Anyone else using this book?

[mikbone]

We started using this version of the Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me.

I’m loving it.  The format is easier to read (paragraphs and quotation marks really help).  The Chiasmus and poetry stanzas are highlighted as seen above. Commentary, footnotes, and introductions…

And the appendix is full of maps, charts, timeline, genealogy, etc.

Highly recommended.

Edited May 14, 2024 by mikbone

[Carborendum]

8 hours ago, mikbone said:

I’m loving it.  The format is easier to read (paragraphs and quotation marks really help).  The Chiasmus and poetry stanzas are highlighted as seen above. Commentary, footnotes, and introductions…

One of my companions had a version like this.  I found it interesting that the book had a disclaimer at the beginning which noted something like the following:

Quote

We are sensitive to the fact that taking liberties in altering scriptures in any form -- even in the manner of formatting -- is to tread on sacred ground.  We therefore do not recommend this work as a replacement for regular scripture study, but as a study aid only.

One aspect of my reading handicap is that I am poor at discerning where the pauses, emphases, changes in velocity and volume, etc. would be placed.  It takes several passes and rephrasings in my mind to discern what the author intended. Often, there are several phrasings that all make sense.  And from a gospel perspective, they may all be correct.  Or sometimes, many are clearly incorrect, but the text lends itself to a reading that is clearly wrong.

Quite often, I've found that other people say that they have no problem with it.  It is like breathing to them.  But when we really get down to it and consider how they are reading it, a large minority of the time, I see that they are reading it wrong (as far as my personal studies would dictate) because they don't really consider an alternate phrasing.  And it has led to many people asking me what that is about.  From a gospel perspective such readings didn't make any sense to them.  But they couldn't read it any other way.  

I have found that I HAVE to consider many phrasings because of my weakness in reading.  So, it is an application of Ether that what I perceive as a handicap has become a source of great insight.  And even though I don't always get the right interpretation, I do tend to consider more interpretations than the average person.

The weakness of having a book formatted in such a manner is that it lends itself to only one interpretation/phrasing.  And it often may be the wrong one.

Edited May 14, 2024 by Carborendum

[rcthompson88]

I have it as an ebook and have tried reading it a couple of times. Finally bought the paper edition last week because the clicking of various hyperlinks to access the footnotes was becoming too distracting on my ebook reader.

[Just_A_Guy]

I like Hardy a lot.  His “Understanding the Book of Mormon” was illuminative for me.  He was also involved in the Maxwell Institute’s BOM study edition a few years back (which I own and love); I believe the Annotated is an expanded version (but the Annotated uses the 1920-something text whereas the MI edition uses 2013–the Church has stopped authorizing the use of the 2013 text, and the MI edition is now out of print).

 

[mikbone]

58 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

He was also involved in the Maxwell Institute’s BOM study edition a few years back (which I own and love)

Yeah, I had that book and loved it. Due to the complexity of the Mosiah layout I wanted to refer to the book and realized that we must have lost the book during our last move.  

I tried to purchase it again but it’s out of print thus super expensive.  But then I found this version.  

I wish the quality of the book was better.  I remember when books were loved, sown together and made to last.  Everything now seems glued with the cheapest products available.

The content is top notch though.

[Traveler]

I do not know if I would like the book or not.  Perhaps I should purchase and use it first.  Often, I do not like pre-marked text like this because it may preset my impressions of interlacing Chiasms.  I had several copies of scriptures in my library.  But my wife thinks I am somewhat of a hoarder, and she does not understand why I want several copies of the same thing.  Years ago, she purged about half my library.    The problem was that it was years before I realized things were missing.  Living without the books did not seem to change much of anything.  Thus, I decided that the lost books were not really that important.

 

The Traveler

[mikbone]

13 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Years ago, she purged about half my library.

Secretly thats what I think happened to my Maxwell Institute BoM study edition.  She is a bit of a book snob and dislikes paperbacks.

After I bought this hardback version I had her look at the material and poetry as well as use it during Come Follow Me (hopefully she won’t throw this one out).

[Just_A_Guy]

6 hours ago, mikbone said:

Secretly thats what I think happened to my Maxwell Institute BoM study edition.  She is a bit of a book snob and dislikes paperbacks.

 

In a previous life, I could have gotten you guys alimony for that.

Just sayin’.

Edited May 16, 2024 by Just_A_Guy

[JohnsonJones]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:56 PM, Traveler said:

I do not know if I would like the book or not.  Perhaps I should purchase and use it first.  Often, I do not like pre-marked text like this because it may preset my impressions of interlacing Chiasms.  I had several copies of scriptures in my library.  But my wife thinks I am somewhat of a hoarder, and she does not understand why I want several copies of the same thing.  Years ago, she purged about half my library.    The problem was that it was years before I realized things were missing.  Living without the books did not seem to change much of anything.  Thus, I decided that the lost books were not really that important.

 

The Traveler

 

Well, luckily I married a great spouse that understands that Books are my life.  She would never do that to me.  However, if I had a spouse that did that, I think that may be the point of breakage for me (which is why it was important to marry someone who at least respected my love of books). 

Some of the Books I have for history are irreplaceable and from what I understand, quite valuable these days as well.

It would be like tossing money down a drain.

(though honestly, I think of the ones that I've actually had appraised, though those are newer books rather than the older ones in my personal library, the most expensive one was appraised at was around 2500-4000 dollars, depending on who would buy it...etc).

[Traveler]

5 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

 

Well, luckily I married a great spouse that understands that Books are my life.  She would never do that to me.  However, if I had a spouse that did that, I think that may be the point of breakage for me (which is why it was important to marry someone who at least respected my love of books). 

Some of the Books I have for history are irreplaceable and from what I understand, quite valuable these days as well.

It would be like tossing money down a drain.

(though honestly, I think of the ones that I've actually had appraised, though those are newer books rather than the older ones in my personal library, the most expensive one was appraised at was around 2500-4000 dollars, depending on who would buy it...etc).

Books are an interesting and valuable commodity.   I would say that of all my material possessions, I covet them the most.  However, I am not sealed to any of my books and I have no plan to take them with me when I finish my travels and return home.

 

The Traveler

[JohnsonJones]

On 5/20/2024 at 10:14 AM, Traveler said:

Books are an interesting and valuable commodity.   I would say that of all my material possessions, I covet them the most.  However, I am not sealed to any of my books and I have no plan to take them with me when I finish my travels and return home.

 

The Traveler

In my selfish manner, I've hoped that any book I've read I get to take with me.  Sure, it's not physical, but if we have a perfect memory of all our guilt (and thus probably other things as well) in the hereafter, I have this though that any book I've read I'll also have a perfect memory of.

We could reproduce them there!

Terribly infantile of me...I know.

The other thought that crossed my mind is that we are just one world.  Imagine all the other worlds and the histories they have.  If they have a library of those histories, there could be an eternity of history to study and read!

I must admit, I also love libraries.

[ZealoulyStriving]

On 5/23/2024 at 11:38 AM, JohnsonJones said:

The other thought that crossed my mind is that we are just one world.  Imagine all the other worlds and the histories they have.  If they have a library of those histories, there could be an eternity of history to study and read!

Like the Akashic records?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records#:~:text=In the religion of Theosophy,life forms%2C not just human.