Customer Reviews

The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition

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I read the Book of Mormon for the first time in mid-2002 at age 15. Since then, I have read it almost 9 times (as of this review). Moreover, I have read a heck of a lot of material critical of the text itself (e.g. The Tanners, Evans, Vogel, Metcalfe) Notwithstanding, most, if not all, the attacks are usually based on fraud and/or popular though errant assumptions about the Book of Mormon text that actually do not jive with the text itself. In additoin, what Hardy has done with the 1920 text is make it more accessible to those approaching the Book of Mormon, following modern editions of the Bible, by indenting, for example, prose, not too dissimilar to the NRSV rendition of Deuteronomy 32, and leaving introductions to chapters to a bare minimum, alongside adding a number of appendixes, such as one on poetry in the Book of Mormon (e.g, chiasmus).

I urge any one interested in the truth to read the Book of Mormon to discover for themselves that it is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ, and to learn of its truthfulness by study and by prayer to God, after "testing all things" (Acts 17:11).

I find the Book of Mormon to be as credible as any other religious scriptures I have read. Whether the words were divine inspiration, copied from mysterious "plates", or even the work of an incredibly intelligent human mind - how does this differ from any other religous writings? And how does this affect your personal interpretation of your reading of the Book of the Mormon? Do you let other peoples opinions affect YOUR beliefs and your interest; your aspiration towards spiritual truth and knowledge? I certainly hope not!

For every thing affirmed in our world there is another who will deny it - even the most basic of truths - put it up for discussion in a group and see how few actually agree on anything. The Prophets warned of this condition in the world, as well as the Hindus - who call the current period we are living in "The Age of Quarrel" - that men will talk but will not listen; no one will agree on anything and people will be too proud to compromise or attempt to understand the viewpoint of others; greed, corruption and dishonesty will rule the day - gosh, sound familiar?

All religious masters and leaders teach that Faith is one of the major requirements for religious belief; from Moses to Jesus to Buddha to Martin Luther King. Is Faith based on fact? If one had to have proof for those ideals and beliefs then most would abandon Faith altogether. Even the Buddha, who told his followers not to trust anyone, but to investigate the truth for themselves, also instructed them to have Faith!

The whole basis of the Torah (The Law) is the 10 commandments which were also at one time written on stone tablets and "revealed" to Moses - does the fact that we can't find these tablets make those commandments any less imperative to the foundation of Judaism or Christianity? Do/did Smith's plates exist? Who cares? Jesus gave new teachings based on these Old Testament scriptures and The Law. Did Jesus have faith that the commandments were revealed to Moses?

Can you imagine if those plates did exist today - believers would say "See we told you so.." and skeptics would say "Oh, they are not real..." It would be akin to finding the lost Ark of the Covenant which by the way millions of Jews believe existed with no proof.

The Hindus have volumes and volumes of ancient scriptures - many of them handed down orally through thousands of years - how are we to trust the origins and the current inerpretation of these scriptures? Yet, billions of Hindus seem to have no problem putting their faith in them.

There is no denying that the basis of Mormonism is The Old and New Testament and I find it both inspiring and interesting. In truth, I don't really care about the origin - just as I can't question the origin of any religious scriptures and get satisifactory answers. Do you really think Joseph Smith - I am sure he was a great man in many respects - at his young age and limited education hatched a "scheme" to get rich by instituting a phony religion? Can you imagine the scope of such a project if you, personally, were to attempt to undertake a job like this today? Give it a try, write up some "phony" scriptures, pass them around on the internet and invite people to join up - I would be interested to hear how it goes for you and then whether or not your followers still believed in your message 75 years from now.

I read the Book of Mormon for what it is, the same way I read the Bible, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita or Buddha Sakyamuni's foundational precepts -for inspirational knowledge. I then put that knowledge into my greater subconcious mind to mull over and work with God to determine its value. Man can not do this work alone, nor do I rely on the judgement of man - who is in absolutely no position to judge anything. Intellectual reasoning is more or less a trick of the mind and denial the work of the ego.

I'm a lifelong Mormon who over time has tried to keep seeing the divine in the Book of Mormon, in the face of growing evidence of 19th century influences. Reading Hardy's companion text on a trip to the Middle East, I was overwhelmed with a new-found respect for the Book of Mormon's richness and complexity.

My wife and I just began last night re-reading the Book of Mormon for family study, using Hardy's The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition, and already we're thrilled to return to the text. It'll be an adventure. It's been a long time since I've really wanted to read the Book of Mormon - and this is due to Hardy's critique and analysis.

I have never met Grant Hardy, but to me he's an icon of careful, compassionate scholarship of the highest standard. He is the kind of person who could bring together believers, non-believers, and indifferent people toward a common appreciation of an amazing book. Thank you Grant Hardy!

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Everyone who reads the Book of Mormon regularly should do themselves a favor and buy this book. Read this version for a while. I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed reading the BofM as much as I have while reading this edition. It feels like a book I would read for fun, including staying up late to fit in Just One More Chapter, something I've rarely done, but with this version it happens regularly. Brilliantly formatted to match the brilliant content.

My brothers wife showed it to me. I showed it to a friend and we both bought one.
This book is broken into paragraphs instead of verses. This format is easy to read. The diagrams and illustrations in the back are helpful.

I enjoy this reader friendly version of the Book Of Mormon. It is fast and sectioned at appropriate places for better retention of themes and stories presented.

I plan to purchase additional volumes.

This format of the Book of Mormon helps me to see what's going on where with short, accurate subtitles. The text is broken up in more logical sections than the current official LDS church version. The paragraph form (with verses marked as superscripts) makes the book more enjoyable and easier to read. I would highly recommend this version as a good introduction to the Book of Mormon text. The introduction and appendices are also very well thought-out and informative. I loved Grant Hardy's introduction, which stays very historically accurate while written from a believer's point of view.

I love reading the Book of Mormon this way. There are none of my personal markings in this book and with the reformatted text, it is a little like reading it the first time. I find that the story flows well. I like seeing the poetry written/formatted as poetry. I love the subtitles. Very, very helpful to the reader. And, of course, the Book of Mormon is a wonderful and important book. It blesses my life.

From the moment my dad showed me his copy of this edition of the Book of Mormon I knew I had to have one. I have been a faithful reader the Book of Mormon all of my life but have always had a difficult time with the block verse format of the LDS standard edition. I have always had trouble understanding when one thought starts and stops, and have never been able to discern any of the poetic forms within the block text.

Reading this Reader's Edition of the Book of Mormon is a different experience. I am able to read with much less effort, and understand so much more. I appreciate the concise section headings that summarize the coming section. And being able to see the poetry makes it so much more meaningful to me.

I have read from this edition off and on for several years now, but for the first time I am reading straight through. Anyone who is familiar with the Book of Mormon will appreciate my excitement when I say that because of the layout, I have been able to understand many of the Isaiah chapters! Instead of getting a headache from not understanding what I'm reading, the verse format enables me to see and understand so much of what Isaiah is saying.

Many thanks to Mr. Hardy for all of his hard work in making this volume possible. I was especially impressed to read in the back of the book that he will receive no royalties from the sale of this book, but has donated them to the LDS Humanitarian Services Fund.

I really like the idea behind this book and believe it is a step in the right direction. Formatting the text so it is more accessible to the reader while at the same time making poetic passages or other textual, linguistic...forms stand out is a great way to present the text of the Book of Mormon to the reader. There is much in the text that is "hidden" from the plain site when published in the two-columns-per-page format. But when you reformat the text it makes the "hidden" parts come to life. Also, it engages the reader much more as the reader can plainly see the shift from a narrative passage to a prophetic or poetic passage for example.

While I like the idea behind this edition of the Book of Mormon I expected more from it. My review is probably a bit biased by the fact that I read the author's Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide (published in 2010 by Oxford Press and which I really like...) first before reading this book (published in 2003). I've also long been engaged in a similar effort of formatting, outlining and annotating the Book of Mormon text for my own personal study. So my expectations were high, not so much because I'd expect the author to come up with the same ideas as I have. But more because of the editor-based focus of author's latter publication. In this respect I think that the work falls a bit short of my expectations.

For example, in the Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide the author focuses on the intent of the editor and/or narrator and how understanding the text needs to be understood in light of his motives -- with which assertion I completely agree. But then I look at this publication there are passages which aren't formatted accordingly. In fact their formatting is inexplicable with respect to the stated objective. Take Zenos' sermon on prayer as quoted by Alma in the book of Alma chapter 33:4-11 for example. Alma has just preached to the Zoramites who did not know they could pray outside their synagogues and who were taught not to believe in Christ. So Alma's objective in speaking to these Zoramites is to teach them about prayer and perhaps more importantly about Christ. This is attested in Zenos' own words that even God's hearing of our prayers is an act of mercy through or thanks to Christ. So in this regard it would seem logical to format this sermon as an enumeration of God's mercies, the greatest of all being the last listed mercy -- the atonement of Christ. This is a classic linear pattern of five analogous thoughts listed, culminated with the sixth one such as a-a-a-a-a-b to make the last one stand out.

There are other things I'd like to see in an edition of this type such as bigger margins for note taking, additional comments on prophetic forms, etc. to further enrich reader's experience. Take for example, a classic form-critical example of individual lament in 2 Nephi 4:16-35. Such laments are well attested in the book of Psalms and follow a typical form of (1) invocation, (2) complaint, (3) confession of trust, (4) petition, and (5) vow of praise. See Nickerson in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies for an excellent writeup on the subject. Anyway, it would be nice to make these forms and their respective parts identified and demarcated so they stand out more easily, but it is not the case.

However, my personal gripes are not to dissuade the reader from picking up this edition. But to illustrate the complexity of undertaking such a monumental task as creating a "perfect" reader's edition of the Book of Mormon. No one edition will please all readers. There is always room for improvement, especially as we gain new light and understanding of the underlying text. Additionally, a number of passages could be formatted in multiple ways -- one way if you focus on form criticism, another way if you focus on something else. That's why additional commentary would be nice to point these cases out, using a type or font that always unmistakably distinguishes all commentary, added titles, heading, etc. from the actual text.

In summary I do command Mr. Hardy on his work and I do recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the Book of Mormon.