Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche · first published 2021
53% recommend45% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Energetic, poetic, sometimes rambling philosophical work on overcoming human smallness. Readers value its personal impact, rereading rewards, and motivation; dense, so best for those ready for a challenge.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…masterpiece and study only that masterpiece in depth, with secondary academic texts. His list takes too long, and my life is too short to read a bunch of fluff. The books I have studied in depth are: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche The Republic by Plato A Critique of Pure Reason by Kant The Phenomenology of the Spirit by Hegel Life is so short, read nothing but the cornerstones (this may not be that) of western…
on “So You Want to Study Philosophy” ↗Zoroaster (also Zarathustra) is also the character at the center of the famous book by Nietzsche "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" (I recommend it), which itself inspired the symphonic poem (with the same name -- I recommend to listen to it entirely too) from Richard Strauss, that everyone knows as the opening theme of Kubric's…
on “Zoroastrians make a comeback in northern Iraq” ↗The ones I've read and find good: - Existentialism is a Humanism - Jean Paul Sartre : Very easy to read and is a very good introduction to existentialism. - Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche - Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗"Thus Spoke Zarathustra" - Nietzsche (French Translation) - 5/5 An absolute Must read. "1984" - Orwell - 5/5 French law on surveillance made me want to read it again "Fahrenheit 451" - Ray Bradbury - 4/5 "La zone du dehors"…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…of Will Durant's book The Story of Philosophy which is a nice summary of Western philosophy. YouTube seems to have full audiobooks, some of which are of great quality. There's a version of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra that is highly entertaining and even enlightening, if that's your thing. There is a good librevox recording of Wittgenstein's principle book that I've started on recently, and was surprised how good it…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite educational non-tech podcasts?” ↗I'd add Heidegger's Being and Time to that list, and Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra or The Gay Science to that list. These are are probably the most significant works of Continental philosophy, and should definitely take precedence of Foucault, who's really the only representative of…
on “Ask HN: Learning about philosophy” ↗…original works, but I'd recommend starting with philosophical fiction. Crime and Punishment, The Plague, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, etc. Plato's dialogues are pretty readable, too, as is Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche.
on “How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught” ↗…eye-opener, some ideas that influenced the last century are introduced there. - Proofs and Refutations, a posthumous work by Imre Lakatos, it defied much of my established view on how Mathematics works. - Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a powerful book, it's dense and you can only drag many conclusions from it when you read other works from Nietzsche, which lead to my next book. - On the Genealogy of Morality, this is for me the most…
on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗…Huxley Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand Foundation Trilogy -Isaac Asimov The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists - Neil Strauss The Law - Frédéric Bastiat Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier - Katie Hafner & John Markoff It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You…
on “Ask HN: what non technical books changed your life ?” ↗…(although this will be too kafkaesque for some), Fahrenheit 451. I do love Jules Verne as well. Atlas Shrugged should be known to anyone around here, I guess.. Relating to Atlas Shrugged: Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Both books were very influential to me when I was younger.
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading” ↗Have you ever read Thus Spoke Zarathustra? You might like this short chapter: http://4umi.com/nietzsche/zarathustra/11
on “We have socialised the risk of innovation but privatised the rewards” ↗Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche (esp. Walter Kaufmann preface edition). It's an energetic, angry, poetic, and often rambling tour de force on mankind overcoming its smallness. Halfway through you'll start wondering if…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗The Library of Babel Voltaire's Candide Thus Spoke Zarathustra Karamazovs Orwell's 1984 Lem's Solaris
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗For me it's Nietzsche's "Thus spoke Zarathustra". I'm a different person each time I get through certain sections of that book. That said, I'm sure one of the hundreds of unread books I own is equally life changing.
on “On pretending to have read books” ↗…life? Fiction, nonfiction, biographies. Anything that, in your view, reflects that spirit, or has a chance to give the reader an experience of it. (Am primarily interested because I like Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which does borrow at least the name.)
on “Alexander the ‘Accursed’ and Zoroastrianism” ↗