Compilations

Compilations are works created by selecting portions from one or more earlier works. In the music world, these may be in the form of "best of..." albums, or in the book publishing world typical titles might include the words "selections" or "favorite" or "collection".

Compilations are edited products, either providing the most memorable works of an artist or focused on one theme or idea or time. A good editor can take these succinct nuggets and convey through the brief highlights the thought or artistry of the author. The danger of selective editing is that an editor can slant or bias the understanding of an author's stance by the choice of items selected.

Today I was given the book Testament : The Bible Oddyssey compiled and edited by Peter Law. The book consists of snippets from one third of The New English Bible. It has been skillfully done to make a narrative that would be excellent for a "Bible as Literature" course, or to give to someone who wanted an extremely easy introduction to the Bible. However, since it lacks reference material such as chapter and verse, it cannot be directly cited in the traditional way - and since two-thirds has been edited-out, there are portions missing that might be required for a thorough discussion of the Bible's content.
^-DD