Here's the book's intro:

This first edition, quite intentionally, preserves the author's informal style, including long sentences with several ideas joined by commas, as may be more appropriate for retelling the story in front of a campfire, but which, like this sentence, surely exceed what might otherwise be expected in print. Some compound sentences have been split to make the dual-language alignment more clear – though the lines that start with a lowercase letter may stand out a bit. If enough readers express a preference for the usual conventions of print, we may release a new edition.

We may also release an English-only edition in the future. Meanwhile, I hope that readers who aren't interested in German will still enjoy what I think is a great story.

For those who are interested in language, I made the translation into English as literal as I could while trying to follow English rules and style. Feedback welcome! (The first two translation passes were done by others, but any awkwardness that remains may well be my doing.)

The format of this bilingual edition is designed to encourage those who are still learning the other language (whether English or German) to read the story in that language. If you don't understand a sentence after reading it carefully, just glance at the other column. No tedious dictionary lookup is required. (Tip: but otherwise keep that side covered. It's too easy to get wrapped up in the story and continue in whichever language you find easier. To quote from the book: "die schönsten Früchte fallen uns nicht mühelos in den Schoß".)

Scott S. Lawton
November 2009

P.S. I should probably disclose that, although related only by marriage, Dr. Klaus Conrad is my uncle's uncle. I've met him twice, but only recently learned of his adventures -- and, more importantly, that he had written them down several years ago for family and friends. I'm pleased to take the opportunity to present his escapades to a wider audience.