HCSB Ultrathin Reference Bible, Brown and Blue LeatherTouch with Magnetic Flap

As a Pastor, I am picky, because I use my Bible constantly. I love HCSB, and I've used a Holman Ultrathin Reference Bible for 13 years. Mine wore out, so I bought this new one, but they had switched to a San Serif font. "Serifs are semi-structural details or small decorative flourishes on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. An example would be the Times New Roman font." So publishers almost exclusively use serifs on body text, because it is faster for people to read, especially people who have read for years.

And they put the "headword" (reference) at the bottom of the page, rather than the top of the page like all other Bibles, dictionaries and reference books.

Trying to be too modern, they ruined an old classic. I notice they abandoned both these mistakes in the new CSB Ultrathin Bibles.

I purchased this small hcsb for my "go to" bible in my purse, bible studies, church, etc. I love the lay out of the bible. very easy to read. however, the middle column referencing is awful. instead of using chapter and verse to distinguish the reference, you use tiny, faint, obscure alphabet lettering which gets lost in the text of the chapters. i cannot read the obscure tiny alphabetical letters, cannot find them again in the text, and i get very frustrated. i almost need a magnifying glass and it hinders my productivity getting my studies done. all other bibles use the chapter and verse referencing. i know, because i looked at all other types of bibles: niv, kjv, nkjv, nlt, esv and the hcsb study bible. but your reference bibles don't use chapter and verse referencing. like i said, i like the layout and the wording best out of all the bibles. please fix this referencing in the middle column and stop using faint, tiny alphabetical lettering. please use chapter and verse for references in the middle column.

For a large print, the Bible is slender and easy to handle. I love it.

The HCSB Ultrathin Reference Bible offers a lot in a trim package. The heart of any bible is the translation and the HCSB provides the best combination of accuracy and readability available in an English translation. The HCSB is quite literal, but the translators utilized natural English for readability. Traditional biblical terms such as "grace", "propitiation", etc. are retained and explained with bullet notes at the back of the bible. Translation notes are plentiful. The text is printed using line matching, so the black to white contrast is excellent. A very clear, easy to read font is utilized. The binding is sewn; a mark of quality construction. The deep chocolate, cowhide cover is sturdy, supple and elegantly designed. A concordance and full color maps are included. The thumb index tabs are easy to use. The cross references are excellent, but the letters used to denote the references are too small; a return to the bold-font verse numbers, used to designate cross references in previous editions, would be an improvement for future printings.

I highly recommend this fine reference bible!