book to liven up his sermons at times. I think Sunday school teachers could use it the same way.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read, and a Good Education
Review: My family members and friends know I like "browsy" books I can take to the beach or while I'm waiting at the doctor's office. This is the "browsiest" book I've ever had, and a lot of fun--1,001 items all relating to the Bible, talking about its notable people and places, and also all kinds of pop culture things like movies, books, songs, words and phrases, anything related to the Bible. Each of the 1,001 is brief, just one paragraph, sometimes 2 or 3. It is very "bite-size," which I think is great. One thing I liked about it also is that it isn't preachy, just a lot of good information. However, my church's pastor told us he uses tidbits from this book to liven up his sermons at times. I think Sunday school teachers could use it the same way.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many errors, off topic, too low-brow
Review: Some books are disappointments, but this one actually gave me more than I expected. I figured it would include a lot of interesting factoids about people and places in the Bible. But it also gives some really fascinating info about how the Bible has affected language, art, literature, movies, etc. I was really intrigued by the section about familiar phrases that (to my surprise) are found in the Bible. I also had not realized how many movies had been based on the Bible, not to mention the many world-famous authors whose books were in some way based on the Bible. This was a real education not just about the Bible, but about culture too.
Rating:
Summary: More Than I Expected
Review: Some books are disappointments, but this one actually gave me more than I expected. I figured it would include a lot of interesting factoids about people and places in the Bible. But it also gives some really fascinating info about how the Bible has affected language, art, literature, movies, etc. I was really intrigued by the section about familiar phrases that (to my surprise) are found in the Bible. I also had not realized how many movies had been based on the Bible, not to mention the many world-famous authors whose books were in some way based on the Bible. This was a real education not just about the Bible, but about culture too.
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