The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning by A.J. Jacobs

The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning Reviews

• 
  Erin

  ARC for review. To be published May 7, 2024.
  
  Here the author intends to live with the tools and mindset of someone living when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. The author is a white make, so that may work out OK for him, but if he were a woman or a person of color, maybe he wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about taking this on. And he definitely takes advantage of things like air conditioning and penicillin, so…. But I quibble. This is what this author does and I’ve read some of his stuff before. He’s going to act as an originalist, that is, one who believes we should strictly follow what the founders said and what their intent was, so, the most conservative. Also known as the people who took away the right of women to control their bodies. But I’m not bitter! Much.
  
  Something I learned (and I went to law school, so shame on me), there is no Constitutional right to a secret ballot. One used to go to the polling place and loudly state who he (yep, he) was voting for. Jacobs tries to do this and it’s quite funny. There’s a lot of time spent explaining the Bill of Rights, Federalism and what have you. Jacobs also makes a half-hearted attempt to have Congress issue him a letter of marque so he can be a legal pirate (the last one was given in 1815.)
  
  There is a basic primer on constitutional rights and originalism, plus an attempt to be humorous by looking at life in the 1700s. Then there’s this chilling thought: a resident of Wyoming has three hundred times more power in the U.S. Senate than a resident of California. I live in a state where that math comes out in my favor and that is still terrifying.
  
  I liked this, but I’m not really sure who this book is for. Most people who would read it (people like me) already know much of what is here. The author’s wife and children must be saints. That or this pays really well.
• 
  Elise

  Let me preface this review by saying I am not American. I requested this on NetGalley because I have very good memories of Jacobs’s
  The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (I am not religious either) and was looking forward to the same kind of humour.
  
  I was not disappointed, this book amused me a lot with its ridiculous situations and laughable interpretations. It was educational, made you laugh and made you think. It should be compulsory reading for *certain* Americans. Like for starters, those in Congress.
  
  As a Canadian, I admit I started this book thinking the Constitution was an old document that had nothing to do with today’s reality, and it was a strange document for a whole country to base their ethics on. And well. I still think that.
• 
  britt_brooke

  Funny and irreverent. I thoroughly enjoy Jacobs’s lifestyle experiments. If you haven’t read The Year of Living Biblically, or any of his others, you’re missing out on some legit good points, but also general hilarity and embarrassment at his expense. Bless his patient family! PS. His quill-written letter to Majorie Taylor Greene regarding her constitutional originalism is hysterical.
• 
  Brigette

  AJ Jacobs is one of my favorite authors and I was so happy to be given the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication. Jacobs has written a number of books like his life is a memoir; living Biblically, reading the encyclopedia and more. Following his experience following the Bible, Jacobs followed the Constitution for a year. I always learn from his books and it makes me think of things in a new way.
  
  The book starts on Election Day and Jacobs tries to vote publicly, since voting privately is not in the Constitution. This funny fact is interspersed with other truths - the book doesn’t shy away from what the Constitution missed - African Americans, women, gay people and more. The author says he even wrote the book by hand and quill. It was hilarious to imagine him carrying an antique musket around or saying his thoughts out loud rather than social media.
  
  This book is a refreshing and interesting way to read about early history and laws. One fascinating thing I learned was that the Supreme Court would be most surprising to the founding fathers today - it gained power at the expense of Congress and the President. The AI section where it answered as James Madison was pretty engaging as well.
  
  This book ultimately goes the distance to dissect the document and other amendments. Honestly it seems harder to live by this one than the Bible. I cannot recommend this book enough! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
• 
  Kat V

  A.J. Jacob’s is definitely a comfort author for me. Very excited to read this. I learned a little but mostly I think this is a good refresher for most people. Worth a read but not excellent, nevertheless I will probably continue to read everything he writes. 4 stars even
• 
  Jeff

  I saw a story about this book on "CBS Sunday Morning" a few weeks ago and thought it sounded interesting.  I regretted my purchase before I was finished with the author's introduction.  Strike one:  the author decided to illustrate the second amendment by walking around New York City carrying a musket and bayonet everywhere.  Nobody did that in 1787.  Reeks of narcissistic, agenda-driven stunt. Strike two:  Maybe it was meant to be a joke, but he wrote that his children invoke the first amendment every time they call him names.  Even joking about that (calling a parent names) is unfathomable to me.  If it's a joke, not funny; if not, it's so far removed from my experience to make it too weird. (Yes, I am very old-fashioned in some ways.)  Strike three:  In a couple of paragraphs, he goes on and on about what he describes as the shockingly brutal and horrific language used in the Constitution.  If you're triggered by words in an historic document, maybe you should stay away from history.  I bailed on this book in the first chapter, not worth my time.
• 
  Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir

  I really admire A.J. Jacobs and how much he immerses himself in the subjects of his bizarre and wonderful books. In 2007, he wrote THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY, which detailed his efforts to live for one year as the Bible instructed. Now he is back with THE YEAR OF LIVING CONSTITUTIONALLY, which chronicles his attempt to live life in the same manner as those who wrote the United States Constitution.
  
  Jacobs undertook this quest for several reasons. The Constitution, a 4,543-word document written in 1787, affects our lives on a regular basis. Rarely does a day go by without some discussion of a constitutional issue, such as gun rights or religious freedom. More importantly, the Constitution is a national Rorschach test. We look at it with blinders on, which often determines what we wish to see. Finally, we must consider how we view the Constitution. Is it a document of liberation or one of oppression? In many respects, the Constitution is like the Bible. There are countless interpretations that vary according to how you perceive the text.
  
  Jacobs’ journey to follow the Constitution’s original meaning is lighthearted and gentle but also can be educational. On Election Day, he goes to his polling place and tells the election officials the candidates he would like to vote for. Why? Because that was the way the Founding Fathers voted in the 1700s. He explained his decision to a female election judge, which is ironic considering that she would not have been allowed to even participate in elections back then. Understandably, she was not sympathetic to his historical wishes. As she observed, “Times are changing.”
  
  So Jacobs voted in the newfangled way --- on a paper ballot with a ballpoint pen --- observing that the Constitution doesn’t actually say how citizens should vote and in fact did not even specify who counts as “the People.” In the beginning they were mostly white males, and much of American history was and remains a battle to make “the People” more inclusive. In fact, the secret ballot was an idea imported from Australia in the late 1800s.
  
  Interspersed with Jacobs’ humorous escapades, which includes an 18th-century musket and a tri-cornered hat, are thoughtful discussions on the meaning of original intent. He reports on his meeting with Northwestern University law professor Paul Gowder, the author of a law review article titled “Reconstituting We the People.” Gowder asks why America should live in a society where the rules were created by slaveholders. Why should their document control our lives? Gowder suggests that the Founding Fathers were the beginning of a constitutional process, not the end. As we bring the Constitution into modern times, we are founders as well. What we think and experience matters for a document serving as a blueprint for our nation.
  
  Jacobs has wonderful adventures in his year of living constitutionally. He applies for a Letter of Marque to become a privateer for America, and he interviews constitutional experts on both sides of the originalism debate. It is an interesting and insightful journey that adds significant conversation to an important issue confronting America.
  
  Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
• 
  Book Club of One

  The works of A. J. Jacobs are always focused on immersive lifestyle experiments. Each time, a theme is picked and pursued for a year with Jacobs' journaling what he's learned or how things have progressed. He read the entirety of the Encyclopedia Britannica, followed the bible as literally as possible, tried to live as healthily as possible, or tried to get through a day without using any plastics. Here he sets his goal on following the constitution as close to the original intention of its creators as possible. To do so he adapts his lifestyle to follow that of someone living in the 18th century and works through the constitution article by article, seeking to make the most of his rights or opportunities. Along the way he tries to bring back the tradition of having cake on election days, attends a supreme court hearing, attempts to be awarded a letter of marque and presents a petition to Congress.
  
  Though there are some caveats. Jacobs still makes use of technology, in fact much of what he purchases to emulate historical living is from internet shopping, outside of some reenactor gear. While the chronicle is focused on the constitution, Jacobs is embracing it as it exists in the present day, which includes all the ways it has been amended. This is not a project to glorify the past, the writers of the constitution were human with all the foibles, personal believes and contradicting ideals of freedom (for wealthy white people) and acceptance or benefits of slavery.
  
  Jacobs also does not do this alone. There is his long suffering and patient wife and now three children, two of them who usually want nothing to do with the project, but one who is open to it, especially the cooking. Jacobs also enlisted the help of politicians, academics and other associates to help him understand the creation of the Constitution and the many ways its content has been interpreted throughout the US's history.
  
  Like A. J. Jacobs other books, The Year of Living Constitutionally is both highly entertaining and informative. Recommended for US residents looking to be a little more involved in political life, readers of American History or those looking to learn as they're entertained.
  
  I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
• 
  Ellen Taylor

  Oh boy, another winning experiment narrated by my favorite nonfiction author, NYC resident AJ Jacobs! I am convinced by him to bake an Election Cake this November, celebrating our voting rights and democracy. 😊 AJ has such a creative yet brilliant mind to enact life experiments, and he married the perfect person, St. Julie, to put up and support them. I have followed his narratives from early days, when he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica to his year of living biblically to detailing various puzzlers’ exploits, to this latest all-in experience of trying to understand the Founding Fathers’ ideas behind the US Constitution and how it has evolved through the last 235 years through the Bill of Rights and various amendments. He takes us on a very structured approach to these ideas, at each end of the spectrum between originalists and living constitutionalists and even in between. I can’t wait to discuss this book with others interested in the questions he poses! Bring it on!
  Favorite quotes:
  On the section about quartering soldiers: “As Ben Franklin famously wrote in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”, ‘Fish and visitors stink in three days.’”
  “…Harvard law professor Noah Feldman calls it [originalism] ‘historicism’…..Historicism makes judges into historians, a job they are unqualified to do. When judges cite the past, they cherry-pick the history that suits their politics.”
  On the two types of thinkers: Fox or hedgehog… “Originalism is a hedgehog approach. The idea is to interpret the Constitution with a single lens: the original public meaning. I prefer the fox’s worldview. I believe flexible thinking leads to better solutions and a better life.”
  And one of his final takeaways: “Don’t glorify the past- but don’t completely dismiss its wisdom, either…. Some ideas from the past are worth reviving. Most importantly, cake on Election Day. But also many other ideas: the emphasis on the common good, the quest to control one’s rage, the slow thinking, the experimental mindset, the distaste for aristocracy, and the awe at being able to cast a vote.”
  “Whether the sun sets or rises on democracy, that’s up to us, we the people.”
• 
  Dominique

  Thank you PRH audio for the complimentary ALC. All opinions are my own.
  
  At a glance:
  Educational, humorous, lighthearted, adventurous, historical, insightful, society
  
  A.J. Jacobs makes learning about the Constitution fun and engaging in THE YEAR OF LIVING CONSTITUTIONALLY. He goes through each article and amendment; offering interesting historical tidbits, insight about how the articles are interpreted today by various groups, and attempts to live like it's the 1790's in today's society.
  
  I appreciated how Jacobs evaluates each topic as unbiased as possible-offering opinions from varying sides of the political spectrum. My first thought upon starting this audiobook was only a white man could participate in this project in modern society and wonder if the rules are livable and sensible and I was happy he acknowledged this in the book.
  
  I learned and laughed a lot while listening to this. Jacobs is great at making a topic I wouldn't normally dig into seem accessible and entertaining. I loved that he included his wife and children in his experiments, adding some more humor. Ultimately I learned that the Constitution is totally open to interpretation- much like The Bible, no one agrees on what it means. We put a ton of importance on a text that isn't clear at all. I think this quote says it best: "Don't glorify the past but don't completely dismiss its wisdom either."
• 
  Jill Elizabeth

  I enjoy these books. They are a fun and light-hearted way to learn something new, while spending time with a faintly goofy but well-meaning guy next door who is willing and able to set his ego aside in the name of knowledge and entertainment. I am a lawyer so more than passingly familiar with the Constitution, but still found some tidbits in here that I was either not aware of or hadn't thought about since law school.
  
  I also lived in worked in DC for a long time, so had more than passing familiarity with the political institutions and issues discussed also. While it did make some of the sections feel repetitive after a while, as Jacobs drove home issues about Constitutional interpretation and political processes, I still find his voice to be engaging and his humility about his lack of knowledge to be endearing and so the read was enjoyable throughout even when it covered material I already felt familiar with.
  
  It reminded me very much of the Living Biblically book for obvious reasons, as both focus on the concept of interpretation versus strict construction. It was an engaging read and a fun trip through our legal and political institutions.
  
  Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.
• 
  Linda

  
  Perhaps the most surprising thing about this book is the number of times cloves are mentioned. I’m seriously considering having a t-shirt made with my new motto: “But the cloves are important.”
  
  I’ve been an ardent fan of A.J. Jacobs since The Know-it-All. By this point, reading one of his books feels like catching up with an old friend and his family. “So what has Julie been up to, and what have you done to embarrass your sons recently?” is a question that will always receive a satisfying answer in his titles.
  
  You will learn plenty about the constitution, the founding fathers, and interesting 18th century habits here. But I’m there to see A.J. commit to the bit-- spilling ink on a sitting senator’s carpet, buying not one, but two muskets (one for lookin’, one for shootin’), and attaching a goose quill to his tube of gel while piping the preamble onto a sheet cake by candlelight.
  
  I think the most impressive feat of all may have been going out on the street and convincing random New Yorkers to take a slice of home baked cake from a guy wearing a tricorn hat. Sure, it was the Upper West Side, but I think that might be a hard sell even in my friendly medium-sized midwestern city. Were there cloves in that cake? You bet your spatterdashes there were!
• 
  Ron S

  A.J. Jacob's specialty is a particularly fringe sort of participatory journalism in by which you learn a lot while laughing your head off. He's in fine form here. Given the current state of politics in the US, this is a very timely book. The Constitution is invoked frequently and feverishly and I often wonder how many people have actually read it, or know much about its history, from the time it was written to present day. This book provides an opportunity to learn about it, while having fun at the same time.
  (I'll just add that as a Canadian, I'm able to approach this from a distance. But even though it might offend or rile some people that like to quote brief passages of the Constitution to justify their behavior, I would hope it's widely read by Americans, regardless of party affiliation.)
• 
  Kay

  A.J. Jacobs is one of my favorite authors. I appreciate his innovative ideas for "projects," his thorough research, which is experiential as much as it is using resource materials, his humor and wit. His thought-provoking approach to big topics breaks them down into digestible size.
  
  The first book I read by Jacobs was The Year of Living Biblically, and, as one who may have skipped reading (most) sections of The Bible, I enjoyed his easy to read method of educating while entertaining. The Year of Living Constitutionally left me with the same result. It's a thought-provoking easy read and I recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding the intent of the U.S. founders and creators of our Constitution.
• 
  Sarah

  This is another great book by A.J. Jacobs. He explores topics in a way that is both entertaining and informative, and this topic is an important one! I really appreciate this takeaway that he had from his year of living Constitutionally: While we absolutely do not want to partake in “deluded nostalgia,” “some ideas from the past are worth reviving. Most importantly, cake on Election Day. But also many other ideas: the emphasis on the common good, the quest to control one's rage, the slow thinking, the experimental mindset, the distaste for aristocracy, and the awe at being able to cast a vote.”
  
  I received an ARC from NetGalley. The book will be released on May 7, 2024.
• 
  Jeannine

  I really enjoyed The Year of Living Constitutionally by A.J. Jacobs. It was educational and enjoyable, those are key items for me. I learned quite a few things I hadn't known about the Constitution or some historical background on various Amendments to the Constitution. It left with some questions and a desire to do some research and understand a bit more or better. It's a nice balance of levity and serious research. I imagine it will cause many more people to pick up the book than if it were simply a historical tome on the topic, even a short one. Maybe schools will use it as a way to engage students more. .
  
  #TheYearofLivingConstitutionally #NetGalley
• 
  Peter Z.

  A piece of paper can not be alive. "It says what it says and it doesn't say what it doesn't say." And if you don't love it, you don't need to pack the supreme court and come up with tortured logic and redefined words to make it do what you want. You can just vote to change it. It's been done many many times. So why is everyone's hair on fire about any of it? Everyone needs to catch their breath and follow the constitution as it is, or follow the constitution in its rules to amend it. If you can successfully operate a hot dog, you can understand this.
• 
  Jamie Huston

  I love A.J. Jacobs. I've read each of his books as they've come out, for 20 years now, and I've enjoyed them all. His work is clever, sincere, thought-provoking, and optimistic. And funny. This new book is no exception.
  
  I genuinely learned a lot from this (election cakes) and while he and I would likely disagree about a number of issues, he is relentlessly open-minded. I've always appreciated that. This book was just as fascinating as all of his books have been.
  
  I do miss seeing the Olive Garden joke, though.
• 
  Hannah

  Really fun and interesting book. I don't know if living constitutionally worked quite as well as living biblically as far as actual living, it was a little more living as the 18th century. Still very interesting and a fun project. I liked that he included many different perspectives on how to interpret the constitution. It also got me in the mood to listen to the Hamilton sound track.
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  Maria Sanchez sokolowski

  AJ Jacobs is a consistently funny and original writer. He once again tackles a controversial subject, this time taking on the U.S. Constitution, and tries to envision how the Founding Fathers meant to interpret those sacred words. Jacobs is joyful, irreverent, and educational. A must read for any high school government class!
• 
  Stephanie

  I won this book! Woo!
  
  I really enjoy Jacobs' books and this current one points out the absurdity on which we base American society. Jacobs did a good job of explaining and balancing the idealism of the founding fathers and how that applies to modern life. I appreciate his tormenting of his children in achieving these goals.
  
  I look forward to seeing what Jacobs does next.
  
  
• 
  Jean

  I really liked following A.J. Jacobs on his journey to spend a year "living constitutionally." He made me think, but also has a really witty way of writing, so it was an overall enjoyable read. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in American politics. I'm looking forward to reading more Jacobs, as well.