Ok, so I want to start of by stating that the INFORMATION, TRANSLATION, AND ADDED DETAILS in this bible are EVERYTHING I could have hoped for and MORE! That said, im a little disappointed in shipping and handling of it as well as the quality of the cover and paper BUT my excitement and satisfaction in the content far outweighs any of my gripes. Read on for a more detailed review, and my first impressions.- CHARTS/MAPS/ILLISTRATIONS: I love how all the maps and charts are indexed in the front so you can find them easily (instead of having to LITTERALLY search the entire bible to find them like in my KJV study bible) I love the biblical timeline in the front, artist renditions of prophetic visions, additional detailed historical timelines, detailed charts and lists, and the plethora of maps, both large and colored in the back and also smaller black and white maps throughout the chapters for added detail and understanding. As far as commentary and added topical information goes this is beyond my expectations, I'm super impressed, esspecially coming to this bible from my KJV study bible, there really is no comparison. My KJV study bible has a mere fraction of the information that this one does and the info it DOES have is of no great use unfortunately, this NASB though is exactly what I've been looking for!ADDITIONAL STUDY FEATURES: Love the fact that there is a pretty hefty concordance as well as a topical index (page numbers of verses relating to certain topics like the second coming, prayer, people and places) I was also pleasantly surprised to find 10 full, double sided blank pages for notes in the back! Love that! I can make my own topic reference lists! I also love the detail given in the introduction of each book, there is loads of info given about the Authors and dates they were written, it gives info on the background and times in which each book takes place/ was written, the intros even go deeply into the topics and messages in the book as well as the form of writing used and the intros ALSO have an outline of each book by topic and chapters! I haven't had time to sit and read the commentary sections yet but I'm sure I won't be disappointed, I'm excited to dig in!- NASB TRANSLATION: I was raised in a church that believed the KJV was the most acurate and really the only authoritative scriptures translation available, so that's what I read up until the last year when I really got into reading the bible to truly understand God's message and studying scripture. At first I tried to stick to the KJV but as I started to implement more tools (esspecially a Hebrew interlinear app, must have for bible study BTW!) I began to realize that the KJV might NOT actually BE the most litteraly acurate translation when compared with the original Hebrew the scriptures were written in, I've come to the conclusion through comparing different translations to the original Hebrew that, in fact and to my surprise, the NASB is far closer to the original AND far easier to digest and understand! While I will still use my interliniar app to study the original text I'm much more confident in the translation in the NASB to be as close as possible to the original Hebrew as you can get in modern English. AND it has the added plus of me being able to read it to my children without having to stop literally EVERY verse to explain word definitions or figures of speach!-THE DOWN SIDE: now that I've pointed out how and why I think this IS the best study bible out there, I do have a few gripes. First of all, the text could stand to be a little smaller, even a .5 difference would probably take off a full inch in size, this is a very large bible, but that's really the least of my complaints. What I really dislike is the overall cheapness of the materials used and the lackluster, completely minimalistic cover. The paper used is definetly sub-par, as far as bible paper goes, this is very cheap, just being honest, I am a bit of a paper snob so that may be the only reason I notice it so much. The cover also though feels thin and cheap and I really wish they offered something other than straight plain black, I'm not THAT upset about it though seeing as I ordered a cover for it anyway, just wish I didn't feel the need to, but I do think, esspecially now after handling it, that if you're planning on doing ANYTHING but have it sitting out on a desk, you'll want to get a cover for it, esspecially if you're like me and end up amassing millions of page flags in your bible, they won't be protected by the overhang of the cover at all, lol! Its big, thin cover, and floppy. I would have happily paid another 20$ for higher quality paper And cover. And finally, my BIGGEST complaint is that it arrived damaged, and it didn't HAVE to! The bible comes in one of those protective hard cardboard slip cases with just one side slot open to slide the bible into, you're supposed to slide it in with the spine of the bible facing OUT of the box to protect the pages from getting damaged, well, it was slid in backwards, meaning the protective slip case wasn't able to do its job properly. I'm EXTREAMLY irritated about that.FOUR STAR CONCLUSION: The lack of one star is NOT for the usefulness and amount of aid this bible will add to my studies, the removal of one star is only reflective of physical material quality and shipping handling. Other than those things mentioned above I absolutely love this bible, it will be invaluable to my continued bible study and despite its shortcomings in EXTREAMLY excited to really dig into it!