A review by lakmus
A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths by John Barton

4.0

Tldr: If you thought the Bible was a piecemeal collection of texts from different authors and time periods, think again. It's way, way, more piecemeal. It also does not perfectly match any of the faiths that rely upon it, so if you are running a religion, don't be stupid and argue for a literal interpretation based on specific wording of things, because it.will.not.work.

Also there's just so many fascinating bits there and thorough scholarship all around (as far as I can tell, having no training in the humanities whatsoever).