At someone’s request, I recently put together Microsoft Word editions of the LDS standard works, for use as study aids. (The person who requested it is using Word to highlight, annotate, and add footnotes/endnotes.) Verse numbers are included.
Process (for the curious)
I downloaded an SQLite version of the scriptures and wrote a Python script to extract the text in the right order, with markers for the headings. I then copied and pasted the whole thing into Word.
In Word, I did some wildcard-based find-and-replacing to remove the heading markers and apply the appropriate styles, and then I added a hanging indent so the verse numbers are less obtrusive.
I’m currently retypesetting the print edition of my Book of Mormon reader’s edition. The 2006 edition was one of the first books I ever typeset, and my skills then were, well, limited. (Because now they are unlimited. I jest.)
Here’s a glimpse at 3 Nephi 5 (which is normally 3 Nephi 11, but in this edition I use the chapter breaks from the first edition of the Book of Mormon):
I’m using Arno 11/14 for the body text, and the paperback will be available at cost via CreateSpace. The good news with the move to CreateSpace is that the book will only cost around $9 instead of the $18 it is at Lulu. (And I should add that I make no profit on these, nor do I want to.)
I will also be typesetting a matching, combined reader’s edition of the D&C and Pearl of Great Price. And after that, I’ll be doing a study edition of the D&C and Pearl of Great Price, as a companion piece to the Book of Mormon study edition.
In a similar vein to yesterday’s last conference talks, I’ve started making lists of the collected talks of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency. The ones I’ve done so far:
Thus far I’m including conference talks and addresses at Church universities (BYU, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, LDS Business College).
It’s still very much a work in progress — it only includes conference talks from 1971 and later, the BYU–Hawaii sections are fairly incomplete, etc. — but I plan to expand it to include other members of the Quorum of the Twelve (past and present) and any other talks I find.
Inspired by Elder Bednar’s talk in the afternoon session of conference today, I’ve made a list of the last general conference talks of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve. It currently has the last twenty-two members to pass away; when the Church adds the pre-1971 conference talks to LDS.org, I’ll expand the list.
I don’t know how many of you remember my Mormon Texts Project, but it’s coming along well and is in good hands.
Today I’ve got a new (but similar) project to propose: the Mormon Audiobooks Project, making old public domain Mormon books available for free in audiobook format.
It makes the most sense to do this through LibriVox, an already-established platform for free audiobooks (the equivalent of Project Gutenberg). They have a good process in place that includes book coordination and quality control. Volunteers would sign up through their system and record however many chapters they feel like doing.
It also makes sense to use the Mormon Texts Project catalog as a base. That way the source books are available to all volunteers.
These obviously would not be professionally produced audiobooks, but a free audiobook is almost always better than no audiobook. (For some of the books there are already commercial audiobooks by professional voiceover artists, of course.)
The hitch with all of this: I…don’t really listen to audiobooks. Usually they put me to sleep, and if they don’t, I get distracted after about sixty seconds and miss big chunks of the text. (The same things happen when anyone reads to me in person.)
So, I’m probably not the best person to run this. I think it’s important, and I’m willing to help with process and moving things along, but it really needs someone who loves audiobooks at the head of it. If you think you could be that person, let me know.
Also, if any of you are interested in the project, either as listeners or volunteers, leave a comment or let me know.
