I traveled to Greenwood, South Carolina, this past weekend to present a “Christ and Culture” seminar for Herald of Truth. On the way, I was using the Kindle app on my iPod and made an interesting choice: I purchased a book that I already owned the physical copy of. (Check that: a book that Herald of Truth owns a copy of, that I’ve been using)

I’ve already written about the advantages of reading books on the Kindle app. (I’ve never used a Kindle; I only use the free app) I discovered a new advantage: footnotes.

Footnotes are a bit of a problem in books. Where should they be placed? The bottom of the page is convenient, yet disrupts the look of the page and can be annoying to some people. Many opt for placing them at the back of the book, as did the book I was reading, but then it’s extremely difficult for the reader to locate pertinent notes. A compromise is to place them at the end of each chapter, like we did in Letters From The Lamb, but even then, they often go unread.

I realized this trip that I was consistently reading footnotes. They’re hyperlinked, so it’s a matter of “Click,” and you’re at the note, and “Click,” you’re back at the point where you were reading.

I’m not throwing away my physical books, but I’m becoming more and more of a fan of electronic ones. Apologies to all the purists out there.