For such a small book in the Bible Jonah has sparked a veritable ocean of scholarship. A single work cannot cover the vast number of scholarly approaches to investigating it without extending to multiple volumes and several thousand pages; this without even attempting to understand the vast array of allegorical, typological, and assorted other creative manners of reading the text in Jewish and Christian traditions. Moreover there is a whole field of study into the liturgical use of Jonah, a popular reading in both synagogue and church, not to mention an entire Islamic tradition based on the book of Jonah in the Qur'an and Muslim investigations into the book of Jonah in the Hebrew Bible. One should not forget that little Jonah has had a long history of representations in art and literature from early Christian symbolic representations of the resurrection to Melville's sermon revolving around man's relation to nature kicking off the voyage in Moby Dick. An entire career could be devoted to nothing but children's books retelling the story with text and illustrations covering the range of styles and temperaments from warm fuzzy bedtime stories to terrifying moral admonitions. Much has been done, much is left to do.

Given the vast publication on Jonah, a select collection of works on areas of study not pursued here is warranted for anyone who wishes to have some idea of Jonah's impact on, if not Jonah's world, at least the world that picked up the book in its over two millennium history.