Typesetting/formatting of the BOM

[caspianrex]

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

[Ahab]

14 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

We're moving to movies now.  Fewer and fewer people take the time to read books these days.  Have you seen the Book of Mormon videos yet?  They're well done, I think.  

If you're still into reading books though you might try some of the new commentaries that are out, which include the scripture text as well as some comments and pictures about them.

If someone were to rewrite the Book of Mormon as you are suggesting they might be able to have the Church publish it for them, or release their copyright to them so that those authors could publish those books that way themselves. I just don't think very many people would care to read them that way, unless maybe the Church reps included it in the Gospel Library app we can get over the internet now to read on or phones or tablets when we want to.

Edited to add:  I think the main reason for the verses in the text is to make it easier to find and read specific comments.   You make a good point though in saying the verse numbers and the separations between verses weren't there in the original text, though.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Ahab

[caspianrex]

2 minutes ago, Ahab said:

We're moving to movies now.  Fewer and fewer people take the time to read books these days.  Have you seen the Book of Mormon videos yet?  They're well done, I think.  

If you're still into reading books though you might try some of the new commentaries that are out, which include the scripture text as well as some comments and pictures about them.

If someone were to rewrite the Book of Mormon as you are suggesting they might be able to have the Church publish it for them, or release their copyright to them so that those authors could publish those books that way themselves. I just don't think very many people would care to read them that way, unless maybe the Church reps included it in the Gospel Library app we can get over the internet now to read on or phones or tablets when we want to.

I have seen those videos, and I think they're very well done. But it seems that it would be a shame if actually reading any of the Scriptures (BOM or the Bible) completely fell by the wayside.

Meanwhile, I think over in the "con" column on my topic, there would be the likelihood that, if the Church were to reformat the BOM in paragraphs, they'd probably feel a need to reformat their KJV edition as well. Which would be a simply immense task...

Grant Hardy's edition for the Maxwell Institute is currently the closest thing to the type of thing I'm suggesting, as his is the only reformatted version (as far as I can tell) that uses the 2013 text. All the other reformatted versions of which I'm aware use public domain texts, such as the 1830 or 1920 editions. And don't get me wrong, Hardy's edition is great, but I imagine not everyone wants to wade through the footnotes and such.

As I recall, I saw a video of a talk given by Royal Skousen, in which he indicated that the main reason the verse-by-verse format was first created was to give the BOM more of the look of how Bibles were then printed.

[smac97]

27 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

You may be interested in the edition discussed here:

Quote

You’ve Never Read the Book of Mormon like this: New Study Edition Now Available
Post contributed by Neal Rappleye
January 13, 2019

The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU recently teamed up with Latter-day Saint scholar Grant Hardy to produce The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition, co-published with Deseret Book and the Religious Studies Center at BYU. This new edition of the Book of Mormon uses (with permission) the official 2013 version of the Book of Mormon text, produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but makes several adjustments to its presentation and formatting to enhance the reading experience.

Features

The text is arranged in paragraphs (or, as appropriate, parallel lines and poetic stanzas) that help the reader get a better sense of the narrative or logical flow of the text. Headings and sub-headings help guide the reader along and break the text into easily readable, but fully coherent blocks of text, and the original 1830 chapter divisions have been added to help readers follow the larger thematic and narrative arcs of the original authors.

The verse numbers have been superscript, to still aide the reader following along in Sunday school or a seminary, institute, or religion class at BYU, but they’ve been reduced to be less intrusive on the narrative. When authors interweave biblical quotations into their speeches and discourses, bolded text is used to make those quotations readily identifiable. When a large block of biblical text is being quoted, such in the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi, or the Sermon at the Temple in 3 Nephi, bolding is used to highlight differences from the King James Version of the Bible.

Footnotes are used to:

1. Alert readers to connections to other passages, both within the Book of Mormon itself and to biblical passages from the Old and New Testaments.
2. Notify readers of variant readings from the original and printer’s manuscript, earlier editions of the text, along with plausible conjectural emendations based on the Critical Text Project by Royal Skousen.
3. Chronological information, to help readers follow the timeline of events
4. Occasional explanatory information that helps readers understand different features of the text

While many readers of the Book of Mormon are used to studying the Book of Mormon on the Gospel Library App, trying a different, printed edition of the Book of Mormon can be an exciting and instructive opportunity for gospel learning. Reading the Book of Mormon with a different format and page layout can help readers look at old scriptures with new eyes. Different doctrines and messages will come alive with verses grouped together in meaningful paragraphs. New pieces of inspiration and insight can be found as readers study the footnotes and supplementary material.

Overall, the Maxwell Institute Study Edition manages to enhance the Book of Mormon reading experience without getting in the way. It is Mormon’s text, with its witness of Jesus Christ—not Hardy’s personal commentary or insights—that shines through. BYU students who used an earlier version of this study edition in class “reported feeling more engaged and focused on the scripture’s content as they read, and that their study habits improved as they were able to read for longer blocks of time and with greater comprehension, all of which made them more eager to read each day.”

Thanks,

-Smac

[Ryan Dahle]

26 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given Book of Mormon Central (BMC) a licence to reproduce the 2013 edition of the Book of Mormon. BMC's new scripture app, called Scripture Plus, has paragraph formatting:

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/new-free-scriptureplus-app-helps-you-experience-the-book-of-mormon

It isn't yet available for Android, but that will be coming very soon. 

[Ahab]

3 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

I have seen those videos, and I think they're very well done. But it seems that it would be a shame if actually reading any of the Scriptures (BOM or the Bible) completely fell by the wayside.

Meanwhile, I think over in the "con" column on my topic, there would be the likelihood that, if the Church were to reformat the BOM in paragraphs, they'd probably feel a need to reformat their KJV edition as well. Which would be a simply immense task...

Grant Hardy's edition for the Maxwell Institute is currently the closest thing to the type of thing I'm suggesting, as his is the only reformatted version (as far as I can tell) that uses the 2013 text. All the other reformatted versions of which I'm aware use public domain texts, such as the 1830 or 1920 editions. And don't get me wrong, Hardy's edition is great, but I imagine not everyone wants to wade through the footnotes and such.

As I recall, I saw a video of a talk given by Royal Skousen, in which he indicated that the main reason the verse-by-verse format was first created was to give the BOM more of the look of how Bibles were then printed.

I think probably so, too.  And I think the reason the text in the Bible was formatted that way was to make it  easier to find and read specific comments, too.

I have a reprint of the Book of Mormon as it was when it was first published in our day, the one you are referring to as the 1830 version I suppose, and I have enjoyed reading it that way on occasions.  

Audio versions of the Book of Mormon are out now, too, and they don't usually say the number of the verse they are reading as they read them.

I think books in general are becoming passé these days, as we use other ways of getting that same information. Maybe someday soon we'll get to the point where we can edit our own versions, deleting verse notations or the spaces between verses if we want to, and adding highlights or notes where we want them.

[caspianrex]

14 minutes ago, smac97 said:

You may be interested in the edition discussed here...

Yes, I have it. (I actually mentioned it in my previous posts, but it's kind of in the middle of a big parenthetical discourse, so I'm not surprised you missed it.

I think, at the moment, the Study Edition you linked to is the closest thing available to what I was talking about above. My understanding is that the Church gave Grant Hardy the permission to use the 2013 official text. As a non-member I can tell you, it's FAR easier for an outsider like myself to read than the official edition of the BOM. That's why I wonder if, some day, it may be in the Church's best interests to reformat the official edition, to take advantage of that easier-to-read format. The Maxwell Institute Study Edition is a great step in the right direction, I think, but as I mentioned in an earlier comment, it may be a little difficult for the casual reader to wade through the footnotes and the numbering system that tries to guide the reader through the original chapter numbers. I would think missionaries might appreciate an edition that had paragraphs, but was still simple and direct to read.

[caspianrex]

21 minutes ago, Ryan Dahle said:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given Book of Mormon Central (BMC) a licence to reproduce the 2013 edition of the Book of Mormon. BMC's new scripture app, called Scripture Plus, has paragraph formatting:

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/new-free-scriptureplus-app-helps-you-experience-the-book-of-mormon

It isn't yet available for Android, but that will be coming very soon. 

Yes, I imagine that ScripturePlus version may be the "wave of the future" for modern readers.

I'm an Android user, so I'll be very interested to see that app once it's ready for that OS.

[Ahab]

8 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

Yes, I have it. (I actually mentioned it in my previous posts, but it's kind of in the middle of a big parenthetical discourse, so I'm not surprised you missed it.

I think, at the moment, the Study Edition you linked to is the closest thing available to what I was talking about above. My understanding is that the Church gave Grant Hardy the permission to use the 2013 official text. As a non-member I can tell you, it's FAR easier for an outsider like myself to read than the official edition of the BOM. That's why I wonder if, some day, it may be in the Church's best interests to reformat the official edition, to take advantage of that easier-to-read format. The Maxwell Institute Study Edition is a great step in the right direction, I think, but as I mentioned in an earlier comment, it may be a little difficult for the casual reader to wade through the footnotes and the numbering system that tries to guide the reader through the original chapter numbers. I would think missionaries might appreciate an edition that had paragraphs, but was still simple and direct to read.

I see a potential problem to having someone decide where the statements should be separated into paragraphs. In some sections of scripture there are different places where the separation of statements/verses could change the way the statements are understood.

I'm sure you're aware of this kind of thing in many of the books you have read.  Where you put commas and periods and separate statements in different paragraphs can change someone's understanding of what the writer was trying to convey as he used those words to share his ideas.  I've seen the separation of statements by chapters give different perspectives of what the writer was trying to convey.  I don't recall any examples off the top of my head but I think you probably know what I am talking about.

[caspianrex]

34 minutes ago, Ahab said:

I see a potential problem to having someone decide where the statements should be separated into paragraphs. In some sections of scripture there are different places where the separation of statements/verses could change the way the statements are understood.

I'm sure you're aware of this kind of thing in many of the books you have read.  Where you put commas and periods and separate statements in different paragraphs can change someone's understanding of what the writer was trying to convey as he used those words to share his ideas.  I've seen the separation of statements by chapters give different perspectives of what the writer was trying to convey.  I don't recall any examples off the top of my head but I think you probably know what I am talking about.

That's actually a VERY good point! I'm pretty sure that Grant Hardy made quite a few changes in his paragraphing and headings between his Reader's Edition published in 2003 and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition published fifteen years later. So I absolutely agree, it can be a huge challenge to make those decisions. 

[Coop]

A friend of mine published a unique version of the Book of Mormon that is worthy of consideration.

Link to Amazon

He used a thematic approach based on dividing the book into 214 events then added indentation to indicate who was speaking.  This more fully captures the narrative style of the orginal format but with the advantage of still using chapter and verse for reference sake.

All the best,

Bob

[ksfisher]

1 hour ago, caspianrex said:

As a non-member I can tell you, it's FAR easier for an outsider like myself to read than the official edition of the BOM. That's why I wonder if, some day, it may be in the Church's best interests to reformat the official edition, to take advantage of that easier-to-read format.

That's an interesting observation.  I have exactly the opposite experience.  I find it far easier to read the Book of Mormon and bible in verse rather than paragraph format.  I imagine that's because I've grown up reading them that way.

[caspianrex]

17 minutes ago, Coop said:

A friend of mine published a unique version of the Book of Mormon that is worthy of consideration.

Link to Amazon

He used a thematic approach based on dividing the book into 214 events then added indentation to indicate who was speaking.  This more fully captures the narrative style of the orginal format but with the advantage of still using chapter and verse for reference sake.

All the best,

Bob

Thanks for bringing that edition to my attention! I ordered one from Amazon (the link you supplied was to Canadian Amazon, so here's a link to the same book at the Amazon.com site).

[caspianrex]

14 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

That's an interesting observation.  I have exactly the opposite experience.  I find it far easier to read the Book of Mormon and bible in verse rather than paragraph format.  I imagine that's because I've grown up reading them that way.

There's something to be said for familiarity. For example, even though I prefer paragraphed Bibles, I still find double-column to be a bit easier to read than single column. Or at least, I think I can find familiar passages in a double-column format. One thing I will say in favor of both the standard BOM and the LDS edition of the KJV is that the font used for both is a good, legible typeface. So that's a definite plus for the current publications.

[Ahab]

24 minutes ago, caspianrex said:

Thanks for bringing that edition to my attention! I ordered one from Amazon (the link you supplied was to Canadian Amazon, so here's a link to the same book at the Amazon.com site).

Thank you for this.  I just ordered one too and you saved me some money by suggesting this link.

[Coop]

3 hours ago, caspianrex said:

Thanks for bringing that edition to my attention! I ordered one from Amazon (the link you supplied was to Canadian Amazon, so here's a link to the same book at the Amazon.com site).

Three guesses where I live.⛷️  The skiing is great.

All the best,

Bob

[Robert F. Smith]

8 hours ago, caspianrex said:

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

Well, of course you are correct, Prince Caspian, but money is not the issue.  There are a number of things which might be done to make the BofM read with greater accuracy and ease.  But don't hold your breath.  In the meantime, we will just have to get by with the available editions.

[Robert F. Smith]

8 hours ago, Ryan Dahle said:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given Book of Mormon Central (BMC) a licence to reproduce the 2013 edition of the Book of Mormon. BMC's new scripture app, called Scripture Plus, has paragraph formatting:

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/new-free-scriptureplus-app-helps-you-experience-the-book-of-mormon

It isn't yet available for Android, but that will be coming very soon. 

In looking over the variety of helps available with this new app, I am reminded of a time three decades ago when Gordon Thomasson and I suggested a kind of talmudic commentary on the Book of Mormon -- surrounding the main text.  We soon realized that such a plan could only come to fruition with an advanced digital system.  Such helps and apps are now available for the Bible and for the Talmud, so I guess it is time for the BofM to get into the act as well.  I recall one colleague at BYU several years ago having the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible on his smart phone.  Still another colleague at the Y put a full-fledged commentary on the BofM on his PC, with instant access to all quotations in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, etc. (which required two screens).  Great things can be done, but will they?

[Dan McClellan]

9 hours ago, caspianrex said:

Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked through the standard paperback official Church version of the Book of Mormon (the one the missionaries hand out for free): has the Church ever considered reformatting the BOM with paragraphing, like that found in most modern editions of the Bible? Considering how many editions over the past couple decades have come out with paragraphing (Grant Hardy's Reader's Edition and his Maxwell Institute Study Edition, the Zarahemla Research Foundation's edition, and the Annotated Book of Mormon, just to name a few), AND considering that the BOM was originally printed in paragraphs, and was only put in verse-by-verse format several decades later, it seems to me that it would be worth considering for the standard edition as well. Of course, I know such a project would involve a considerable amount of money, as it would involve a complete overhaul of the format, unlike the most recent update in 2013. Still, I would be interested in hearing people's thoughts. (I imagine @Dan McClellan and others might have some useful insight on this topic.)

Full disclosure: I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I am admittedly coming from an outsider's point of view. But I have a rather large collection of BOM, so it's a topic that interests me.

There have been several such discussions on several levels. In fact, I was discussing precisely this earlier today with some folks who work on the publishing of the scriptures. The Church has asked us to "simplify and reduce," which has been interpreted by the Publishing Services Department to mean pumping out fewer products, but we'll see what the future holds.

[Ahab]

17 hours ago, Coop said:

Three guesses where I live.⛷️  The skiing is great.

All the best,

Bob

I have a few mountains where I live where the skiing is great, too. Would you like to guess where I live?

 

May you have enough misery to help you more fully appreciate happiness when you experience it,

Ahab

p.s.  Were you named consiglieri in another life?

[Coop]

3 hours ago, Ahab said:

I have a few mountains where I live where the skiing is great, too. Would you like to guess where I live?

 

May you have enough misery to help you more fully appreciate happiness when you experience it,

Ahab

p.s.  Were you named consiglieri in another life?

Nope just Bob.  Some of my friend call me Coop, which is short for Cooper, but I'm not into aliases.  I'm too old or too self-assured to care who knows what I say or what I do.

All the best,

Bob