Logos Discount for Bob Jones University—Wed, Sep 10 – Wed, Sep 24

Deconstructing the Logos E-mail Ad I’m Supposed to Send Out

I’m the unofficial contact man for Logos sales at BJU, at your service! So, BJ students and faculty/staff, here’s the ad I’m supposed to send you—I didn’t write it!—with my comments interspersed:

“30% off Logos Bible Software – 2 Weeks Only!”

mlwj: This is all true, though other opportunities will come next semester and maybe a few at other times.

“Save Time: Complete assignments in a fraction of the time – search 9,000 books with a click”

mlwj: Not really the right emphasis, and probably not all true: a “fraction”? You may save a trip to the library; that’s handy, I grant. And one-click searching is totally true. But please don’t complete your assignments in a fraction of the time! Quick searching of your library (some of which can now be done on Google Books even if you own merely physical books) should instead give you more time for reading to make your assignments better; it should also broaden your sources (i.e., create more work for you!).

“Save Money: Buy books for about $1.35 each – payments as low as $25/month”

mlwj: Now some sober talk about the actual value of each Logos book: Divide the cost of the package (say, $965.97 for the Gold package, excluding tax) by the number of books you will actually use. For each book to cost $1.35 you’d have to use 715 of the books in the Gold package. Considering that there are not quite 700 by my reckoning—and a few of them are free elsewhere or not worth much—I think you’ll find that difficult.

This is what I encourage people to do: sit down with the whole list of Logos books, look up on Amazon (via Firefox’s keyword search) the actual value of the books you will actually use. Add up that value. If it’s greater than the cost of the package, get the package if you have the money. For me, that meant I bought the Gold package a few years ago. I haven’t regretted it.

Another note: some sharp people disagree with me on this, but I don’t think you’ll read Pilgrim’s Progress or any other lengthy book on your computer screen (though I’d love to get my Logos books on a Kindle). Focus on reference works, books made for quickly looking up relatively brief passages of information. Commentaries, dictionaries, even journal articles fit here.

One last tip: get with someone who knows books and show him the list you’ve created of 1) books you’ll actually use 2) with their Amazon prices included. Get him to tell you where you’re wrong: books you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) use, and books you missed.

“Save Space: Carry all your books on your laptop – an entire library that’s portable”

mlwj: All true! I like this very much!

Note: Check out some of my other Logos posts here, here, here, and here.

Ok, Now the Sale Info

It’s 30% off for students, 50% off for professors, and 25% off for staff/alumni.

All the major packages are available, plus a few other resources, some of which I requested for you:

• Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible: 129.95
• Word Biblical Commentary: 599.95
• Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary: 159.95
• Theological Journal Library, vols. 1-10: 339.95
• Luther Werke

Compare libraries here.

For more information or to make a purchase, click here or call (800) 878-4191 6:00AM – 6:00PM Pacific Time.

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