Thus Spoke Zarathustra (A Thrifty Book): A Book for All and None

“But by my love and hope I beseech you: do not throw away the hero in your soul! Hold holy your highest hope!” “But whoever would become light and a bird must love himself: thus I teach… One must learn to love oneself with a wholesome and healthy love, so that one can bear to be with oneself and need not roam.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra You ready for some Nietzsche? Let’s start with how you say the guy’s name shall we? You can pronounce “Nietzsche” either “knee-chee” or “knee-cha.” (I prefer the latter… sounds cooler, don’t you think? ;) With that behind us, be warned: the man, as they say, delivers his philosophy with a hammer. As Walter Kaufmann brilliantly articulates in the foreword, Nietzsche “is a dedicated enemy of all convention, intent on exposing the stupidity and arbitrariness of custom.” In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, we meet the enlightened hero, Zarathustra, who has come down from the mountaintop to deliver a series of scathing rants on everything from his famous proclamation that ‘God is dead!’ to admonitions to forget loving thy neighbor and instead learn to love the farthest. It’s written in a mock-Biblical style and features Nietzsche’s undying commitment to our potential. If you’re new to Nietzsche and thinking about reading the book, you’ll definitely want a quiet space to read but don’t be intimidated. Once you get into it, it flows. Let’s jump into some of the Big Ideas: 1. God Is Dead! - OMG! When did he/it die?! 2. Seed of Hope - Plant yours. 3. Chaos & Dancing Stars - Dance! 4. I Am Who I Must Be - And who are you? 5. Virtues & Mistakes - Strange thing with them… Here’s to giving full expression to the highest within us, More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our ​*OPTIMIZE*​ membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

Philosophize about ego, spirit, soul, the cosmos, and your place within it all. Learn how you can empower yourself, and break outside of social standards, institutional manipulation, and become your own creator. It's your reality - and this is a great book to inspire your creations artfully, poetically, and independently within the collective universe. "Society tames the wolf into a dog. And man is the most domesticated animal of all."

If only he were right! This work is deep and profound and well known as a seminal philosophical treatise from one of humanity's deepest and most profound thinkers. A challenging read for sure but filled with plenty of brain food for those willing to take the magical ride.

Friedrich Nietzsche is indeed a book that is for broad thinkers and with open minds. He is very challenging.

Not a very good translation, too boring.

This is not the Kaufmann translation, rather it appears to be the Common translation. I much prefer Kaufmann and was explicitly looking for that version as an ebook. When I searched on Amazon and selected the Kaufmann translation and then purchased the Kindle version, it seems to have rerouted me to a different translation of the text. Bad form Amazon. Customers should know what they are getting. The Common translation is widely available as a free PDF and is also a very different reading experience. Get the Kaufmann if you're able.

Nietzsche is characteristically dense & hard to read and this is no exception but this should really be required reading for anyone with an iq over 70.

Not an easy book to read, Nietzche was a tortured soul and his great work was polluted by his sisters prejudices. However, it suited the purpose I needed it for, namely a philosophy for the protagonist in my novel. Nietzche's philosophy remains an influential philosophy, his work informs many postmodernist philosophers like Foucault, etc. Worth reading if only to gain a better understanding of modern philosophers.