Prof Horner's Bible Reading Plan on the Kindle

I've just recently started using Prof Horner's Reading Plan to read through the Bible.  If you're not familiar with his method, you read a chapter from each of 10 different lists (i.e., 10 chapters a day) every day, just keeping a bookmark in each of those 10 places in your Bible.  You get a much broader exposure to different genres while getting simply a lot of Scripture flowing through your mind.

I've always been a got-to-read-the-Bible-in-hardcopy kind of person.  But as I've been doing this system I've been playing around with doing it on my wife's tablet using OliveTree.  It works and I'm happy with it.  (There's a scrolling bug that's annoying, but I'm sure they'll fix that soon enough).  I just read until OliveTree presents me with a big gray button that I click and it takes me to the next place I'm supposed to read.

The difficulty is that the tablet is Melodye's, not mine.  She's very generous and hasn't complained a bit, but ... I started wondering if it would work to do it on my kindle.

I started off trying to figure out if there wasn't some way to create a set of links or something, but I haven't had time to explore that in detail yet.  I came across this site which described a new way to do it.  The only awkward thing in her system was that you had to keep track of which copy of the Bible you were using and when you were switching from one book to another or restarting that list.

(Incidentally, I really like the way she re-did the 10 lists into 9 -- the frequency of Job, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon was just over the top before.  However, I wish there was some way to get the historical books a little more frequently...  But I digress.)

So with just a little research I found this utility which you can download here.

1. Download the utility mentioned above.
2. Open up the zip file and copy or extract the file mobi2mobi.exe into what will be your working directory (c:\tmp or c:\users\yourname\Downloads or wherever you will be working)
3. Go onto Amazon and find the ESV Bible.  You will use "Buy Now with One-Click" as soon as you choose "Transfer via Computer" from the "Deliver to:" field.  (You will have to tell them which kindle you are sending it to during the process of downloading it.  Make sure you get the resulting file into your working directory.  I am assuming it will be called "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
4. Copy the text at the bottom of this blog entry into notepad (NOT wordpad or Word or something else - it must be a text editor) and save it into that working directory calling it something like "horner.bat" or something like that.
5. You may want to edit the titles if you used a customized version of Prof Horner's reading plan - as I mentioned above, this blog has a nice alternative which fixes one of the glaring problems in the original system and is also a little more Kindle-friendly.  You can make the titles whatever will be helpful to you.
6. Double-click on that file ("horner.bat") created in step #4 and perhaps edited in step #5 - it will open up a DOS box that will buzz away for a few minutes and in the process it will create 10 copies of the ESV Bible named esv1.azw, esv2.azw, etc.
7. Now plug your Kindle into your computer USB, select those 10 files (named esv1.azw, esv2.azw, etc.), copy them and paste them into the "Documents" folder on your Kindle.
8. Eject your kindle from your computer.
9. Now when you go into your Kindle you will see 10 different copies of the ESV.  Since the Kindle automatically keeps track of where you are in each book, you will just need to open each of these documents when you are reading and go ahead with the next chapter.  When you finish the chapter go back to your home screen and open up the next one.
10. If you like you can create a new collection called something like "Reading Plan - Horner" or the like and add all of these into there, but that's an optional extra step.

Enjoy!

And whether you use this particular technical solution or not, I do strongly recommend this particular reading plan.  You can find lots of resources (facebook pages, blogs, PDFs, etc.) all over the internet if you just search for "horner reading plan".

===EDIT 28-FEB-2013===
In the comments someone mentioned that they were surprised that this put 10 separate copies of the ENTIRE Bible on their Kindle.  Yes, that's right -- you are creating complete copies of the ESV text and just changing the title that is displayed.  I'd love to create a digital "Modified Horner Plan Bible" but I need permission for that...

I've gone ahead and decided on a slightly modified form of these lists to get around the issue mentioned above related to the frequency of reading thru Job/Ecc/Songs as compared to the infrequency of reading through the OT historical books.  I've combined those 3 books with the Joshua-Esther list and then divided it in half.  Here's the list of books I'm using now:

1. Mat - Jn (89 days)
2. Gen - Deut (187 days)
3. Rom - Col, Heb (78 days)
4. 1Thes - Philemon, James-Rev (65 days)
5. Psalms (150 days)
6. Proverbs (31 days)
7. Josh - 2Kings (151 days)
8. 1Chron - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (160 days)
9. Isaiah - Mal (250 days)
10. Acts (28 days)

I'm very tempted to swap #3 & #4 to put Hebrews with #4 and putting Revelation with Acts (thus #3=56 and #4=65, and #10=50).  It gives a much more balanced approach on the epistles, gives more emphasis to Revelation...

Here's what that would look like:

1. Mat - Jn (89 days)
2. Gen - Deut (187 days)
3. Rom - Col (65 days)
4. 1Thes - Jude (56 days)
5. Psalms (150 days)
6. Proverbs (31 days)
7. Josh - 2Kings (151 days)
8. 1Chron - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (160 days)
9. Isaiah - Mal (250 days)
10. Acts, Revelation (50 days)

I think that may end up being the closest to the balance I'm looking for...  My big regret is still the low emphasis on the Pentateuch (not quite twice a year), but I don't really want to shred the structure enough to split that out...

In any event, I'm wasting time.  Enough with the playing and re-categorizing - LET'S READ!
===(snip)===

Here's the text you'll need to copy/paste into the horner.bat file in step #4:

mobi2mobi --outfile "esv1.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #1 Matthew-John" --title "ESV #1 Matthew-John" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv2.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" --title "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv3.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians, Hebrews" --title "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians, Hebrews" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv4.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Philemon, James-Revelation" --title "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Philemon, James-Revelation" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv5.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #5 Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" --title "ESV #5 Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv6.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #6 Psalms" --title "ESV #6 Psalms" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv7.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #7 Proverbs" --title "ESV #7 Proverbs" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv8.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #8 Joshua-Esther" --title "ESV #8 Joshua-Esther" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv9.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" --title "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv10.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #10 Acts" --title "ESV #10 Acts" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"

 

If you would like to go with my 2nd alteration (see 28-Feb edit) it would look like this:

mobi2mobi --outfile "esv1.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #1 Matthew-John" --title "ESV #1 Matthew-John" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv2.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" --title "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv3.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians, Hebrews" --title "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians, Hebrews" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv4.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Philemon, James-Revelation" --title "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Philemon, James-Revelation" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv6.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #5 Psalms" --title "ESV #5 Psalms" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv7.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #6 Proverbs" --title "ESV #6 Proverbs" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv8.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #7 Joshua-2 Kings" --title "ESV #7 Joshua-2 Kings" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv5.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #8 1 Chronicles - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" --title "ESV #8 1 Chronicles - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv9.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" --title "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv10.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #10 Acts" --title "ESV #10 Acts" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
 

And the final modification (see 28-Feb edit) would look like this:

mobi2mobi --outfile "esv1.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #1 Matthew-John" --title "ESV #1 Matthew-John" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv2.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" --title "ESV #2 Genesis-Deuteronomy" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv3.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians" --title "ESV #3 Romans-Colossians" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv4.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Jude" --title "ESV #4 Thessalonians-Jude" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv6.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #5 Psalms" --title "ESV #5 Psalms" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv7.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #6 Proverbs" --title "ESV #6 Proverbs" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv8.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #7 Joshua-2 Kings" --title "ESV #7 Joshua-2 Kings" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv5.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #8 1 Chronicles - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" --title "ESV #8 1 Chronicles - Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv9.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" --title "ESV #9 Isaiah-Malachi" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"
mobi2mobi --outfile "esv10.azw" --exthtype updatedtitle --exthdata "ESV #10 Acts, Revelation" --title "ESV #10 Acts, Revelation" "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References).azw"