This is a beautifully-bound gift book, with a hard imitation leather cover and gold-trimmed pages that make it feel somewhat like a Bible. It's designed along the lines of a devotional book, as it contains a selection of Scripture passages from the KJV grouped according to topic (i.e. God's Compassion, God's Holiness, Our Hope, etc.) and interspersed with mini-articles on the 400-year history of the KJV.
As an English major who grew up on the KJV, I was curious to read this book. I was impressed with the quality of the book's presentation, but based on the description, I expected it to be filled with information regarding the history and influence of the KJV. Instead, it is filled with a plethora of topical passages from the KJV with only a scant 22 pages of information about its history and influence. While the mini-articles contain interesting facts the average person might not know (such as, the KJV contained the Apocrypha through the 1769 version), the articles felt too short and trite, like a brief overview instead of an anniversary tribute. The copyright page even says that two of the articles were adapted from wikipedia.com! The KJV is certainly something worth celebrating, as its impact on the English language has been quite profound, but I think this book falls short of doing it justice.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Book Sneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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