Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Popular Highlights in the Burial of Jesus

One nice feature of Kindle ebooks, such as my own The Burial of Jesus: What Does History Have to Do with Faith?, is the fact that data can be collected about what readers highlight in the text. Amazon shares such information anonymously on the book's page. Here are the three most popularly highlighted quotes from that book:
For some, religion is about confidently knowing; for others, it is about meekly acknowledging the inadequacy of our human knowledge. 
it was, in fact, primarily the Romans who wanted Jesus apprehended, and the Jewish authorities were taking preemptive action to hand Jesus over to them, lest the Romans send their troops in and there be more bloodshed and loss of life. 
The Bible also challenges those who believe in God to be open to new information, to new experiences, even though such new data may require that one revise one’s theology and indeed one’s whole worldview.
Click through to see what else readers of the book have highlighted. And if you have read it or read  it in the future, or read other Kindle ebooks, keep in mind that there might be another reason than just your own benefit to highlight a sentence or passage that speaks to you.

I'm also interested to hear from readers of Kindle ebooks about this feature. How does the fact that books now read you, and not just vice versa, affect the way you read, if at all? And how do you feel about the way such technology is automatically turning reading into a communal process?