Logos Reading Plan Function:

Thanks to the stupendous customer support at Logos, I now have the option to make reading plans out of any resource in my Logos library.

I have done some tests of it, and while it is quite a simple interface with not a lot of customization available, it is enough to get the job done. And it seems like it would be a good way of using some of the resources I have that don't show up in more specific biblical searches and studies. I can now create a reading plan for something like Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism or his Work of the Holy Spirit, then set a time-frame (read it in a year, or some other period), and on which days of the week I will read it.

With some more customization of the interface I could have also set up a reading plan to keep up with Hebrew and Greek now that I don't translate them for school or work. I had hoped to set up a plan, stipulating that I translate 3 verses of each every day (or alternating days at first to get into practice again), but I do not seem to be able to be that specific. I could, however, simply tell it to organize 1 Samuel into a reading plan, and work on it that way.

Or I could just suck it up and motivate myself for it. We'll see what I can do in Logos 4 first!

I'm Impressed...

Very impressed.

Logos 3 took about 4 or 5 seconds (not very long) to search my library for 'transubstantiation.'

Logos 4 took exactly (it says how long it took) 0.85 seconds for the same search.

BUT

Logos 3 came back with 39 occurrences in 9 resources, Logos 4 came back with 97 results in 69 articles. PLUS Logos 4 has a lot more resources, some which Logos 3 does not have (although only four of them came up in this search: volumes 1 and 2 of Great Doctrines of the Bible, and Exploring Church History, and two commentaries I did not previously have.

I will keep playing around with this program, and come up with a better review before too long.

Logos 4 Beginnings...

Okay, so while I was at school today, I decided to have my computer download what I needed for Logos. I started at about 11:15, and by the time my classes were over at 1:45, it was done downloading.

Now it is indexing, and will be for the next 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Maybe more. Okay, it looks like more. Much more.

The purpose of this indexing is described in this post on the Logos blog: The Power of Indexing, Explained.

What it says, in brief, is that the engine indexes all of the books I have in my Logos library, even going so far as to index synonyms (which boggles my mind, to be honest), so that the searches I make will be much quicker.

Once the process is done, I will put it to the test and let you know how it does. I expect that searches will be done in a fraction of the time. I think I read on a review somewhere that searches that took 3 minutes in Logos 3 took a few seconds in Logos 4.

We'll see what I can run it through soon...

Logos 4 Update.

So, Sherri let me upgrade to Logos 4 yesterday evening (when it comes to spending money, I always talk to Sherri first!).

However, I purchased the download option, but the download is considerably bigger than I was led to believe (4.2 GB instead of 1 GB--interestingly enough, my one and only beef about Logos. They are an excellent company, doing all they can for their customers). So, I don't have all my resources yet--I plan on purchasing the DVD rather than use up almost half of our monthly bandwidth (and a lot of time).

I do have the program installed, and it is a beauty. Totally different than Logos 3. In fact, the promotion video on the logos 4 web page (see last post) explains that it was totally rebuilt. They did not just upgrade Logos 3, but they started from scratch and totally rewrote and reworked the program.

So, it is no longer on the Libronix platform, as that has been discarded. As I said, rebuilt from the ground up. Which means, then, that my old resources are no longer usable (Logos 3 is not compatible with Logos 4, and vice versa). I don't lose them, of course, but I have to get all new editions of these resources (hence the large download size).

Once I have Logos 4 up and running with all my resources, I will try to write a review (which will be hard, since I have to relearn everything I know about how to use Logos!).