Thus Spoke Zarathustra Paperback – 28 Feb. 1974

This is a profound read, giving insight into the true nature of each individual. Thus spoke Zarathustra leads us into a self-analytic mental arena, signalling every humans 'will to power', and more importantly their inherent ability to create.

this is a classic, sometimes its hard to understand but its interesting

Not an easy book to get through from beginning to end, but still a monumental contribution to continental and critical philosophy, and indeed western literature. This isn't necessarily the first (or only) book you should read by Nietzsche (that would be Genealogy of Morals and Birth of Tragedy), but certainly not the last.Once acquainted with the revolutionary, psychological and discourse based method of Nietzsche, this work is the perfect example of that method as applied to Christianity, western philosophy and ethics. It certainly laid the groundwork for Freud, Foucault and others - and here above all he is the true 'master of suspicion' in revealing the bitterness, bad faith and hypocrisy of standard, bourgeois moral reasoning. In that sense, Nietzsche is right when he claims in other work to be the successor to Voltaire and that Zarathustra is the successor of Candide. However, what skills he has in lyricism, he generally lacks in satire and humour. Nietzsche tries, he really tries, but is not a funny man - maybe it's the old translation?However, as a master of suspicion, it's only right to turn that suspicion back on the author. Of course, he was a sick and unloved man, at odds with his time and resentful for that reason. He's a wannabe aristocrat without means or a true understanding of the steam engine or the telegraph. Therefore, as much as his tainted image comes from his obscure style and later misuse of his work, it has kernel of truth. There might be no direct line to National Socialism (Nietzsche would have fared more honourable than Heidegger - and would have despised their murderous nationalism and racism, thuggishness and obscurantism), but there is a line to thinkers like Gabriele D'Annunzio and Julius Evola that can't be denied.It's bad faith and hypocrisy - and as such bad thinking and bad living - that his disgust (disgust at the modern world being a key mark of the superman) for the 'mob' comes from. We might call them 'normies' or 'sheeple' today. Nietzsche's anti-egalitarianism has to be read in light of his views on hypocrisy, and so there is key parallel to what Marx says about bourgeois hypocrisy, "This sphere that we are deserting, within whose boundaries the sale and purchase of labour-power goes on, is in fact a very Eden of the innate rights of man. There alone rule Freedom, Equality, Property and Bentham."Today, the (liberal) left and right clearly share, if not the same moral assumptions, then the same meta-moral assumptions about methodology and reasoning, and a lack of true criticiality in how these assumptions are viewed - Nietzsche was right about that. In that sense, Nietzsche's 'transvaluation of values' is closer to the neo-Aristotelianism of 'virtue ethics' than Russell's quip about 'conquerors who speak Greek'. Hence, Schopenhauer, as the 'Soothsayer' is almost chief among the devils, but pride of place goes to Wagner, the 'Sorcerer'.There is no engagement with Hegel in Nietzsche, or the 'societal ethics' of Philosophy of Right - but it is clear to me that the personal and psychological 'hypocrisy' Nietzsche identifies in this book, rather than a call to capitalistic individualism and philosophical subjectivism, was a warning about the type of people who are about to start the twentieth century. It was a fork in the road between industrial slaughter and pseudo-religious obscurantism that Nietzsche could sense, but as the poetry of this work shows, could not articulate clearly. It was a fork growing wider in 1890 that would be obliterated in 1914. As per the 'eternal recurrence', one of the most difficult ideas in Nietzsche's work and in this book, we can't go back to 1914, but we can spiral back as different people and turn the wheel again.

this book conveys some thought provoking ideas about religion, morality, society, and even a meaning or purpose to life. However if you do not like poetry or literature, this will be incredibly tough for you, and you may as well buy a summary or guide to accompany it. Even if you can interpret metaphors, you may also want to check how you interpret chapters where he uses extensive metaphors; in effect the whole book. Difficulty aside, 10/10.

Has really got me thinking deeply. I won't pretend I know anything about philosophy but this is quite grim and in a way hopeful.

Worth a read by everyone !

Shortly after reading ‘The Red Book’ I decided to look into the philosophy of Nietzsche, whom Jung quite often referred to during his work. The first book of Nietzsche’s that stood out was Thus Spoke Zarathustra, I had done a little research, plus a few friends of mine had already read some of his work (‘Beyond Good and Evil’ mainly) and I understood that this was what the philosopher himself called his ‘Masterpiece’.As you can see I use quotation marks here, this was not one of the easier reads I have had of late. Its ‘narrative’ is not one within the literal sense but more of a shifting of a state of mind as the story progresses, which was most likely Nietzsche’s intentions. The imagery he concocted within it though, left an impression as did many of the characters (The Ugliest Man, the leech, the sorcerer etc.) which were quite enjoyable/disturbing visions to have in my head and as it was a philosophy book, to mark it down on its ‘narrative’ seems slightly unfair.You read these sort of books to try to expand your mental or spiritual horizons so the question is, did it expand my horizons, even if it was a tough read? The answer is yes, but indirectly. Nietzsche’s philosophy is that the ‘Ubermensch’ (Superman) is the next step up of evolution from man and the only way we can achieve this is by releasing ourselves of shame and pity, embracing envy- to help progress ourselves further, and that religion, mostly Christianity and Judaism, virtues and morals have held back man from his true nature, his ideal state- that of the ‘Superman’. He is not a religious person’s best friend to put it lightly- but this is concept is explained further in the books ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ and ‘Twilight of the Idols and the Anti-Christ’.The character, Zarathustra plays the role of the prophet who is trying to lead humankind to build the bridge to allow the next generation to gain its enlightened state of existence, though they believe they are destined to be the first ‘Supermen’ Zarathustra explains that they cannot be, but can only become the bridge to lead others towards their goal. They don’t like it but Zarathustra doesn’t care. He just likes to dance and question everything- such is his way.Now to conclude, ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ is a unique piece that I think people will certainly struggle to grasp hold of if they lack patience or demand a literate masterpiece. It is longer than necessary in my opinion. That being said, the ideas were indeed revolutionary and the book is a good lead in to the more Factual/Intellectual (and slightly shorter) books of his, already mentioned above, and his entire way of thinking.Zarathustra was an eye opening read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a book that makes you think hard about existence and allows you to question the right way of living, yet a masterpiece, unfortunately not. Three and a half stars.

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Friedrich Nietzsche had some very accurate interpretations regarding the common cow!

I only came back to write a very positive review because of all of the abysmal Nietzsche printings of the other books out there. Wow, I had no idea how many people have taken this man's writings and used amazon printer to capitalize on it. Anyways, if you're contemplating buying this book then contemplate no further, buy it. It's mint. The pages, the size, the hardcover, the font, all of it.The book itself is fantastically written, but I am specifically speaking to the physical copy. Other decent Nietzsche books as well-made are very difficult to find (I haven't found one as nice).

The book arrived in very good condition. It is an original book and it is very light. Good paper quality and very good binding. No stress in holding and reading this book with one hand too.

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Good book, but the words and the way the author writes is very hard to comprehend

overall book looks fine but when you take a closer look there are some scrapes AND the paper is mid quality, you can’t underline with a highlighter