In the mail: The Outdoor Bible!

THIS is SO COOL!

Alright, all you people who like to go camping, who are involved with scouting, who get bored waiting for your kids to finish sports practice or who LIVE IN HURRICANE ZONES, listen up! This is for you!

The Outdoor Bible just showed up in my mailbox today, and it’s way cool! It is the entire NT in six volumes (each the size of a road map) which can be folded up and stuck into a backpack, a glove compartment or a hastily thrown-together emergency bag. The translation used is from the New American Standard Bible and Jesus’ words are in red, if you like that. The website says they will be issuing a KJV in 2006.

The Outdoor Bible is printed on 100% plastic, both waterproof and tear-resistant “with normal use.” You can even freeze it, although the makers advise you to then thaw it out before opening. It reads and folds easily – I just tried it out and found it easier to fold and read than both the NY Times and my trusty Mobil Map of NYC. :-)

One small minus: The text is a trifle small – understandable for what they are trying to do, but still, small – so if that’s a problem for you (and you don’t routinely travel with a magnifying glass) that might be a drawback.

I have written to the publisher to ask if additional volumes of the psalms or the OT books will be made available, in time, but for now this 6-volume set comes in a burlap bag with a drawstring and it contains the following:

Vol 1: Matthew & Mark
Vol 2: Luke
Vol 3: John
Vol 4: Acts & Romans
Vol 5: 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessaonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon
Vol 6: Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1,2,&3 John, Jude and Revelation

I’m giving it a big thumbs up, over here, folks. Check it out!