I'm reviewing this navy blue/moss green NIV+Message side-by-side Bible for binding/style & use only, and not necessarily as a commentary of the translations.My background: the primary Bibles I've used are a Zondervan NIV (1984) children's Bible when I was growing up which had pictures, a dictionary, timelines, tables and maps; a slim paperback TNIV from Urbana 06 through college and post-college years; and a NavPress's The Message Remix: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Tan, Pocket-Size), which I purchased in 2009. Having spent several years primarily reading the TNIV and Message, I decided that having to flip between two Bibles was getting a bit tedious and would look into getting a parallel or side-by-side Bible which had both the translations.Comments on this Bible...Translations: Includes the NIV 2011 translation in the left column of every page, and the Message paraphrase in the right column of every page - please note that there are differences between the NIV 1984 and 2011 versions, and Zondervan published other NIV/Message parallel Bibles in the past with the NIV 1984 version.Binding/style: This Bible has a great blue (faux?) leather cover with a green stripe and white contrast stitching and a complementary green ribbon bookmark. The cover is awesome - I love the blue/green and the styling is quite contemporary (for a picture, check the Zondervan website). I chose to purchase this Bible because it is significantly smaller than other parallel NIV/Message Bibles from Zondervan including the NIV | The Message Parallel Study Bible, Personal Size, which I looked at in a store and ruled out because it is waaaay too heavy heavy for my tastes. I generally read separate commentaries and so didn't need the study notes from the Study Bible. The font in this Bible is super small, probably size 6 or 7, and it's comparable to the Message Compact that I use. The paper in the Bible is thinner than anything I've ever experienced, so if you're not careful, you can easily fold and tear or damage the pages. You actually have to take really good care in even flipping through the Bible since anything can wreck the pages (and there are even a few crumpled pages from production even when the Bible was brand new). The silver gilt edging on the pages really bugs me - it rubs off like crazy and gets all over your fingers, and it makes the pages stick together when the Bible is new, so trying to flip through the Bible without damaging the pages was tricky. I used to write and underline in my Bibles a lot, but I'm afraid to try with this Bible since the pages are so thin that I'd probably bleed ink through 5 pages with a single underline. I've taken to using Staples Stickies highlighting flags to tape over key verses. As a graphic designer, I don't care much for the traditional fonts and numbering in the Bible, and prefer the modern look and feel of the text in my Nav Press Message Remix Compact Bible. As for compactness, the Bible measures 5.5"x7.5"x1.75", so it's the size of a typical average-sized Bible.Use: What I do love about this Bible is to have both the NIV and Message on the same page, so you can go back and forth between the two versions. The versions are perfectly lined up, and you can quickly compare the differences without having to open two separate books. In the past, when I read the Message, I would always wonder how different it was from the NIV since the text is so contemporary that I wondered what the word-for-word translation was. As for the Bible's compactness, I wouldn't say that this Bible is truly "compact" as it is the same size as a typical Bible, but it's 2 Bibles in one so you do save some weight and space.I'd recommend this Bible to anyone who would like to have both the NIV and Message in front of them at all times. If you're new to the Message, and don't know if you'd like it, you can always get a separate Message Bible - I read the Message Remix 2.0 with book introductions from Peterson for several years (individual book introductions are not included in the parallel version I'm reviewing). This Bible contains only the bare-bones text and does not have any special features, like inline commentary, maps, timelines, a dictionary, etc., so it cuts down on pages. The words are tiny, so you might want to check out Zondervan's standard print parallel Bibles if you think that will be an issue for you. Overall, I'm pretty happy about the purchase (I pre-ordered it from Amazon for ~$41 and would not have considered the purchase if it was more than $50) and I love the blue/green cover (Zondervan sells a pink/magenta covered version of the same Bible as well). If you can deal with the tiny font, super-thin pages, silver-gilt edging that rubs off all the time and no added notes, it would be great for you; this Bible quickly became my daily reading Bible.