I like reading old books, but I also struggle with them.
The outdated language (like ‘thou’ instead of ‘you’ or ‘hast’ instead of ‘have’), frequent use of passive voice, and long, complex sentences can be difficult to follow. Plus, sometimes, I also lack the context to understand certain passages, even if I’m able to read them.
While there are modern and easy-to-understand translations of some texts available (e.g., Meditations by Gregory Hays), there are many others that don’t have them. For non-native English speakers like me, this is a struggle.
So I decided to make a small tool to solve this issue. I’ve got an initial version of it with three main functions:
1. Provides you with multiple versions of the text: It displays the original text alongside two simplified versions (“medium” and “easy” levels).
2. Explains passages: Highlight a section of the original text, and the tool will provide a simplified explanation of it.
3. Topic search: Search for specific themes within the book (e.g., “religion,” “purpose of life”) and get relevant sections.
It’s far from perfect. Some of the translations and explanations are not accurate, and the search feature might be confusing. But I’m working on it, and I’d love to hear your feedback.
For now, I’ve included the first part of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche as an example. You can check it out [here](https://aitheneum.iwanalabs.com/book/thus-spoke-zarathustra-friedrich-nietzsche/).
by dcastm