For those of you mystified by the orange triangle on the cover of the ESV Study Bible with TruTone cover, Matt Blair has a solution: the scalpel. Sure enough, he's taken an X-Acto knife to the stitching and done away with the offending applique -- and posted the photos to prove it. Take a look at his blog, The Foolish Galatian:
"ESV Study Bible triangle hack"
Also, my thanks to Matt for linking to my Radio Worldview interview about Bible translations. Every so often, I'll get an e-mail asking for recommendations . . . if you want to know my thoughts, this interview is the place to go.
Cutting the triangle off of my Brown Tru-Tone was the first thing I did after unwrapping the plastic off of it. Glad I'm not the only one!
Posted by: Matthew Johnson | October 24, 2008 at 08:53 AM
Interesting. That was the first thing that I thought of when I saw a picture of one for the first time. I have no background in design, and would love to understand the rationale behind the triangle. It really baffles me.
Posted by: threegirldad | October 24, 2008 at 08:55 AM
I haven't talked to one person who's pleased with the triangle.
Posted by: Matt Jensen | October 24, 2008 at 10:19 AM
It's the one reason I haven't gotten the brown tru-tone edition. I think it looks totally ridiculous, and no one merely by glancing at it would have any clue as to why its there.
Posted by: Nate | October 24, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Is it not supposed to represent the Trinity?
Posted by: David | October 24, 2008 at 02:20 PM
If you have to ask...that's a problem.
Posted by: Nate | October 24, 2008 at 03:42 PM
I am not sure what the triangle is supposed to represent. I have thought is could represent the Trinity, or a pyramid, or it could have something to do with Crossway or the ESV translation that I am not aware of. In any event I think it is ugly and pointless and if I were in the market for an ESVSB I would not buy the TruTone edition because of it.
I have looked at the ESVSB and I think that a great job has been done putting it together. However, it is too bad the contents are not matched by a suitable cover design.
Posted by: Michael Swoveland | October 24, 2008 at 08:40 PM
I am looking at my brown TruTone ESVSB over yonder, and it looks like I left a Doritos chip on my Bible. I thought about removing the orange triangle, but the thought of the holes from the stitching would bother me more than the triangle. Has anyone considered filling the holes by rubbing a brown crayon over them?
Posted by: Brian Fox | October 24, 2008 at 09:54 PM
I ordered mine on 10/09/08 from evangelicalbible.com and I still haven't received it. The one I ordered for my father was delivered to him and he is 500 miles further away from them than I am. I e-mailed them to see if I can get a tracking number. If they would update the "My Account" section instead of leaving everything as "processing" this would be unnecessary.Don't know that I'll order from them again.
Posted by: Tom Morrison | October 25, 2008 at 02:33 AM
I noticed my esvsb hardcover inside seams wrinkle and makes a crackling sound as i turn the pages. Is this normal? It doesn't distract from reading and doesn't even effect the cross references. Actually i kinda like the crackling noise, but doesn't anyone else have the wrinkling too?
Posted by: Stan | October 27, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I was told that indicated thr binding is sewn and is a good thing, as the literary Bible does the same thing.
Posted by: Mike Smith | October 27, 2008 at 12:45 PM
I love the orange triangle.. guess I'm the only one.
Posted by: Chris | January 31, 2010 at 03:22 PM
you're not the only one Chris, that was the icing on the cake for me. It is a simple and effective design.
Posted by: Dan | September 14, 2010 at 09:31 AM
You can also patch the holes remaining after a triangulotomy with the sort of "crayons" they sell for repairing chips/scratches in fine furniture or cabinetry. It holds up a little better than a child's crayon or even brown shoe polish.
Posted by: bill | September 14, 2010 at 07:57 PM