# Need Some Advice re: eBooks, IPads, Kindle, etc.



## goodnews (May 28, 2011)

I haven't yet joined the eBook revolution and am IT challenged to say the least. The church I just left owned a couple of commentary sets that I came to rely on. I have a small book allowance (about $500) at my new church and need some resources.

I'd like a resource that will allow me to download (as inexpensively as possible) some commentaries, as well as some other pastoral resources (Calvin's commentaries, John Owen's stuff, NICNT, NICOT, Word Biblical Commentaries, ICC, and some others), and secondarily some other books as well (ie. world history stuff, novels. etc.)

The Kindle stuff on Amazon seems useful but it doesn't have many of the commentaries available that I want. 

Are there programs that I could dowload to a kindle, or IPad, or whatever, that I can use to gain access to the aforementioned resources?

Any other general suggestions would be appreciated as well.

Thanks.


----------



## greenbaggins (May 28, 2011)

If you want electronic resources, look no further than Google Books, where just about everything in the common domain is available for free download. All you would need then is the Adobe reader, in order to read PDF's. I would not advise reading these on a Kindle, since the print would be too small (unless you have a Kindle DX). The other resource, which is slightly easier to navigate, is Welcome to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library! | Christian Classics Ethereal Library. They have a lot of stuff there as well, and it is more easily accessible. For more modern commentaries, if you want them electronically, you are looking at buying a computer program. For sheer resource breadth, you would have to go with Logos. You can buy whatever you want in the way of modern commentaries there. Bibleworks is starting to catch up with Logos by partnering with other companies, who are making Bibleworks compatible versions of software. Commentaries are not yet being published in Kindle format yet, as you have seen.


----------



## Notthemama1984 (May 28, 2011)

Your logos collection can now be accessed online. So if you bought yourself a tablet of some sort with wifi capabilities, then you could go that route.


----------



## goodnews (May 28, 2011)

Lane & Boliver - Thank you both very much! I was alreadt familiar with CCEL, but not so much with the rest. So, it looks like I'll need to get an IPad if I want to download what I need using Logos. I like having the resources on my laptop but was also wanting something about the size of a Kindle. It looks like the IPad is about the same size. Correct?

Also, I guess I can use Google Books on my IPad?


----------



## Notthemama1984 (May 28, 2011)

I don't know about sizes of tablets, so I can't help there.

Out of curiosity, why did you jump to Ipad? Is it that much superior to all other tablets? (I ask out of technological ignorance)


----------



## goodnews (May 28, 2011)

Chaplainintraining said:


> I don't know about sizes of tablets, so I can't help there.
> 
> Out of curiosity, why did you jump to Ipad? Is it that much superior to all other tablets? (I ask out of technological ignorance)



I'm as ignorant as they come. When both of you recommended Logos I did a quick check on their website and the IPad was listed on their host page.


----------



## Notthemama1984 (May 28, 2011)

goodnews said:


> Chaplainintraining said:
> 
> 
> > I don't know about sizes of tablets, so I can't help there.
> ...


 
Sounds good to me.


----------



## Wayne (May 28, 2011)

For Puritan works, http://puritanlibrary.com/

(main title links are to .pdf format; epub and kindle links are supplied after the author/title)

And (self-servingly), this can be a way of finding some of what you need:

http://www.pcahistory.org/sermons/index.html

(copy & paste the author/title into a Google search to locate texts online)


----------



## fredtgreco (May 28, 2011)

goodnews said:


> Lane & Boliver - Thank you both very much! I was alreadt familiar with CCEL, but not so much with the rest. So, it looks like I'll need to get an IPad if I want to download what I need using Logos. I like having the resources on my laptop but was also wanting something about the size of a Kindle. It looks like the IPad is about the same size. Correct?
> 
> Also, I guess I can use Google Books on my IPad?


Ebooks are a very good option, but do some research before spending money. They are not necessarily cheaper, but definitely more portable and more accessible. With Logos and my iPad2, I can carry almost my entire library of commentaries, etc. with me when I travel, back and forth to the office, etc.


----------



## goodnews (May 28, 2011)

Wayne said:


> For Puritan works, http://puritanlibrary.com/
> 
> (main title links are to .pdf format; epub and kindle links are supplied after the author/title)
> 
> ...



What a great website. Thanks.

---------- Post added at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------




fredtgreco said:


> goodnews said:
> 
> 
> > Lane & Boliver - Thank you both very much! I was alreadt familiar with CCEL, but not so much with the rest. So, it looks like I'll need to get an IPad if I want to download what I need using Logos. I like having the resources on my laptop but was also wanting something about the size of a Kindle. It looks like the IPad is about the same size. Correct?
> ...



Thanks Fred. I wonder if there's a website that offers some electronic Christian resources for a discount?


----------



## DMcFadden (May 28, 2011)

If we are talking about a pastor researching sermons and money is an issue:

theWord is a great piece of FREE software. Using the available modules and some from secondary sources, I have more than 2,000 books, many of them GREAT commentaries and they were almost all free. The premium add ons can be purchased selectively and will add punch to your prep (cf. BDAG, TWOT, Baker series by Hendriksen, etc.): http://www.theword.net/; TheWord Modules Library.

The other piece of integrated software that will facilitate study (as opposed to simply reading an e-book), is e-Sword. It is not as flexible or customizable, but is certainly simple. e-Sword - the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge

Using free software, you can do much/most of what you would probably do with Libronix. My Libronix downloads have added up to more than $10,000. Sure they are new. And, they make me feel so very much more scholarly. However, there are a lot of good classics (e.g., Calvin, Keil and Delitzsch, Henry, Gill, Poole, Leupold) that are free and some excellent resources that are nearly so (e.g., Constable's 7,000 pages of commentaries referencing many of the latest commentaries and summarizing them neatly for you in the course of his expositional notes).

Plus, I have access to copy and paste from theology books by luminaries such as Hodge, Warfield, Charnock, Owen, Calvin, Dabney, Erskine, Gill, Piper, Winslow, etc.

And, the free Greek and Hebrew resources include Gesenius' Grammar, Robertson's massive Grammar, Moulton and Milligan, BDB, Liddell and Scott (unabridged), Goodwin, Burton, etc.

For example, when I move my mouse over bara in Gen 1:1, it gives me this free material:

English gloss: created
Transliteration: ba·Ra
H1254 - בּרא (BDB/Thayer)
- Original: בּרא
- Transliteration: Bara'
- Phonetic: baw-raw'
- Definition: 
1. to create, shape, form 
a. (Qal) to shape, fashion, create (always with God as subject) 
1. of heaven and earth 
2. of individual man 
3. of new conditions and circumstances 
4. of transformations 
b. (Niphal) to be created 
1. of heaven and earth 
2. of birth 
3. of something new 
4. of miracles 
c. (Piel) 
1. to cut down 
2. to cut out 
2. to be fat 
a. (Hiphil) to make yourselves fat 
- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 278
- Part(s) of speech: Verb

It does relatively complex searches as well. So, if you want to spend $10,000 on Libronix, you can have a pretty exceptional theological library. But, if you are still broke and don't want to go into debt, the free software will allow you to do some impressive work without spending a dime.


----------

