Author:Curtis Cate
No modern philosopher has been more maligned and misunderstood or more cynically exploited than Friedrich Nietzsche. Physically handicapped by weak eyesight, violent headaches and bouts of nausea, this paradoxical thinker fashioned a philosophy, which made short shrift of self-pity and the ostentatious display of compassion. The son of a Lutheran clergyman, whom he adored, he became a fearless agnostic who proclaimed, in Thus Spake Zarathustra that 'God is dead!' Of modest bourgeois origins, he detested middle-class conformity, and turned to an uncompromising cult of 'aristocratic radicalism'. Nietzsche was the first major philosopher to place psychology, rather than mathematics, logic, physics, or history, at the very centre of his thinking. The wealth and diversity of Nietzsche's aphorisms and brief essays - close to 2,700 - make him the most seminal and provocative thinker of modern times. Many of his aphorisms, highly personal statements of his likes and dislikes, are puzzling. They become truly comprehensible only within the context of his restless life, revealed in this enthralling biography.
A warmly intelligent introduction to Nietzsche
—— William T. Vollmann , New York Time Book ReviewA refined, an intellectually ingenious, and a very civilised discussion of the possible importance of sexual selection for mental evolution
—— John Constable, Cambridge University , Psychology, Evolution, and GenderEntertaining and wide-ranging
—— NerveFlies in the face of evolutionary orthodoxy - proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and others - which suggests that cultures evolve on their own, separate from the evolution of the human mind
—— ObserverThoughtful, witty and vividly written
—— Richard Dawkinsdesigned to help people thrive during periods of change
—— Sunday Timesa motivational book to help you deal with change in your life
—— GuardianEffortlessly, elegantly, Tom Wolfe bestrode both fiction and non-fiction… a style at once objective, subjective, and hallucinatory
—— Andy Martin , Independent[Tom Wolfe’s] gleeful use of punctuation and italics, along with entertaining asides and neologisms that often quickly cemented themselves into the English lexicon, helped Wolfe stand out from other journalists
—— Guardian[Wolfe] made literature fun and bores don’t like fun
—— Freddy Gray , The Catholic HeraldA day-glo book, illuminating, merry, surreal!
—— The Washington PostTom Wolfe is a groove and a gas. Everyone should send him money and other fine things. Hats off to Tom Wolfe!
—— Terry SouthernNot simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book... The pushing, ballooning heart of the matter... Vibrating dazzle!
—— The New York TimesAn American Classic
—— Newsweek