I generally try not to review Bibles, because (quite naturally) I think there’s something inherently wrong with the whole idea of it. But since this is not a review of God’s Word or its translation but rather the marketing of the book, I suppose a Bible review can be allowed.

The NIV Student Bible that picked up for my Kindle was greatly disappointing, I’m sad to say. Being new to my Kindle and the whole e-reader venue, my reasons may be immature and naive, but I will relate them anyway for the sake of sharing my opinion on the issue.

I’ve found this book on Kindle thoroughly difficult to navigate with any speed or ease, because the file is linear and is only navigable by moving page-to-page or by performing word searches, by going to a location, or by setting and using bookmarks. Page-to-page is certainly a terrible option for when I need any passage past Genesis 1,  which leaves me with only one of the three remaining options.

• By Word Search: Performing a word search might be prove useful if I’ve already memorized key words in verses (with NIV vernacular) or if I already have the words available in some other way. But this word-search does not work if I desire to look up a passage (for example, if I need Isaiah 30, I may finally get to the book of Isaiah after a great deal of searching, but would then need to scroll through 30 chapters of pages just to get to where I am going).
  
• By Location: If I were to go to a location, I would first have to memorize the locations of book openings, or least make educated guesses as to where the books might begin. This also takes more time than I have when sitting in church or when in need of a particular passage in a hurry.
  
• By Bookmark: If I were to use bookmarks, I would have to set at minimum sixty-six bookmarks, one for each of the books of the Bible, and would thus have to scroll through each of them simply to get to Hebrews or Revelation. Once again, this is theoretically doable, but simply not a good use of my time.

Navigation through this Study Bible on Kindle is exacerbated due to all the otherwise useful study notes strewn throughout the meat of the biblical text. The notes themselves are educational and worthwhile, but they’re simply too cumbersome to use on my Kindle.

I believe I’d be much happier with a Kindle Bible that offers simplified navigation and one that lacks anything but God’s Word along with the added titles and references. But even then, I do not think I would be terribly happy with reading the Word on an e-reader. After all, I love my paper Bibles with margins for personal notes and everything else I habitually write inside.

I love God’s Word, and I think I’ve discovered that nothing can outdo His Word in the traditional, tactile, delicate paper that we all remember from the olden days (ca. 2007 and before).

©2011 E.T.

Read More from Philip Yancey:

• Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (1980) with Paul Brand
• What’s So Amazing about Grace? (1997)
• NIV Student Bible (2002) with Tim Stafford
• The Jesus I Never Knew (2005)