An excellent selection from an excellent phisopher

books:


	• The Portable Nietzsche (Viking Portable Library) Penguin Books, 1977 - 704 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Nietzsche makes it fun

The five stars are really more for Nietzsche than this particular pastiche. I've had this book since my thirties and have underlined it a lot. Whatever conclusions others draw from his work, to me it's always been mainly delightful. He's definitely the wild guy, as much poet as anything else. Like at least one other reviewer I've been frustrated now and then that the anthology doesn't give me more of some of Nietzsche's works. If I were delving into Nietzsche now I'd probably buy a handful of his complete works rather than this portable book.

An excellent selection from an excellent phisopher

Nietzsche is without a doubt the most important philosopher of modern times - the voice of the spirit of modern humanity, demanding freedom through self-power and courage in the face of the absurdity of the universe. Opposing humanitarianism (Man-for-Mankind) Nietzsche presents a vision of Man-for-Himself, a philosophical viewpoint that can be incorporated seamlessly into libertarian class war practice - as Georges Sorel, the French syndicalist, did.

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good deal,

A great collection for the price, but, Hollingdale's translations are much preferable in regard to capturing Nietzche's style and subtlety in English. Much of Zarathustra is awkwardly though adequately translated--unique word choices, to the say the least. Compare with Hollingdale's. Overall: Something I would pick up to have with me at all times and travel, but not the greatest substitute for obtaining better editions for study. Main feature: It's portable!

Portable and easy to read Nietzsche

First let me start by saying this is a lot easier to read than 'Beyond Good and Evil' and 'Thus Spake'. These are the edited and translated works of Nietzsche. They make a lot more sense when you cut out all the melodrama and histrionics. It's less harsh than the other books and I actually agreed with a lot of his ideas. I found it to be more interesting than the few other books i've read by Nietzsche due to it being a more eclectic mix of Neitsche's works and easier to understand.

This book contains many of his works such as 'Twilight of the Idols, Thus Spake, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, and the Antichrist'. Also mentions the Geneology of Morals, The Wagner Case and Nietzsche's opinions on Plato, Socrates and Schopenhauer.

There were some great quotes in here. He actually had a good argument for Christianity in this one but by the time we get to the Antichrist you can sense Nietzsche is starting to lose it. Other than that it's a great book and I recommend it to anyone interested in Nietzsche's works.

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A Correction of False Vulgarization of Neitzsche

A recent interesing discussion encouraged this reviewer to comment on this book edited by the late Walter Kaufmann. This anthology undermines the false popularlization of Nietzsche, and serious readers get a better understanding of Nietzsche than is provided by critis many of whom have probably not read Nietzsche. One should avoid "slick manuals and canned opinions edited at the editor's table. Read Nietzsche for yourself.

To say Nietzsche was unconventional is an obvious understatement. Those who think he glorified war are badly mistaken and need a clear understanding. When Nietzsche talked about war, he was talking what might be called intellectual war or "a battle of wits." Nietzsche is clear in this collection that he opposed actual war, and his one quote,"How good bad music sounds when war is in the air." When writers who probably have not read Nietzsche talk about "The Blond Beast," they fail to realize that Nietzsche is using a poetic allegory and not physical violence. Nietzsche used aphorisms to explain his protest against what he saw as mass society and thoughtless conformity.

Those who have not read Nietzsche may be surprised that he was very well read in Ancient Greek poetry and drama which he cited to explain human dilemmas. Basically Nietzsche was trying to explain if a profound if possibly confusing way, was that the human condition was not rosy, and tragedy was certainly part of the human condition.

Sections of this anthology of Nietzsche's thinking undermine the notion that Nietzsche was somehow a bitter anti-Semite. The sections titled "Nietzsche vs Wagner" or "The Wagner Case" leave no misunderstanding of Nietzsche's views of Jewish people. For those who are not sure, they should read pages 88-89 of this anthology where Nietzsche gives unstinting praise of the Jews both from a historical and social point of view. Many readers will be surprised at this selection.

Some quotes and aphorisms of Nietzsche are worth noting and "food for thougt." The following examples were selected at random which are poignant and trenchent. They are as follows:

All truth is simple. Is that not doubly a lie.

The best way to corrupt a youth is to teach him to respect those who think alike rather than those who think differently.

...The errors of great men are more venerable than the truths of little men...

The better the state is established, the fainter is humanity.

Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

And when they say, "I am just," it always sounds like, I am just-revenged."

Virtue is necessay, but at bottom they believe only that the police are necessary.

Nietzsche has obviously been critisized for attacks on religion. Yet, one must consider that Nietzsche was attacking organized religion for its demands of conformity, its hyopcracy, its intellectual dishonesty, etc. Nietzsche attacked organized religion for straying from its roots and original meaning.

Nietzsche was one of two men who commented on mass society. The other thinker was Karl Marx. Nietzsche was concerned about the thoughtlessness of mass men which could lead to intellectual stagnation. Marx saw the emergence of mass men as a tool for social and political revolution.

This reviewer thought Walter Kaufmann did a good job in editing and collecting the materials for this book. Other books that should interest readers are Kaufmann's NIETZSCHE: PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGIST, AND ANTICHRIST which the eminent British historian A.J.P. Taylor endorsed as follows: "This is the most sensible exposition of Nietzsche's philosophy ever made." Readers may futher consult BASIC WRITINGS OF NIETZSCHE also edited by Walter Kaufmann.

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