Beta feedback wanted: Smart Search Synopsis

Thanks Mark. Can you explain the significance of that section? And the best way to use it. 

This is such great idea. It really adds to the value of smart search.

When selecting "All," is the synopsis using every resource in Logos' library as a base for the search? I'm just wondering if having more data that leans to the Reformed end of the theological spectrum would give them more weight in the results than Orthodox, for example, where the resources might be more limited. 

When selecting "All," is the synopsis using every resource in Logos' library as a base for the search? I'm just wondering if having more data that leans to the Reformed end of the theological spectrum would give them more weight in the results than Orthodox, for example, where the resources might be more limited. 

In both All Search and Books Search, Logos uses the first five unique resources it finds to create the smart synopsis.

In Logos All Search, we search every book that shows up at logos.com or that you have a license to. In Verbum All Search, we search every book that's sellable at verbum.com or that you have a license to.

In both Logos and Verbum Books Search, we search all books that you have a license to.

Unless you have a very large library that's likely to yield a fairly different synopsis in those two scenarios. But that's about probability, not weighting. In a Books Search, it's more likely that a book that closely matches your theological convictions appears in the top five results because the percentage of books you own that match your theology is likely to be higher than the percentage of books you don't own that match your theology.

Thanks for that clear explanation Mark, that's really helpful. 

I found that to focus the search on a book I am studying, then asking questions, is a very useful and interesting things to be able to do.  

I think this is one of the best things Logos have done with AI so far. Looking forward to it being available in the desktop and mobile platforms.

Formatting and longer answers would help, that would also improve the summarize tool.

I'm constantly amazed at the power of Logos' AI implementation. I was recently researching a pretty obscure topic, and the AI search handled it flawlessly. Here's the scenario: I'm trying to understand why Accordance treats λέγω as the lemma for ῥηθὲν, but Logos uses εἶπον as the lemma (they both acknowledge that λέγω is the root). I thought it might be because εἶπον is a defective Greek verb, but I wasn't sure. So I searched for: "Is εἶπον a defective greek verb?" Here's the AI summary and it's so good:

εἶπον is an aorist form of the Greek verb λέγω, meaning "to say" or "to speak"[1]. While the search results don't explicitly state whether it's defective, they show that εἶπον is part of an irregular verb paradigm, serving as the aorist tense for λέγω. This suggests it's not a typical defective verb, but rather part of a suppletive paradigm where different roots are used for different tenses of the same verb[1][2][3].
[1] Newman, Barclay M. A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, Revised Edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; United Bible Societies, 2010, p. 54.
[2] Friberg, Timothy, et al. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, vol. 4, Baker Books, 2000, p. 132.
[3] The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint, Lexham Press, 2012

Frankly, in the past I have always been frustrated. by Logos Bible software. I've been using the desktop and mobile version to prepare for small group studies and to occasionally preach. In short, I've always felt the execution fell short of the promise. The promise seemed to be that Logos would help me easily find resources in my curated library that address the question at hand. In reality, it seems that the software often seemed to NOT identify resources that I KNOW addressed the question. As well, while the search tools were powerful, I never had enough patience to memorize the syntax required to get useful results. Finally, I found it frustrating as well that I usually needed to leave the desktop app and launch my web browser to review and purchase new Logos books/resources for my desktop app - the links to purchase books referenced in the desktop app never seemed to work for me.

So, I am cautiously optimistic regarding Smart Search. I am looking into counseling men at our church, so using the web app I asked something like how to counsel men regarding pornography use. I would capture the search results in a screen grab - but that window on my Mac is hidden by this "Logos Web App" window - suggested feature improvement.

Suffice it to say that I found the search synopsis impressively helpful. The results tagged good resources in my library, the summary provided a helpful overview of the issue (no arcane search syntax required), and thanks to the very-well-executed links to the logos store, I found several counseling books that I had never considered before, and the ease of reviewing the contents of the books and purchasing them made Logos a bunch of money. I've been searching for a book on the Theology of Counseling by Heath Lambert for the last several months using the "point your web browser at the Logos website" method, and could only find the book in Spanish. Using Smart Search I found it right away, and somehow it was only $9.00. Purchasing the book was easy peasy, and the resource loaded up relatively quickly on my older MacBook Air.

So, Logos' new approach appears to be off to a promising start, and a likely win/win. I can easily get answers to my questions from the curated resources in my library, I can quickly identify and review additional resources I might like to purchase to provide further info, and Logos is able to sell effectively notify me of their digital books that meet my needs and sell/deliver them with minimal friction. Color my cautiously optimistic.

Going forward, what I hope to see is a tight integration between the questions I ask and the resources I own. It would be nice to be able to prioritize the resources that show up in the answer. It still seems as if some of my favorite resources are not being included in the answer or bulleted list. Overall though, I am super impressed - Logos is meeting and surpassing my past expectations.

I was impressed by the synopsis feature except that it doesn't differentiate between which books I own or not. The little lock icon would be nice to save me opening books I don't have.

Further the ability to constrain 'All' search to books I own would be nice too.

I've created a collection (which you can download here) of the best academic authors I know and when I do an intelligent search I select “Books” (mine) and narrow down the search with the collection. 

Great collection, thanks, that will be a very handy filter for searching.

I probably should make one for acedemics I don’t like but I am too lazy.