Introduction
The Book of Laman
Chapter 1. Laman fabricates his tin plates
Chapter 2. Laman tries to persuade his father to stop annoying the neighbors
Chapter 3. Laman and his brothers are sent on a wild goose chase
Chapter 4. The deal for the brass plates goes sour
Chapter 5. Nephi goes to the house of Laban in Jerusalem
Chapter 6. Laman and his brothers return unto the tent of Lehi in the wilderness
Chapter 7. Laman explains the brass plates and what a nuisance they have become
Chapter 8. Would you believe it? The sons of Lehi are sent back unto Jersusalem again
Chapter 9. Lehi has a nightmare
Chapter 10. Laman and Lemuel worry about their father's discourse on horticulture
Chapter 11. There are marriages galore in the wilderness
Chapter 12. Ishmael dies suddenly, which is a lousy way to get out of wandering
Chapter 14. Years pass wandering—the game of golf is almost invented
Chapter 15. A ship of curious workmanship is built, but will it float?
Chapter 16. Laman cannot believe the sea is so large—they take up fishing to pass the time
Chapter 17. Laman gives an account of his tin plates—the promised land is not a bed of roses
Chapter 18. Lehi blesses his children, but Laman gets a left-handed blessing
Chapter 19. Nephi is afflicted with the wandering disorder and goes off into the wilderness
Chapter 20. Laman becomes king
Chapter 21. Moron is sent to spy upon the people of Nephi
Chapter 22. The Lamanites become a pain in the neck unto the Nephites
cover

If Bob Lewis wrote a novel, it would be along the lines of Gulliver's Travels to the Narrow Neck of Land. If he concocted a narrative poem, it would sound like Homer (Simpson, not the Greek guy).

But what fell miraculously into his lap, or rather his back yard, was a heap of tin that turned out to be the long-lost diaries of that Book of Mormon malcontent Laman, the oldest and most misunderstood of Nephi's brothers. (Who names their first-born Laman?)

After all these years (2,541 to be exact), Laman finally gets to tell his side of the story. It sounds vaguely like Nephi's account, but it takes on a strangely modern, quirkily idiomatic style resembling that of its translator—which only proves its provenance.

about the translator
Bob Lewis was raised in Logan, Utah, and graduated from Utah State University (B.S., M.A.). He holds a Ph.D. from St. John's University, New York, has taught English at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, and DeAnza College in Cupertino, California, and is the founder of The Mind's Eye, a pioneer in audio publishing. He now makes his home in Salt Lake City and Torrey, Utah.

title page
The Lost Plates of Laman
An Account Written by the Hand of Laman upon Plates of Tin Made by His Own Self—With a Little Help from His Brother Lemuel

Signature Books
Salt Lake City
1997

copyright page
Copyright © 1997 by Signature Books. All rights reserved.
Signature Books is a registered trademark of Signature Books, Inc.
Printed and bound in the United States

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lewis, Bob

The lost plates of Laman / by Bob Lewis. p. cm.
1. Book of Mormon—Parodies, imitations, etc.
2. Mormons—Humor. I. Title.

PN6231.M675L49 1997 813'.54 dc21 97-33412
ISBN 1-56085-097-3 (pbk.)