read more Nietzsche

Reading Human, All Too Human. It’s great till now. Goin at a slow pace though, it’s quite hard.

I finished Thus Spoke Zarathustra!

I recommend it to everyone interested in reading more of Nietzsche. It was so beautifully written, almost poetic in a sense. A truly wonderful experience and a good example of what makes Nietzsche such a great philosopher.

I’ve placed The Gay Science in the bathroom now. Given its short entries, it makes for good bathroom reading.

i like taking my time with nietzsche. reading over sentences and just enjoying it bit by bit. if i’m in an exceptionally broad mood i can read up to 30 pages in one sitting, if not i take it little by little. i can’t wait to finish thus spoke zarathustra and continue with his other works.

I recommend “The Portable Nietzsche” by Walter Kaufmann as a great introduction to Nietzsche’s philosophy. Kaufmann provides loads of backround information on Nietzsche’s philosophy as it develops through his major works. In the book, he also gives really useful introductions to all of the books as well as explaining some of the more complex passages.

Most importantly though, Kaufmann’s book includes the FULL text of Nietzsche’s four major works: “Twilight of the Idols”, “The Antichrist”, “Nietzsche Contra Wagner”, and “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. Kaufmann also includes soe important passages from Nietzsche’s other works.

Having read Kaufmann’s book from start to finish, I was inspired to buy a few more of Nietzsche’s books and read them, too.

I’d say that I’ve now developed a cursory understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophy. What I need to next is go back over each of the books and re-read them to gain a deeper understanding of the great man’s philosophy.

Up until a few days ago, I was reading The Gay Science. It is difficult reading and something that needs to be studied more than read. Each section is relatively short nad packed with information. I end up reading some phrases or passages three, four times and I still am not sure I’m understanding. It is interesting, though. Just a bit intense. I’ve put it down for the last couple days as I’ve now received Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It’s very interesting.

I bought two Neitzsche books today: Beyond Good and Evil and The Gay Science. I’ll start The Gay Science because I’m waiting for Beyond Good and Evil from Amazon.

I discovered Neitzsche through a The Teaching Company lecture on Existentialism and another on Neitzsche himself. I find his ideas fascinating. Especially compared to how I think most people see him – as the “antichrist”. But when I learned more about him, I found out, that he might have been one of the more human and compassionate people of his day.