Why I Am So Wise (Penguin Great Ideas) [Mass Market Paperback]

Friedrich Nietzsche (Author), R. J. Hollingdale (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Great Ideas | Publication Date: September 6, 2005

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Friedrich Nietzsche was born near Leipzig in 1844, the son of a Lutheran clergyman. At 24 he was appointed to the chair of classical philology at Basle University, where he stayed until forced by his health to retire in 1879. Here, he wrote all his literature, including Thus Spake Zarathustra, and developed his idea of the Superman. He became insane in 1889 and remained so until his death in 1900. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143036343
• ISBN-13: 978-0143036340
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #790,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophizing with a hammer., March 24, 2006

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why I Am So Wise (Penguin Great Ideas) (Mass Market Paperback)

"I erect no new idols; let the old idols learn what it means to have legs of clay. To overthrow idols--that is rather my business. Reality has been deprived of its value, its meaning, its veracity,"

He has been called a brilliant thinker, strikingly original, subversive, evil, creative, brazen, intellectually passionate, challenging, and the Anti-Christ ("God is a crude answer, a piece of indelicacy against us thinkers"). Reading German philospher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), can be a life-changing experience. He rejected Christianity as well as the morality of his time, embracing instead the belief that we are able to create our own values. The ideal man, in his view, was the "Ubermensch," or superman, characterized by strong, creative, positive qualities, and able to impose his will upon the weak and worthless. While a cover-to-cover read of this book provides the reader with a good starting point to jump into Nietzsche, a more thorough overview of Nietzsche's philosophy may be found in the Modern Library's BASIC WRITINGS OF NIETZSCHE (2000)or Viking's PORTABLE NIETZSCHE (1977).

(It should be noted that this review refers to the 2005 Penguin Great Ideas edition of WHY I AM SO WISE, translated by R. J. Hollingdale, which includes excerpts from "Ecce Homo" and Twilight of the Idols.")

G. Merritt

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars prelude to madness, August 13, 2009

By 

arpard fazakas - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Why I Am So Wise (Ecce Homo) (Hardcover)

This is an exhilarating, sobering, beautiful, sad, scary book. The product of a great intellect on the brink of madness, it clearly reflects the encroaching grandiosity characteristic of general paresis, the form of neurosyphilis which together with the meningovascular form ultimately killed him. Within three months of writing Ecce Homo, Nietzsche suffered a complete mental breakdown from which he never regained his sanity. He was nursed by his mother and sister until his death in 1900. They suppressed publication of Ecce Homo until 1908 due to its disturbing content. Yet it provides valuable insights into his philosophy. Before we yield to the temptation to feel sorry for him, let us remember that Nietzsche's philosophy was first and foremost about affirming life in all its tragedy. As he once remarked, "all philosophers are united in their low estimation of pity."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little snippet of Nietzsche., February 21, 2010

By 

Warren R. Grayson "Constant Reader" (Birmingham, AL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why I Am So Wise (Penguin Great Ideas) (Mass Market Paperback)

Even if you are not a fan of Nietzsche, this little book is a great place to get a snippet of what he was all about. Granted, it's only a snippet, so there are naturally better places to turn to if you wanted more; Walter Kaufmann's Basic Writings of Nietzsche (Modern Library Classics) or The Portable Nietzsche (Portable Library) for example. That said, this 90 page book does contain several of Nietzsche's more famous ideas and frequent quotations: "revaluation of all values", "I know my fate. One day there will be associated with my name the recollection of something frightful - of a crisis like no other before on earth, of the profoundest collision of conscience.", "From the military school of life - What does not kill me makes me stronger.", "I have need of washing my hands after contact with religious people".

The book contains excerpts from Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (Oxford World's Classics) and Twilight of the Idols, Or, How to Philosophize With the Hammer. In sum, even if you are not interested in learning more about Nietzsche, this is such a short introduction that everyone could benefit from this brief induction to Nietzsche.