Laniakea Books: Public domain books for everyone
I like public domain books and how the net makes them more accessible.
I have recently come across an annoying and somewhat genuine issue
when it comes to translated books.<p>For example, &quot;Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil.&quot;
I picked up a PD version and started reading. 
After 4 pages I gave up.
I could not figure out how anyone could find this tolerable, 
or even a well written book, and for some a classic.<p>Turns out that there are several translations of the book
and not all of them are public domain and for no reason
I can think of the PD version is usually the worst translation. 
There is a quite a bit older translation (so also PD) that is
a fairly decent one.  (But the English used in it is old fashioned).<p>Then you have the problem with a lot of books, do you translate it
word for word to try and keep the translation as close to the original
as possible (good for some studies), 
or do you write what the translator thinks the author meant.(much more readable)<p>After spending far too much time reading reviews of translations online, 
I went to a large bookstore and sampled what they had (far from all).
Given that I am fluent in Norwegian and now live in Norway I tried a 
Norwegian translation and in my opinion it was the best. 
Norwegian is much closer to German than English which helps the translator.
Still billions speak English so one would think the best translation would
be in English.<p>Still some of the magic is missing.<p>Nietzsche when read in German has a certain rhythm to it. 
I speak a tiny bit of German and reading (with assistance) the first few
pages allowed me to see it.<p>Reading the whole thing in German would take me years. 
I stick with the Norwegian one.<p>I want to read some of the great Russian authors next and I am not 
looking forward to trying to learn what the best translations are 
and if its better in English or Norwegian.