On 2009-08-31 Ed Heckman, Lancaster, PA USA wrote: Warning! If you reached this Kindle edition by way of the edition published by Penguin Classics, be aware that this Kindle edition (by Douglas Editions) of Pensees is not the same book. The Penguin version was translated by A. J. Krailsheimer, while this Kindle edition was translated by W. F. Trotter.
In my opinion, the Trotter translation is far weaker than the Krailsheimer translation, or any other translation I´ve checked. For example, consider these two translations of this thought:
´How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame mind says that it is we who are limping.´
--from A. J. Krailsheimer´s translation
´How comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool does? Because a cripple recognises [sic] that we walk straight, whereas a fool declares that it is we who are silly;´
--from W. F. Trotter´s translation
All the other translations I´ve compared these sentences to are far closer to the Krailsheimer translation than Trotter´s. Unfortunately, all the Kindle editions of Pensees (as of this writing) are the Trotter translation. So all that´s left is to compare the differences of the Kindle editions.
The rest of this review is based on the sample of the Douglas Editions version. This one has a table of contents, but it´s not very good. All it lists is ´Section 1´, ´Section 2´, and so forth instead of descriptive names. It´s also not linked directly from the menu, so you have to go to the cover then the next page to get to it. Footnotes are not active links.
I also noticed that there is a blank space between each paragraph. It doesn´t really bother me, but I´m mentioning it anyway in case it bothers you.
Otherwise, this is a pretty vanilla Kindle edition. The font size is standard. (Some Kindle editions aren´t.) There don´t seem to be any flaws beyond what I mentioned. There´s also no introduction or cover art.
It seems that this review will also show up under the Kindle edition I did buy. That´s the version of Pensées by Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It does have a descriptive Table of Contents which is accessible directly from the menu, cover art, and better formatting, though I would prefer a blank space before each numbered section. But it´s still the Trotter translation, so I would give it only 3 stars.. And summed up by saying On the Kindle version by Douglas Editions. Currently Pensees (Penguin Classics) has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
Pensees (Penguin Classics) can also be found in the following searches:
A. J. Krailsheimer claimed Blaise Pascal, the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, was a gifted mathematician and physicist, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his reputation now rests. ´The Pensees´ is a collection of philosohical fragments, notes and essays in which Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature in pscyhological, social, metaphysical and - above all - theological terms. Mankind emerges from Pascal´s analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but who can be transformed through faith in God´s grace.
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