Reading G.K. Beale: Logos vs. Hardcopy
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones? When it comes to G.K. Beale I highly respect his work and find myself wanting the benefits of both worlds: Logos and hardcopy... Portability vs. readability. Searchability vs. sustained thought. Easy passage look-up vs.... What are your thoughts?
I was very pleased to see his New Testament Biblical Theology finally available by itself on Logos.
FYI I just noticed that his "Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism" is available on Vyrso.
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I prefer electronic all around. I've got Beale's We Become What We Worship as a physical book and a Kindle book. The only reason I like physical books these days is to loan them. I dislike carrying physical books around, so the option to read a book on my computer, phone and tablet with page syncing, highlights and notes wins hands down.
I think another level to the question is: generic ebook or Logos book. The book I mention above is pretty good for reading through. Wouldn't mind having it as a Vyrso book so that Logos can search its contents. However, I feel like any reference style book is really worth having in Logos. For example, I've got New Testament Biblical Theology as a physical book and a Logos book, and I don't think I'll ever use the physical book, but I have used the Logos book. I don't think I'd use NTBT as a Kindle book either. It's not one you read cover to cover with your cup of tea and toast next to you.
Perhaps it's just a matter of going through an adjustment period, but I don't feel any lack of readability in electronic books. Of course everyone experiences this differently.
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I like paper books. I really do. But I am to practical to purchase any more for the most part. A digital book is much more useful to me. Here is how I read books:
- Some books I read while I am researching / studying. If the passage isn't too long, I will read in L5 on my computer.
- For longer passages, and for books I read "cover to cover," I mostly read on my iPad with the Logos Bible! App. I utilize highlighters like crazy, and create a "resource specific" note file.
- I recently purchased a "regular" (non-fire) kindle device and LOVE it. There are some books (or situations) where I don't need to take notes (or at least I don't need them in Logos). The kindle is ideal. Logos has talked about creating a "send to kindle" feature. If that comes to fruition, I might send more books to it. I can create basic highlights and return to the Logos app to add in the highlights later (manually).
(The Vyrso book is probably a mistake... It wouldnt surprise me to see it pulled and put into pre-pub for Logos)
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alabama24 said:
I recently purchased a "regular" (non-fire) kindle device
I'm curious, is it the Paperwhite? I saw it mentioned on another thread recently. Wondering if I would find it useful given I couldn't port Logos books over to it.
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Bentley Crawford said:
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones?
Hi Bentley.
Some if this is what you are used to, but I ended up buying Beale's NT Bib Theol in paper (before it was available in Logos). That's a major downer for me, as it isn't included when I search for theology books on a topic or verse or for the use of a phrase.
Personally, I don't find readability or "sustained thought" diminished in a readable book. I plug a 22" monitor into my laptop and rotate it to portrait. This gives me multiple pages on screen at once, with the Table of Contents pane open on the left (with bibles/commentaries on the built-in laptop monitor). This arrangement makes it easier to see where you are within a sustained argument than if you are viewing just 2 pages to an opening on paper.
The same is true (though less significantly so) with a smaller work such as Erosion of Inerrancy, though I didn't think that one had anywhere near as much to contribute as the perspective Beale maintained in NT Bib Theol.
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I only use electronic books other than my HCSB & NKJV hard copy. I really love having my library in Logos with access to the resources by the phone logos app for general reading, and notebook for work.
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It has been an interesting road for me to make the switch to read digital books. I agree that there is just something special about holding a paper book especially compared to digital formats. But I am convinced that the benefits far outweigh the weaknesses and so am committed to digital reading.
What is especially funny about this is that I read a paper book last week and it felt a bit weird and it was frustrating that that I had to take notes with a pencil and could not search for them easily.
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David P. Moore said:
I'm curious, is it the Paperwhite?
No. I am sure I would love that more. [:)]
I heard about a sale on "regular" kindle devices at Best Buy, and I had some "reward bucks" to redeem. With the sale and my reward vouchers, I paid $15 for the kindle. A deal too good to pass up. If Logos does implement "send to kindle," and if it works well, I might put a paperwhite on a wish list... but there isn't anything wrong with what I have... except that you can't read in the dark. At $15, I will not be afraid to take my kindle to the beach & pool this summer (and plan to do so).
FWIW - There is a website I use to track prices of items called camelcamelcamel. It works for Best Buy and Amazon for physical goods (not ebooks, mp3, etc.). You can set a price watch and if the price drops to match (or go below!) you will get an email.
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I have been thinking about this myself, especially with regards to books like Biblical theologies.
They are way more useful and more likely to be used in Logos, because the print editions do not possess that serendipity/discovery factor that is so loved by Logos users (especially when you are not explicitly studying the resource in question.)
However, I am finding it harder and harder to justify Logos' regular pricing on these titles. Commentaries are, for me, purchased only in Logos - no questions asked. But in case of systematic and Biblical theologies, the premium over the Kindle editions are very hard to justify, including in the case of the Beale theology. Many of these books come to Logos already in a digital format: given how good the PBB builder is in finding and tagging references, the additional linking work has to be for non-Biblical sources.
I might be wrong but I do not think that accounts entirely for the premium. I am usually willing to buy a Logos edition of such a book over other ebook formats if the premium is within 15 dollars. This rarely happens; of course, the frequent sales at Kindle do not help in this regard. I have accumulated a significant theology collection in kindle this way.
Of course, I miss the reference popups and all in Kindle but as a lay student of the Word, I would rather have the resource and modify my workflow (a good use of Windows 8 app snapping by the way) than not have it at all.
So TL;DR version: Logos over hardcopy any day. But the Logos premium for certain works (biblical and systematic theologies in particular) need to be justified by you as per your needs
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Thanks for the thoughts everyone! Though I love taking a hardcopy around and reading it, being able to quickly thumb through pages, find highlights, etc. there is no doubt the amazing benefit of Logos. Though it is hard to pay steeper prices for Logos resources vs. Kindle resources, I do find Logos to offer an extremely valuable premium. While it would be possible for me to amass a substantial theological library, especially of older resources, via an amalgamation of Kindle and PDF ebooks I very much value having everything together in one place in Logos. Further, their instant link-ability and search-ability puts Logos over the top for me.
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Bentley Crawford said:
Though I love taking a hardcopy around and reading it, being able to quickly thumb through pages, find highlights, etc. ...
This is exactly what I dislike about paper books. I've lost most of my highlights in paper books to the erosion of memory, and if I'm going to find that dynamite quote again, I have to flip through every single page of the book to find it again. With an ebook (Kindle or Logos), I can skip the raw text entirely if I want and scan through my highlights.
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William Gabriel said:
I've lost most of my highlights in paper books to the erosion of memory
Dont forget the erosion of the highlight itself! I thumbed through an old paper book recently to discover that my yellow highlights had mostly disappeared! The pigment fades with time... some more than others... Some more quickly than others.
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“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.” ~Chesterton
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Bentley Crawford said:
What are your thoughts?
I still use both. I've adapted to reading most of my fiction, novels, etc. on a Kindle. Much of that is due to how many books I've been able to get free, or for less than a couple bucks, on the Kindle. (I currently have about 140 theology books, published in the last three years, on my Kindle...total cost has been about $30 all together).
I don't love reading text-type books on a Kindle, or for that matter, on a computer screen. I do like many of the features of Logos when it comes to something like a copy of Beale's NTBT, but I also still prefer to hold a paper copy of a weighty tome in my hands, where I can feel it. It's an emotional attachment, mostly. But it is an important one.
All said, this problem is most certainly a first-world problem. I hope I don't lose sight of that fact.
Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.
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Bentley Crawford said:
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones? When it comes to G.K. Beale I highly respect his work and find myself wanting the benefits of both worlds: Logos and hardcopy... Portability vs. readability. Searchability vs. sustained thought. Easy passage look-up vs.... What are your thoughts?
I was very pleased to see his New Testament Biblical Theology finally available by itself on Logos.
FYI I just noticed that his "Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism" is available on Vyrso.
A big plus for Logos/electonic versions of a work like the N,T. Biblical Theology is size. A very large and heavy volume. I don't have arthritic hands or anything of that nature (yet), so it isn't like holding a volume like that is painfully difficult (not true though for my wife, who has had RAmost of her life). But it is certainly easier and more confortable to hold an 8-10 in tablet to read resources like this.
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Bentley Crawford said:
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones? When it comes to G.K. Beale I highly respect his work and find myself wanting the benefits of both worlds: Logos and hardcopy... Portability vs. readability. Searchability vs. sustained thought. Easy passage look-up vs.... What are your thoughts?
I was very pleased to see his New Testament Biblical Theology finally available by itself on Logos.
FYI I just noticed that his "Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism" is available on Vyrso.
A big plus for Logos/electonic versions of a work like the N,T. Biblical Theology is size. A very large and heavy volume. I don't have arthritic hands or anything of that nature (yet), so it isn't like holding a volume like that is painfully difficult (not true though for my wife, who has had RAmost of her life). But it is certainly easier and more confortable to hold an 8-10 in tablet to read resources like this.
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Bentley Crawford said:
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones? When it comes to G.K. Beale I highly respect his work and find myself wanting the benefits of both worlds: Logos and hardcopy... Portability vs. readability. Searchability vs. sustained thought. Easy passage look-up vs.... What are your thoughts?
I was very pleased to see his New Testament Biblical Theology finally available by itself on Logos.
FYI I just noticed that his "Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism" is available on Vyrso.
A big plus for Logos/electonic versions of a work like the N,T. Biblical Theology is size. A very large and heavy volume. I don't have arthritic hands or anything of that nature (yet), so it isn't like holding a volume like that is painfully difficult (not true though for my wife, who has had RAmost of her life). But it is certainly easier and more confortable to hold an 8-10 in tablet to read resources like this.
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Bentley Crawford said:
I saw many of G.K. Beale's works on sale at WTS Books and wondered: How do you prefer to read the majority of your books? What about the more substantial or significant ones? When it comes to G.K. Beale I highly respect his work and find myself wanting the benefits of both worlds: Logos and hardcopy... Portability vs. readability. Searchability vs. sustained thought. Easy passage look-up vs.... What are your thoughts?
I was very pleased to see his New Testament Biblical Theology finally available by itself on Logos.
FYI I just noticed that his "Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism" is available on Vyrso.
A big plus for Logos/electonic versions of a work like the N,T. Biblical Theology is size. A very large and heavy volume. I don't have arthritic hands or anything of that nature (yet), so it isn't like holding a volume like that is painfully difficult (not true though for my wife, who has had RAmost of her life). But it is certainly easier and more confortable to hold an 8-10 in tablet to read resources like this.
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Wow Randy, I guess you wanted to really emphasize your point - 4 times that is!
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Bruce Dunning said:
Wow Randy, I guess you wanted to really emphasize your point - 4 times that is!
Hmmm! What caused that? Not intended of course. I think I was at a restaurant - bad connection, unresponsiveness?
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Randy Lane said:Bruce Dunning said:
Wow Randy, I guess you wanted to really emphasize your point - 4 times that is!
Hmmm! What caused that? Not intended of course. I think I was at a restaurant - bad connection, unresponsiveness?
It is easy to do. I think you are right that it was probably a poor connection.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Bruce Dunning said:Randy Lane said:Bruce Dunning said:
Wow Randy, I guess you wanted to really emphasize your point - 4 times that is!
Hmmm! What caused that? Not intended of course. I think I was at a restaurant - bad connection, unresponsiveness?
It is easy to do. I think you are right that it was probably a poor connection.
He was probably having second helpings
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