Plato is mostly dialogues and it is only hard in the sense that I have to extract the philosophy out of the text, plus Socrates goes around and around. Epictetus is ok as well, the text is simple to read, and I found myself taking many notes and comparing his text to others. Modern interpretation of the Quran with commentary is helpful, the thing about it being that each chapter is somewhat separated from the rest. Bible, I picked than put it back down with humility because I just knew I could not grasp it. Aquinas is hard to follow, imo he is a logician before a theologian and I know nothing of the first and very little of the second science. However I am very interested in the subject of his writing. I agree it is "accidentally" mechanical reading although my goal is "understanding." I just started to read heavily the past 2 years and this is my beginner's eagerness.

I don't know if you're reading the Bible out of cultural or religious motives; if it's the latter, I find that praying for understanding helps me understand. You could try it, if you choose.

Religious curiosity, although I am not Christian. I certainly will pray for understanding. Thanks J..

I agree, but god damn, I am jealous. I have two small children and I've finished one book this year. (Coders at Work by Peter Siebel, I highly recommend it.)

My wife reads 10x faster than I do but completely eschews the kind of reading I like (viz, literature). But of course, now that, y'know, she has kids too, her overall reading speed is strangely reduced as well.

Anyway, at a first glance I found the line coloring helpful.

I have three small children, and I heartily sympathize. Any reading I do comes out of much-needed sleeping time.

Why the Bible above all?

Because the King James bible had considerable effort to translate original texts into best possible English, preserving meaning but also creating a suitably "glorious" text.

Very many concepts, words, metaphors, etc come from the King James translation.

Ignoring any religious stuff - it's a good read.

EDIT: corrected my st / king error!

The King James Bible is not a that close translation of the original texts. It contains many translation errors and additions by later scribes not present in older texts. Generally more recent translations of the Bible are way more accurate, due to better access and more study of sources today and due to better understanding of ancient Greek and Hebrew.

A point of view on King Jame Bible: https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bibl...

Try the Knox bible, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox's_Translation_of_the_Vulga... ):

"It was my resolve to live watchfully, and never use my tongue amiss; still, while I was in the presence of sinners, I kept my mouth gagged, dumb and patient, impotent for good. But indignation came back, and my heart burned within me, the fire kindled by my thoughts, so that at last I kept silence no longer.

"Lord, warn me of my end, and how few my days are; teach me to know my own insufficiency. See how thou hast measured my years with a brief span, how my life is nothing in thy reckoning! Nay, what is any man living but a breath that passes? Truly man walks the world like a shadow; with what vain anxiety he hoards up riches, when he cannot tell who will have the counting of them! What hopes then is mine, Lord? In thee alone I trust. Clear me of that manifold guilt which makes me the laughing-stock of fools, tongue-tied and uncomplaining, because I know that my troubles come from thee; spare me this punishment; I faint under thy powerful hand. When thou dost chasten man to punish his sins, gone is all he loved, as if the moth had fretted it away; a breath that passes, and no more. Listen, Lord to my prayer, let my cry reach thy hearing, and my tears win answer. What am I in thy sight but a passer-by, a wanderer, as all my fathers were? Thy frown relax, give me some breath of comfort, before I go away and am known no more."

-Psalm 38 (39) from Knox's Translation of the Vulgate.

Knox's translation is lucid when compared with the "correct" and dead modern translations of the bible. Try it if King James does not speak to you.

That verse is perhaps the clearest explanation I have ever read of why religion exists. Thank you.

Personally I agree, I love KJV (mainly through choral music written with biblical texts), just wondered whether he was making a subjective point like you are, or whether it was a religious point.

I'm very late to respond, but I wrote what I did as a religious point. After a lot of years of doubt on the matter, I've come to the conclusion that what the Bible contains is critically important truth. I honestly think it fails as literature, because it is incoherent unless comprehended by faith; but it is a source of comfort, encouragement, and guidance to those whom God has freely given faith beforehand.

But if you choose to read it as literature, I certainly won't stop you!

The KJV is a rubble translation influenced strongly by the desires of the king. He had translator beheaded for not translating it the way he wanted.

Besides we have MUCH better access to older sources now, and what do we find? Contradictions, contradictions everywhere.

He was not reading it for the historical / religious insight - he just liked to read English prose written as best it can be.

That was a personal remark. He's most probably a Christian. For others is Qur'an above all. And so on. For me is Bible+Church Fathers above all. :)