This is very simply an extraordinary book. Some of Nietzsche's best writings are included in this book, all translated by Walter Kaufmann - Kaufmann being, of course, one of the greatest scholars of German literature (and Nietzsche in particular) of the twentieth century.

The translation seemed very good to me, and I've enjoyed Kaufmann's translations before - particularly his book "Goethe's Faust" is one of the best poetic translations I've ever read.

This book is the best collection of Nietzsche's writings. Kaufmann's translation is incomparable; it has energy, wit; its language is a delight. In other translations Nietzsche comes off as much more ponderous.

The Birth of Tragedy is a good place to start for knowledge of the early Nietzsche and is an indispensible book for understanding what came later. The Genelogy of Morals is the least aphoristic of Nietzsche's writings and provides an extended treatment of Nietzsche's famous and infamous views on morality, especially Christian morality. Beyond Good and Evil is aphoristic brilliance containing many of Nietzsche's most famous ideas.

The one thing that would make this book perfect is the addition of Kaufmann's translation of the Gay Science.

For those interested in Nietzsche there is no better place to start than this book.

Nietzsche like Plato and unlike most philosophers really knew how to write. His writing is brilliant, original, and his style has no peer. Kaufmann produces English that is without peer in his translation of Nietzsche's works.

Whether you love him or hate him, exposure to Nietzsche can be a life-changing experience.

Let me make one thing clear--I disagree with Nietzsche. Like all atheists, he doesn't understand Christianity--especially Catholicism. However, as a reviewer it is not my duty to express that, I am obligated to tell you whether or not to read this book. You should. It is a nice background in existentialism, and you must understand that school of philosophy. If you would like to hear my side of the story read Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Confessions of Augustine, and finally, a little known tome called the Bible. If you are a Nietzsche fan, I recommend Voltaire's Candide. Existentialism is not without its merits. Nietzsche wasn't all about dissing God. However, the theological assertions of Nietzsche aren't convincing to any ardent Catholic. Still, read the book.

I only want to say one thing here, and I say it primarily because I already love this work. This is the translation to buy. Everyone seems to adore Kaufmann, but the truth is he's much more obtuse and difficult to read (and I don't believe it's necessary, as some may say). Hollingdale gets it right. I'll defend myself with one example from a class I took, where Kaufmann's translation was the required text. I had read both translations (cover-to-cover), and sold my copy of Kaufmann's translation, keeping only my Hollingdale. So, needless to say, I wasn't about to buy Kaufmann again, and went to class with Hollingdale. Slowly, but surely, as the other students read bits of the translation I had, or heard when I spoke pieces aloud, they overwhelmingly agreed with me: Hollingdale is simply more clear, more beautiful, more powerful (less academic, shall we say, which is pure Nietzsche). Ok, over and out, enjoy.

Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is often referred to as one of the most influential works of our century, which he wrote in the latter part of the nineteenth century. I've read numerous critiques, analysis, and interpretations from scholars on "Thus Spoke..." Understanding Friedrich, his life, and his constant pains, give some insight into what may have underlined his beliefs. I think to best understand "Thus Spoke..." a person should read it at least twice. I believe a reader can take many of the themes and metaphors and apply them to his or her belief system, or personal philosophy. We all perceive things in different ways, and we can take what we want out of this work. Individuality, and the constant question and resistance to organized institutions is what I like to take from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" as Zarathustra walks along the mountains, trails, hills, and towns, in his quest to think for himself and tell others of his thoughts. The style is direct and the many exclamation points give Nietzsche's points a "shout!" Nietzsche notes the importance of individuality and the dangers of becoming one of the lemming-like sheep that follow the herd, whether it be nationalism, religious zealotry, or the unquestioning acceptance of basic societal norms. Nietzsche rakes Christianity and organized religion over the coals, with knockout punch after knockout punch. Another theme I take from "Thus Spoke..." is that one person's vice is another's virtue, and we should focus on ourselves and what we believe in, and not spend time attempting to have others accept our ways, and certainly now want them to accept us. We should simply do our "own-thing." One person's goals and values can be, and often are, abhorrent to another person.

There is certainly much more to his works, and any person can go deeper than myself, because I read non-fiction primarily. If a person reads this when they are in their late teens or early twenties, perhaps it can help them reinforce who they are. Anyone can benefit from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" if they allow themselves the opportunity.

I had heard so many aphorisms and blurbs about Nietzsche and his philosophy, I felt that I had no choice but to learn more about this interesting philosopher. I purchased this book and Beyond Good and Evil, started the latter, but found it a tad too dry after a week. I had skimmed Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and found it far more flamboyant and stylistic (to my taste), so I devoted my time reading to it.

And what a great book it is! What a departure from what other philosophers speak! Nietzsche teaches us the overman, the next step of our evolution; and to achieve the goal of the overman, we must not sustain or merely improve current state, but conquer it. The material in this book is like nothing I have ever read before. Chapter IV is very satisfying, especially "On the Higher Man".

Some chapters may require you to reread them in order to understand the quintessence of Nietzsche's message, but this is hardly any sacrifice compared to what knowledge you have to gain.

"The most concerned ask today: 'How is man to be preserved?' But Zarathustra is the first and only one to ask: 'How is man to be overcome?'" - On the Higher Man, section 3

Why should a Christian read this book? This is a very scathing critque of Christianity and points to it as the cause of many of the modern ills of society. If you are a Christian, reading this book will make you re-evaluate the way you are living. He attacks the modern trends of anti-philosophy and anti-intellectualism among Christians. These things need to be addressed!

It must be stated that Nietzsche hated Christianity, but if your faith can stand against his critcism, then you will be better off for having read this book.

Even though some of Nietzsche's attacks against Christianity are true, it does seem that he sets up the religion as a straw man and as a scapegoat. If you look beyond this, and the fact that he wrote this right before he lost his marbles, you will find a benefit in reading this.

Nietzsche's The Anti-Christ is the most revealing piece of writing concerning Christianity. Although Nietzsche tends to repeat himself often, the book offers an insightful look at the history of Christianity and how it is affecting our lives today.

Nietzsche discusses the affects Christianity has on our society, including limiting education for the good of the church. Thanks to Nietzsche's enlightened ideas, I personally feel we would be much more technologically advanced if it was not for the limitations set upon us by the churches.

I would recommend reading Nietzsche's other writings, especially Genealogy of Morals, to understand why he feels so critical toward Christianity. In conclusion, Mencken's translation of The Anti-Christ keeps intact Neitzsche's original thoughts concerning Christianity and religion as a whole.

This is Nietzsche's most vigorous work; it conains in little over one hundred pages, a summary of his later philosophy, and as such, should probably be read after all of his other works if one means to avoid misunderstanding what Nietzsche is saying. He portrays Christianity in gory detail as the religion of revenge, dishonesty, small-mindedness and pity which it is, and a leading cause of the west's descent into nihilism. (A reading of this book almost forms a mini spiritual biography of western civilisation of the last three centuries). The adherence to a religion like Christianity forms a sort of enslavement to an outdated meaning system thus causing anyone with a scrap of intellectual integrity to lie to theirselves as a means of supporting a bankrupt world-view and while appropriate for Zarathustra's "last men", is death for all higher types, and had waged a bitter war against all manner of vitality, stregnth and honour which are the hallmarks of die ubermensche. He talks of the psychology of the priest and the natural hatred of science that they all possess as well as the slave morality and cowardice that Christianity promotes, but for all the vim that the book possesses, it is not a very scholarly work, and contains many errors. Nietzsche understandably finds it difficult to restrain himself, but this gives the work a sort of amateurish tone. Mencken has done a wonderful job here -- all the more because he had a deep appreciation for Nietzsche -- the man and his work. For those who cannot understand Nietzsche's "hatred" of Christianity, I would recommend a very thorough reading of the Geneology of Morals, which goes into much greater detail and is much more scholarly and will provide better insight into the anti-Chrsitian perspective. One of the jewels of modern literature.

Nietzsche's attempt to trace the roots of the greatest works of art: how the Dioynisean impulse, with its corollaries of intoxication, excess, self-destruction and bacchanalian joy, is combined with the Appolline, which is characterised by harmony, restraint, form and is a sort of "dream" of beauty. Nietzsche explains that great art is created through Apollo's harnessing of Dionysos, or, in other words, through reason subordinating the animal in man. The book is a splendid display of erudition and helps us to understand the extent of Nietzsche's admiration of the Greeks. One of his key formulations is how tragedy enabled the Greeks to nevertheless see life, in spite of the suffering entailed in it, as indestructibly powerful and joyous. Art for them was a veil, a means of escaping the melancholy and Hamlet-like loathing of world, which accompanies all knowledge. In his attempt to define tragedy, one can see that Nietzsche was still indebted, in his conceptual approach, to the metaphysics of his master, Schopenhauer, even though the book was intended as a break from Schopenhauer. The decadence of Greek tragedy, Nietzsche argues, occured with the advent of Euripides and Socratic rationalism. Instead of the merging of Apollo and Dionysos, tragedy became characterised by superficiality, optimism and rationalistic, paradoxical thought. It began to encourage a narrow, utilitarian view of life. It is only music, in Nietzsche's opinion, that has the potential of being purely Dionysean, and, in this, he makes an excursus onto his mentor and friend at the time, Richard Wagner. He champions Wagner (to whom his book is dedicated) as a wonderfully Dionysean artist, whose music would succeed in ennobling the German people by making them great through suffering. Not surprisingly, and as soon as Nietzsche managed to come to his own, he broke also with Wagner, whose nationalism and anti-Semitism he could no longer tolerate. "The Birth of Tragedy" is Nietzsche's first book; it is inspired, but flawed and the arguments tend to be occasionally quite reckless. Some of his formulations are quite farfetched, as well and the work, on the whole, is a fairly horrible example of purple prose.

_The Birth of Tragedy_, Nietzsche's controversial philological work, deals with the origins of tragedy and its decline in Greek culture, as well as a subsequent section on its restoration among the Germans, including Richard Wagner. Nietzsche contends that an opposition existed among the Greeks between the Apollinian, the restrained and ordered, and the Dionysian, the irrational and destructive force out of which arose tragedy. Nietzsche suggests that the pessimism responsible for the creation of tragedy is a sign of vitality, under the influence of Schopenhauer. Nietzsche contends that tragedy entered into a decline with the arrival of Socrates and that the Socratic is in fundamental opposition to tragedy. In Plato's _Republic_, Socrates remarks that tragic poets are not to be tolerated in his ideal republic. The Socratic with its emphasis on rationality, and arising from it the subsequent development of modern science, is thus placed in opposition to the absurdity of tragedy, which allows for the affirmation of life despite its suffering and hardship. It is for this reason that tragedy died and was replaced by a naive optimism, which is present in the modern world. The book originally ended at this point, but subsequently Nietzsche added a second half which attempted to explicate the rebirth of tragedy among the Germans. Nietzsche was under the influence of Wagner at this point and would later come to criticize this portion of the book in his "Attempt at Self_Criticism".

_The Case of Wagner_, which is included in this book for contrast, is a witty polemic against what Nietzsche considers to be the decadence of Wagner's art. This book is important mostly for understanding the complex relation that existed between Nietzsche and Wagner and their subsequent fall-out.

Forget Wagner, whose disgruntled cacophony posing as music is nicely dispatched by Oscar Wilde in one of his plays with a comparative quip when somebody rings an old and disturbingly noisy doorbell. Forget Wagner because The Birth of Tragedy is the greatest work of art criticism ever written. It is also, despite being in print for a century, an underexplored gold mine for artists and intellectuals. This is Nietzsche's first book: it contains en ovo the thoughts of this great writer and thinker who had a formative influence on Heidegger and through him Derrida, the two greatest post-Nietzschean philosophers. Nietzsche's great theme is the infinite possibility opened up by Greek culture in 6th century B.C., in the time of Heraclitus and the birth of tragedy-the culture that spawned not only democracy and science but which, like a brood of many eggs only some of which have hatched (or quantum possibility before measurement "collapses" the wave function into reality)-much more besides--the culture beside whose tragedic productions (by Aeschylus and Sophocles, not Euripedes, whom Nietzsche shows lost touch with the essence of tragedy) modern cultural productions not only do not measure up, but often seem at best, as Nietzsche says, like a "caricature." The loss of art traced by Nietzsche is itself-well, not tragic, no-less than tragic: sad let us say. Not only a highly creative artist-like philosopher, but a multilingual philologist who read ancient Greek in the original, Nietzsche beams his laser-like analysis with astounding clarity into this lost realm of possibility. It is as if he stuck a bookmark into the Tome of Time, showing us the very best part of an otherwise often dry and rather bad (and perhaps overly long!) book of which we collectively are the author, called Culture. What is crucial to emphasize in B of T is Nietzsche's conclusion (or assumption) that (in its most famous line) "existence is only justified as an aesthetic phenomenon." Thus ancient Greek tragedy is not just a random subject, or one art form among others. It is the aesthetic experience par excellence, the greatest overcoming of the perils of existence into a worthy production of art humans ever developed. Nietzsche links the success of Aeschylean and Sophoclean tragedy to the brief fruitful intercourse (like that between men and women, which keeps new people coming despite often-fractious sexual relationships) between two aesthetic strains. One he identifies with the Greek messenger god of the sun, Apollo, the other with the dismembered god of wine, Dionysos. Dionysos also is not one god among others. Rather, it was to him that all the (originally religious) tragedies were devoted and, Nietzsche tells us, when other actors appeared on the sacred precursor to the Greek stage they were not to be taken as realistic but as avatars, idealized other versions, of Dionysos. Now the most crucial thing to realize about Dionysos is that "he" is split into pieces and his split pieces represent the fundamental, and contradictory, fact of the universe: that although all is one (to borrow a philosophical truism) this One is split into many. This primordial splitting (cf. Heidegger's distinction between individual beings and Being) is, according to Nietzsche, regarded by the ancient Greeks as itself the ur-source of human suffering. From Dionysos's tears came mankind, from his smile the gods. Now Nietzsche says that the Apollinian aesthetic strain manifests in the clarity of dreams-which show discrete-although ultimately illusory-images. These images are similar to those that appear before the chorus (crucial to tragedy but dispensed with by Euripedes), and before the spectators, in the form of the actors of the tragic spectacle. Thus the tragical spectacle displayed shows itself to be a dreamlike illusion of the culture, not a representation of reality per se. Just as, after we stare at the sun, we see spots before our eyes so, Nietzsche says, after we stare into the abyss we see the tragedy with its chorus and ideal human characters. The Dionysian element Nietzsche identifies with drunkenness and dissolution, the opposite of the clarity of dream imagery, made public on the Greek stage. The Dionysian in a sense represents the One, or the movement from the individual (seen a la Schopenhauer and Vedic metaphysics as a mayan illusion of universe that "I"s itself) back to the One; the Apollinian the illusory clarity of the skin-encapsulated individual. (Nietzsche's own individuality, and brain, were compromised by Treponema spirochetes, real Dionysian avatars of the syphilis that eventually killed him.) One of the most fascinating things about Nietzsche's exquisitely crafted analysis is the way it shows science, no less than Euripides, to be motivated by Socrates' false humility and dreams of total knowledge. "Who is this demigod?" Nietzsche asks of Socrates-whose reign of reasonableness, passed on to Plato, Aristotle, and the Church scholastics-defines much of the modern world. Socrates created the secular tradition, raising knowledge over aesthetics and giving mysticism a bad name. Nietzsche points out that Plato burnt his plays after coming into contact with his teacher-and that the compromise, the Platonic dialogues, were in fact the prototype of a new, Socratized art form-the novel. Thus, startlingly Nietzsche suggests the novel itself is a debased form of art-a Euripideanized, Socratized attempt to make the primal aesthetic experience more representative, reasonable, and realistic. Euripedes (he later recanted, but his influence went on) dispensed with the tragic core of stagecraft, and today we accept that drama is about individual characters in all their oddity and imperfections-rammed at us unremittingly with the hegemony of plot and wordy deus ex machina explanations in the aesthetically poisonous, hyperrationalistic aftermath of Euripides's Socratic capitulations. In sum, today we have all but forgotten the Dionysian origins of acting-more real than realism-which originally was centered around not fleeting emotions and empathy, but the central cosmological fact of the individuals tragic separation from the All. Highly recommended.

On The Geneology of Morals -- This work is clearest when read as a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil. I don't suggest starting here. The prose is more straightforward than BG&E, he is attemting polemic in essay form. Yet still, it is still a voice in your head, consipring with you, coaxing you toward understanding. Here, the prose style of BG&E becomes apparent.

Ecce Homo -- This would seem like a very pretentious work. It is not. He comes off almost modestly here. This too, clears the air of all that is rotten about what has been said about him. It is as if he had guessed what evil things would be said about him.

Especially if this is your first Nietzsche book, I suggest, instead of buying this, buying the Basic Writings of Nietzsche which contains these two books, as well as three others (Beyond Good & Evil, which is a better place to start anyway; The Birth of Tragedy, and The Case of Wagner), by the same translator, and which costs only a few dollars more now that it's out in paperback.

Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preserving "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for poststructuralist critical-historical analysis, as represented by the likes of Deleuze and Foucault, and deconstruction, the maverick textual methodology of Jacques Derrida.

Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preservative "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for deconstruction and poststructuralism in its analysis of historicism and interpretation.

In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche lays out his philosophy through a collection of his thoughts on various different issues including: women, nations, religion, and many other fundamental aspects of human life. While the book may seem jumbled and random at times, as it is Nietzche's thoughts given in a non-linear manner, the reader will finish with a solid understanding of Nietzche's philosophy. He truly was the father of post-modernism, and the world we live in today, on the average, has a belief system much more in line with Nietzsche than with any Biblical beliefs. In other words, for the most part, Nietzsche was right in saying that "God is dead", and the 20th Century, as we got beyond good and evil, clearly crowned Nietzsche the new king.

At the same time, Nietzsche is much more honest and direct than most intellectuals of our current, post-modern age. To demonstrate, here's Nietzsche (from Beyond Good and Evil):

"They discover, these acute observers and idlers, that the end is fast approaching, that everything around them is corrupt and corrupting, that nothing can last beyond the day after tomorrow, one species of man excepted, the incurably mediocre. The mediocre alone have the prospect of continuing on and propagating themselves -- they are the men of the future, the sole survivors; 'be like them! become mediocre!' is henceforth the only morality that has any meaning left, that still finds ears to hear it. -- But it is difficult to preach, this morality of mediocrity! -- for it can never admit what it is and what it wants! it has to speak of moderation and dignity and duty and love of one's neighbor -- it will scarcely be able to conceal its irony!"

So, if it feels good, do it (be mediocre!)... but what is this silliness about also preaching moderation, dignity, love, etc, as these same modern cultural intellectuals do? If truth is completely subjective, as they clearly state in their "feel good" philosophy , then why do they just as strongly believe that moderation, dignity, and love are "good", a statement of objective truth itself? As Nietzsche says of the philosophy of these hypocrites, "...it will scarcely be able to conceal its irony!"

This is a great book, that will challenge anyone to think about the prevalent worldview of the modern, Western elites and the world we all live in.

I guess a lot of people are not able to bask in the wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche. "Beyond Good and Evil" is an extraordinary tour de force of philosophy. The questions that the German philosopher asks forces one to rethink about all of what he believes to be "true". Yes, Nietzsche's philosophy is cryptic, agressive and pretty much uncomfortable for many of us, yet he breaks down barriers of thought like no one did before him. Please, don't be repulsed by his extreme opinions. Let yourself be tempted by his thought (even if it means embracing for mere moments what we would gladly call mysogyny) and you shall see that Nietzsche was no mere madman (remember though that madness and genius are often well aquainted). I'm not saying that Nietzsche is always right. Yet, I find many of his aphorisms (even the most extreme) at least seductive. Christians beware : this book may not please you at all for it attacks relentlessly the Christian faith and its values. For those who dare, do yourself a favor and read through this masterpiece.

This book can be regarded as a sort of philosophical emetic. Nietzsche demolishes one philosophical prejudice after another, proving how baseless and cowardly most of the pieties of traditional philosophy, and especially those of German idealistic philosophy, really are. While here and there Nietzsche may go overboard, the number of insights that he offers, all couched in his prankish, brilliantly aphoristic style, more than compensates for the occassional lapse in good judgment. His inspired use of language is second to none among philosophers. Who else would think of describing Kant's philosophy as "stiff and decorous Tartuffery," or the cuasa sui as "the best self-contradiction that has been conceived so far, it is a sort of rape and perversion of logic." Or what about his penetrating comment about that free and "unfree" will? "The 'unfree will' is mythology," Nietzsche writes: "in real life it is only a matter of strong and weak wills." Isn't that the truth! Philosophy doesn't get much better than this. Highly recommended, but only to good readers, readers who can really think. Bad readers should stick with Plato, Hegel, Rand, Marcuse and other "cowards before the truth," as Nietzsche would describe them.

The reason why I do not think this is a good book on Nietzsche is because, even though I admire Deleuze outside his Nietzsche schoarship, it is the attempt to systemize Nietzsche's thought. This text is notorious, at least I believe and from the conversations on it that I have had with others, for being just down right bad because of the way in which Deleuze attempts to appropriate Nietzsche into some sort of systemized philosophical position. I know this does not get to the particulars of the book and what Deleuze argues, take this review as a gentle warning: if you love Nietzsche for all that Nietzsche is and what he has done, this book may proove to be a dissapointment. Honestly, I find it all to often (and i do realize that there is a level of interpretation at play) that students and readers of Nietzsche go about their studies of Nietzsche in a very casual and lax way, identifying with his style as a means in which serious and penetrating study of Nietzsche is overlooked. All I can say, is read Nietzsche for yourself (in German if you can) and dont think that the will to power counts, for more info on that read my review on it.

Nietzsche was not a systematic thinker and so it is very difficult to construct a book on his difficult thought. Deleuze has, however, successfully accomplished that. A combined reading of this work and Pierre Klossowski's "Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle" would provide an understanding of Nietzsche that is well beyond what is presented in most books on the author. It is sad, but we english speakers have collectively written most of the bad literature on Nietzsche. It was the french after WWII that picked-up the mantle set forth by Nietzsche after the embarrassing abuse of his thought by the Nazis.

After having reading much of Neitzsche over the years, it was not until I read this little book by Deleuze that he really came alive for me. Deleuze's guiding notion is that "force" lies at the heart of interpretation. Force also lies at the heart of Nietzsche's Will to Power. Like Wittgenstein's "games" or Derrida's "play," force is always with us. But not just in language, discourse and text, unless you consider our need to "order" the world in these terms (which you can). For force is the play of forces, of greater and lesser forces -- like Derrida's differance. But differance can be torpid and sluggish (whatever happened to the "white mythology" that lay "inscribed in the palimpsest -- active and stirring"?). In Nietzsche's The Will to Power he has a long section on chemistry and refrences to science. He equates the phyisical forces at work in the sciences as "moral." Why? -- Deleuze asks. Because it is our innate need and desire to order the universe -- to make things greater and lesser -- in science as well as morality. Thus Neitzsche writes a Geneology of Morals, with greater and lesser morals. And so it goes, with each force affecting other forces in infinite regression and progression. "Is this a kind of Hegelian dialectic?" -- you might ask. Maybe, but it seems far too messy to me. You see forces do not play within privileged paradigms. They are all about unintended consequences. There is Nietzschean repitition here but more of a mindless extrapolation of power. Like Deleuze's writings on "Nomadology" and "Rhizomes" we cannot keep track of the connections, the diversions, the diggressions. This is a kind of metaphysical madness.
Kind of like life.
A brilliant book.

The book contains Nietzsche's four major works, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist and Nietzsche Contra Wagner; as well as notes, letters and excerpts from other books. Though I found Thus Spoke Zarathustra rather boring, the rest of the contents kept me interested. It is an excellent way to get familar with his style of writing.

This is the definitive version of an Englsih translation of Nietzsche. This book covers Nietzsche's later and most important works: "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," "The Antichrist," "Nietzsche Contra Wagner," and "Twilight of the Idols" (all four complete), letters to his sister and friends, and excerpts from the rest of his works.

Nietzsche is often misquoted, misinterprted, and given a bad name. This translation of his works, by Walter Kaufmann, is the definitive version and the best translation from Deutsch to English available. Kaufmann was celebrated for his writings and work on Nietzsche.

This edition takes one of the most prolific and intelligent people from the 19th-20th centuries and brings him to us in all of his glory.

A small book (700 pages), and yet there is both a good sampling of Nietzsche's early works, and the complete transcripts of his four most important books. This single edition allows for someone to follow the evolution of Nietzsche's writing and his very thought process over the course of his life.

The works of Friedrich Nietzsche should be read by anyone and everyone, not just those who are in an enviornment of higher education. If you agree with him, or even hate him and everything that he stands for, it is worth it to read this amazing man's work. If nothing else, it will cause you to stop and reevaluate everything that you hold dear. Reading Nietzsche, and understanding him are to very different things: and understanding him does not mean that one will agree with him; just that one will learn to stop and think about the world around them rather than to just tkae things for granted.

Nietzsche stands as one of my favourite philosophers, and thinkers, alongside David Hume, and others. What makes "The Portable Nietzsche" so great, is in part accredited to Kaufmann's excellent translations, especially in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". He captures the eloquence of Nietzsche's message and creates a smooth transition from German to English. If you are at all interested in Nietzsche, or would like to become more aquainted with his works I highly recommend this book. I must also agree with other reviewers that "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" must be read several times, though I suggest the first read to be casual, and to add scrutiny and critical thinking with each successive read.

Unlike a great deal of philosophers who appear stodgy, Nietzsche infuses his work with passion and fervour. His words are thought provoking, and in my case, life altering in a positive way. I don't know what else to say, other than this;

If you have had the urge to know more about Nietzsche and his works, continue on with it. I consider The Portable Nietzsche more of a manual of life than a collection of theories. For the most part, Nietzsche is the voice of common sense, but he would rather have you decide for yourself, I believe. Nietzsche is not for the faint of heart, however, and is shrouded in controversy over various topics, including, but not limited to religion, sexism and others.

In my opinion, the open minded reap the most benefit from Nietzsche's words.

Well, it's nice that Dr. Yalom has tried his hand at fiction; this imaginary account set in turn of the Century Vienna features Breuer and Freud with a mystery woman who comes to request the professional services of Sigmund for a strange philosophical friend who turns out to be Nietzche. Well, this novel has its interesting twists and turns with the philosopher ending up analyzing the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist philosophizing with the philosopher. However, the plot line is a bit too neat; true, it's quite clever, but so is nearly every episode of Law and Order, the TV cop/lawyer show. It doesn't make the show nor this book great literature. There are some nice touches such as Breuer and Freud stopping for their favorite snack--Pork Sausage (oh, that irreverent Freud!) and some interesting (not believable and a bit wooden, though) dialogue that draws on the psychological and philosophical zeitgeist of the age, but there is quite a few hackneyed techniques here (a dream sequence that is only missing those waves from 1950's movies to indicate a shift in reality, among others). The craft is fairly good but very obvious. Dr. Yalom has written eloquently in his non-fiction, both via his essays and his textbooks. But in the realm of the imagination, perhaps the "social scientist" in him is a bit too embedded.

Breuer and Nietzsche never met, but Dr. Yalom considers the intriguing possibilities in this novel of psychological and philosophical ideas. Dr. Yalom is a professor of phsychiatry at Stanford and a proponent of "existential psychotherapy," so he is able to create drama derived almost entirely from the emotional portraits of the characters rather than the actions and struggles of the characters in the external world. Yalom's achievement is to make the reader care about Breuer and Nietzsche as they struggle to confront (or avoid) their greatest fears and weaknesses. The reader is drawn into intimate conversation with the brilliant but unloveable Nietzsche and the gifted but ungrateful Breuer. The necessary whining is balanced by just enough action and intellectual history to propel the narrative forward. Along the way the genesis of psychotherapy and existentialism is consisely explained using dialogue from Breuer, Freud and Nietzsche as well as quotations from their actual works. But this book not about theory. The sorrow of these great men is transformed into inspiration for the reader as they struggle to embrace the wisdom of amor fati, to love one's fate. We are reminded of our own need to accept complete responsibility for our choices and to boldly face life's challenges. One need not embrace an existentialist worldview to find inspiration in such advice. Neither does the Professor preach philosophy in his drama. Rather, the reader is invited to achieve a synthesis of his own after observing the strivings of the characters. Vienna was an intellectual microcosm of Europe in the late 19th Century, so the city bcomes a character in the story, with various characters, some historical, some fictional, acting as the sounding board for Breuer's and Nietzsche's nascent philosophies. This is not a book for readers put off by lengthy dialogues, and it is short on dramatic action and romance. But for those who might enjoy urgent and intimate conversation with great minds on the verge of their greatest achievements, When Nietzsche Wept may be as therapeutic as an afternoon with close friends over cafe melange at the Cafe Landtmann.

This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book.

What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own.

Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual stimulation and personal challenge await you soon thereafter, and I believe that you will find yourself hard pressed to stop reading until the very end. More importantly, the book will remain with you even after you have placed it back on the shelf. That is the greatest praise that a novel can be given.

I found this book to be a great aid in understanding Nietzsche. Professor Walter Kaufmann does an admirable job describing the evolution of Nietzsche's philosophy, his anti-system yet systematic approach, the will to power, eternal recurrence and much more. I recommend reading at least Beyond Good and Evil before taking this on in order to get a feel for Nietzsche and his ideas.

Walter Kaufmann was arguably the best translator of Friedrich Nietzsche into any language and is responsible to a large extent for his rehabilitation after World War II. In contrast to those who attempt to trash Kaufmann (see especially the reviews to Will To Power) he was better equipped to interpret Nietzsche than the vast majority of amateur Nietzscheans today. First Kaufmann was German-born, meaning that he had a native ability with that language. Normally when choosing a translator it is the normal requirement that the target language - in the case of Nietzsche's German, English is the target language - is handled by a native speaker. Kaufmann was an exception to this rule in that his English was exceptional; his writing is better than most native English speakers. In addition to that he had the intuitive feel for Nietzsche's German that only a native speaker of that language could have. Consider too the cultural context. His generation was closer to Nietzsche's than ours, he grew up in and knew intimately the culture that had produced Nietzsche. With all this in mind, for someone to then come along, say a 30ish American with perhaps a smattering of High School German, and attempt to trash Kaufmann (all the while using his translations which one would expect were tainted) shows a distinct lack of intellectual consistency. In other words if Kaufmann is wrong, don't rely on his translation, go back to the original German yourself to make your argument, or give up the effort.

However I expect that the main reason to attack Kaufmann is political. Today there are those who wish to reclaim Nietzsche for the Nazis even after Kaufmann decisively demolished the arguments for that connection. Those who wish to portray Nietzsche as a racist who focused on breeding and bloodlines ignore what the man actually wrote and betray more about their own opinions than Friedrich Nietzsche's. Far from being a proto-Nazi, Nietzsche in his own words comes across more as the Anti-Hitler or rather more to the point Hitler was the Anti-Nietzsche. Is it so surprizing that German culture was capable of producing both? Although in Hitler's case, I find him more a product of the times, than of any particular culture.

Much has been made of the fact of Hitler's fascination with Nietzsche. As a young soldier he most likely read Zarathustra, which was issued in mass to German troops in World War I along with the Bible. Like most readers who start with that book and read nothing else of Nietzsche, he understood little of the man's ideas. As Kaufmann mentions on page 292, the Nazis got their racial theories not from Nietzsche, but from Hans F.K. Günther who in turn was greatly influenced by the American racists Madison Grant and Lothrop Stoddard among others. Stoddard, a Harvard professor in the 1920's, is an interesting figure, in a certain perverse way, almost forgotten today except among white supremacists. His views (along with Grant's) on the Germans classified them as racially mixed with only a small quantity of superior "Nordic" blood. One wonders the influence this view had on Nazi policies and their fanatic and murderous efforts to "cleanse" foreign elements from their bloodlines. In fact Stoddard's influence on the Nazis clearly outweighs anything they got from Nietzsche, but while Stoddard is unacceptable today for mass consumption, Nietzsche's appeal goes on. Any attempt to link Nietzsche to the Nazis must be seen as the cheap political fascist trick it is.

I got this book after having finished reading the complete works of Nietzsche. Kaufmann has the best translations of most of N's works, save "Beyond Good and Evil" (Hollingdale is the way to go). However, Kaufmann didn't get around to translating many of N's early works, and we are poorer because of this. But, in this text, Kaufmann goes through these early works in his discussion of the development of N's thought. I found his comments on the Untimely Meditations very useful. I had read these texts in the older Oscar Levy translations, and found them hard to digest. For this reason alone, this book was useful to me.

The book in general is a good introduction to N. It spends a lot of time dispelling rumors which do not have the same currency as when the book was written. These misguided misinterprations still exist however, and it is good to be able to counter them. I general don't like secondary texts, but this is a good one. Get it if you are interested in N's life story, or in the basis of his ideas, and you will be very happy.

As other reviewers have pointed out, with this book Walter Kaufmann almost single-handedly resuscitated Nietzche's reputation in the English-speaking world. And, Kaufmann's translations of Nietzsche's work are almost certainly the best available. This book is reasonably well written and lucid, and sets out a comprehensible interpretation of Nietzsche's work. If it weren't for H.L. Mencken's remarkably perceptive little book on Nietzsche published around the turn of the century (which I recommend), I'd say Kaufmann's book was the first really good thing on Nietzsche in English.

The polemics against other Nietzsche scholars are a little much. However, having read a number of the books of the Nietzsche-bashers Kaufman trashes, I tend to agree with him more than his critics, and in the context of the time they were written, I suppose they were not inappropriate.

Some reviewers have suggested Kaufmann lacks depth or sophistication, and there is some truth in this. I am told by a former Kaufmann student that he bragged of being the highest paid philosopher in America and took rather unseemly delight in the material trappings of his success. Nietzsche would have considered him kleinburgerlich.

It is mildly annoying that Kaufmann trashes every German edition of Nietzsche's work except the Musarion - a 1922 edition of which around 1,000 sets were printed. I was told only a hundred or so sets survived WWII and de-Nazification. I was fortunate enough to have access to it as graduate student at the University of California, but except for Kaufmann, I don't know of any sets in private hands. It is good, but almost inaccessible. I was the only one who had checked out several of the volumes, and in others I had to cut the pages.

While Kaufmann is a good introduction, as others have said, it's better to actually read Nietzsche yourself, preferably in German, because Nietzsche is one of the most exciting prose writers in German in the 19th century. Kaufmann's translations are accurate, and reasonable English, but cannot come close to the elegance of Nietzsche's German. I read Nietzsche mostly in German, but keep Kaufman's translations to hand when I have a question about the German.