Thomas Nelson’s NET Large Print Thinline Bible is a text edition with a Comfort Print typeface designed specifically for the NET by 2K/Denmark. It provides a clean and readable design with far fewer footnotes than the Full Notes edition. It’s available in several covers. I’m reviewing the teal Leathersoft, ISBN: 9780785224976, printed in China.
Thomas Nelson provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Table of Contents
Video Review
Cover and Binding
The cover is teal Leathersoft. It has a smooth feel and some color shading to give it an interesting color. It has the NET logo in the upper right corner stamped in gold. The spine includes the title, NET logo, and THOMAS NELSON printed in gold. It includes perimeter stitching.
The liner is paste-down paper and doubles as the presentation page. This is the only thick end-sheet. The binding is sewn and has no trouble staying open in Genesis 1.
The overall size is 9.5 x 6.9 x 1.1″ and it weighs 1 lb. 12.7 oz. It has two ribbons: one gold and one teal. They look great against the teal cover.
Paper
The paper seems to be somewhere around the low to mid 30s in gsm. It’s off-white in color and it’s highly opaque. There is no glare under direct light. The texture is slightly rough, which makes the pages easier to separate and turn. I like this paper for reading. I haven’t tried it, but I think it would be good for highlighting. It has 8 blank pages in the back that can be used for notes.
Typography
The text is set in a double-column paragraph layout. Poetry is set to stanzas, lists are actual lists, and Old Testament quotes are in bold italics. The header shows the book name and chapter numbers in the outer corner and the page numbers just inside of that. Footnotes are placed in the outer margin at the bottom of the page. Section headings are in bold italics and are slightly larger than the text.
The font is the 10.5-point Comfort Print font that was designed for the NET by 2K/Denmark. It’s a black-letter text. It’s dark and highly consistent throughout. Each line has around 7 words. The text is printed with line-matching, so the words line up on the same place on both sides of the page to reduce show-through and improve readability. It has a large inner margin to bring the text out onto the flattest part of the page.
Poetry works well. They’re divided into phrases as much as possible, which improves their readability in my opinion. Letters are not indented or identified in any way. I’d like to see them set apart (at least with a section heading) because it would provide a visual cue. Footnotes are identified with a letter or symbol. Old Testament quotes are in bold italics. References that are alluded to by not quoted are in italics, but not bold.
Footnotes
Footnotes are placed in the bottom outer corner of each page. They’re separated from the text with a line. They’re keyed to the text with letters or symbols. Most just have one, which is always an asterisk. There aren’t a lot of footnotes. Instead, these are an abbreviated set of notes. They show where something is quoted from, provide information about the historical and cultural backgrounds, explanations of wordplays, metaphors, euphemisms, and textual variants that need further explanation.
Reading Plan
In the back is a 365-day reading plan. It provides a daily reading for the morning and evening. The morning takes you through the New Testament and the evening takes you through the Old Testament. It’s a table that shows the month for the title and then the data, morning, and evening reading. The design looks like a spreadsheet. There is a little bit of space that you can use to mark the days you’ve read. It’s not designed for this, but it works great anyway.
Maps
It includes 8 glossy pages with 7 full-color Zondervan maps. They’re bright and colorful. It doesn’t include an index. but they do have a lot of annotations and large labels, which helps to make them easier to use. They include topography, distance, routes, borders, possible locations of lost places, battles, elevation, cities, and locations for the events of Jesus’ ministry.
Maps include:
- World of the Patriarchs
- Exodus and Conquest of Canaan
- Land of the Twelve Tribes
- Kingdom of David and Solomon
- Jesus’ Ministry
- Paul’s Missionary Journeys
- Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus
Comparisons
Here’s how the NET Bible Large Print Thinline compares with the NET Bible Full Notes Edition. The Full Notes Edition is of course much larger. It’s a single column edition with notes surrounding the text. It has a smaller font.
Conclusion
The NET Bible Large Print Thinline is great option for a Bible that focuses on the text at a low cost. The cover is on the lower end, but the price does reflect that. The paper could be slightly more opaque, but it’s what I’d expect from a thinline and it’s still a very readable Bible. The typeface is dark, readable, and designed well. I like the idea of having a NET Bible without all of the notes for something that’s easy to carry and read from. I’d like to see a large print edition if just the notes that can be used with this edition. Of course, the notes are also available online if you want to use them separately. It’s easy to recommend the NET Bible Large Print Thinline to anyone looking for a low-cost version of the NET in large print that focuses on the text.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Thomas Nelson provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
Having had my copy of the full-notes NET for a week or so, I have serious doubts whether the translation should, or could very profitably, be used without the notes. It is good to see that the note less edition has a much bigger and better font! Pity that the full-notes edition is not issued in a proper, ie larger, desk/study edition!
Wonderful to see the absence of red-letter text!
Thanks for your reviews of Bibles, to keep us so well-informed!
Thanks!!
Randy- great job as always. I am looking forward to the May 2020 release of the single-column reference edition. But it looks like the translation-focused font developed for the NET is really nice on all of the NET Bibles and is superior to previous editions. Blessings!
Thank you!!
I bought the NET thinline large print bible about a week ago and I enjoy it. I wanted a bible that has text only since lets face it, study bibles have too many commentaries, photos and articles that distract from actually reading the bible only. I already own study bibles like the NKJV FULL COLOR bible so having a text only one is awesome.
Blessings,
David