Nietzsche for Beginners (Beginners Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Patrick Boussignac (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The unorthodox life and ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche come alive in this documentary history. Here is a clear picture of the time in which this revolutionary philosopher lived and worked. We meet the luminaries of the age: Richard Wagner, Bismark, Freud and Darwin. We learn of Nietzsche’s famous love affairs, his theories of the Superman, the Antichrist and nihilism, as well as his impact on Twentieth Century thinking. And we see how the Nazi’s annexed and deformed Nietzsche’s thought to serve their purposes. Nietzsche For Beginners is an important introduction to modern philosophy. Plato, Kant, Hegel and Schopenhaur are all evaluated in light of their influence on Nietzsche’s work. Discover why this great thinker defiantly declared, “God is Dead.” --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Writers & Readers Publishing (July 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863161189
• ISBN-13: 978-0863161186
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #917,786 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste of a book!, March 19, 2001

By	Kenneth E. Wagner Jr. (Highland Springs, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Beginners series is overall a good thing, with many excellent introductory level editions on thinkers. Most, like the ones on Satre, Kierkegaard and Heidegger are excellent (especially since reading those authors primary works is difficult if not impossible). Thats why I am so saddened by this terrible introduction on old Fred. First of all, the art is pretty bad. Second of all, it makes no real attempt to explain what Nietzche said and wrote. Instead it is full of out of context qoutes with little or no analysis and/or explanation. Very poorly done.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing compred with Sartre For Beginners, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

Nietzcsche for Beginners, compared with Sartre for Beginners is highly disjointed, contains distracting grammatical errors, and does not give the beginning reader a solid sense of Nietzche's ideas. Terms are poorly explained, pictures are often apparently irrelevant or tangential to accompanying text, and ideas do not appear to logically build upon each other. I am a graduate doctoral student in clinical psychology and I found this book marginally useful and ill suited for true beginners.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time with this book, October 22, 2000

By	Paul R. Gauthier (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

"Nietzsche for Beginners" is a petty, mendacious, disrespectful and philosophically dubious little book.

Love him or hate him, agree or disagree with him, Nietzsche is almost without argument the most important philosopher of the last century. He deserves far better than Saudet's treatment. This book does not even come close to treating Nietzsche's philosophy in an informed, critical or educational manner. Rather, it succumbs to the old, and I thought long refuted, Anglo-American portrayal of Nietzsche as some kind of tortured, nearly psychotic, cryto-fascist pseudo-philosopher -- without ever seriously addressing his philosophy which has had such a deep influence on Western thought in this century (Sartre, Freud, Mann, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze to name just a few in Nietzsche's debt...)

Frankly, I am disgusted that this book was even published! It contributes nothing to a greater understanding of Nietzsche's thought; it does, instead, exactly the opposite. Do not bother with this book... there are so many better introductions out there...