Thus spake Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche · first published 1917
35% recommend60% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Poetic, aphoristic philosophy that serves as a rewarding entry into Nietzsche. Its prose is praised, and it pairs naturally with Beyond Good and Evil, raising questions about meaning.
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…thoughts and anxieties and dream, a human being palpably aching to find meaning, caught in the middle of one of the greatest social upheavals of human history. Indeed. I greatly enjoyed reading Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra and have quite a few of his other works on my list.
on “Taleb: The future will not be cool” ↗…English is far easier to learn. I often find it easier to express my thoughts in English than in German. I do agree that German is a beautiful language, though, and highly recommend reading Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra to anyone who does or does not agree with me on this one.
on “The Awful German Language (1880)” ↗- Book of the Subgenius - Meditations, Aurelius - Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut - Blue and Brown Books, Wittgenstein - Stranger, Camus - Dhammapada, Buddha - Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche - Blue Cliff Record, Kequin - Trial, Kafka - Labyrinths, Borges
on “What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?” ↗Second Nietzsche - Beyond Good & Evil + Thus Spake Zarathustra. TPZ is really a poetic/mock religious text version of BG&E. The first few chapters of BG&E ask the question: why we humans seek knowledge at all? What drives the will to knowledge. . .feelings? A question…
on “What's the most radical book you've read?” ↗…Ringworld (Niven) The Stainless Steel Rat (Harrison) The Hobbit (Tolkien) Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Stevenson) The Odyssey (Homer) The Man who Would be King (Kipling) The Pearl (Steinbeck) Thus Spake Zarathustra (Nietzsche) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Dick) A Scanner Darkly (Dick) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Adams) Dracula (Stoker) To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) The Count of Monte Cristo…
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗…Galatians 5:22-23. Romans 2:15. Luke 18:1-8. The minor prophets. Bible generally if you want to deep dive, I did once upon a time. 25th chapter of the First Epistle of Clement of Rome Aristotle, Socrates. Thus Spake Zarathustra Through Gates of Splendor Peace Child Let Freedom Ring. I was working illegally (as I recall) as a 15 year old teenager for Sean Hannity (as a w2 employee through a proxy) when this book came out…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗…at the sentence level. Furthermore, this book in particular resonated with me emotionally. I was thirsty for more and read other classics. My favorites; To the Lighthouse, Picture of Dorian Grey and Thus Spake Zarathustra (the translation they have on Gutenberg). This hobby dominated my attention for years. What displaced it was I had to learn Polish. At first I tried to combine these; I read Charlotte’s Web, the Little…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗Well, to be fair to the author Übermensch is a term coined by Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra. While it was coopted by the Nazis, the meaning as conveyed by Nazis was very different from how Nietzsche used it. The Nazis felt that they were the Übermensch. It wasn't something to achieve or become.…
on ““Brainy” mice raise hope of better treatments for cognitive disorders” ↗It depends where you start with Nietzsche. If your first encounter with his work is Thus Spake Zarathustra or perhaps Ecce Homo, you're going to be confused. In contrast, On the Genealogy of Morality, The Antichrist, Beyond Good and Evil are clear, lucid, and beautifully written (whether you agree with them…
on “C.S. Lewis on the Reading of Old Books” ↗…Chesterton’s fence [1], or, if more literary inclined, the parable of the camel, the lion and the child [2]. [1] https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Chesterton%27s_Fence [2] http://nietzsche.holtof.com/Nietzsche_thus_spake_zarathustra...
on “Absolute truths I unlearned as junior developer (2019)” ↗…Nietzsche's "Three Metamorphoses"[1]. I wonder what he would have thought about the internet where most individuals can perpetually choose whatever values they want. 1 - http://nietzsche.thefreelibrary.com/Thus-Spake-Zarathustra/3...
on “Slashdot discovers Lisp” ↗…probably thinking of (which you should expect, since Toby displays too much misery to be a traditional Enlightened One). If you are really curious about how I am developing this thread, read Nietzsche's 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' Venkat
on “Wonderful Human Beings” ↗I think The Gay Science, Beyond Good and Evil, and A Genealogy of Morality are very readable and thought-provoking without going into esoteric ism or experimental style like Thus Spake Zarathustra. I prefer the Kaufman translations, but I understand there are many new, possibly better translations available now. Translation can make-or-break Nietzsche - he was one of the best German prose writers…
on “There’s No Such Thing as Free Will” ↗My own enlightenment was realizing that neither virtue nor the expectation of virtue was rooted in anything that I should concern myself with. From Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Virtuous: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1998/1998-h/1998-h.htm#link2...
on “Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party” ↗(It's from Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra, if anyone else is trying to figure out why it sounds familiar).
on “I need structure in my life” ↗