As a reader, I get to decide what I’m going to do with Joseph
Smith’s journals. I can curl up in my easy chair with a copy of
the journals and just read through the journal
and gain quite a lot.
I can look down at footnotes to help me as a reader with things
I might not understand.
And then there's something that's less intrusive called
the reference material.
I get to be kind of an armchair explorer with
the reference material.
I can figure out what's going on with obscure things,
with important things.
I can figure out what happened with
a little place where Joseph Smith stayed at a tavern.
I can see the very impressive decision of Judge Daniel Pope,
and I can find out the the workings of
the Nauvoo organizations, the Church organization,
the city organization, the Nauvoo Legion.
I can putter around figuring out what made things tick.
I enjoyed this.