“Man is a rope stretched between animal and the Übermensch—a rope over an abyss.”

The Death of God

The death of God concerns Nietzsche because he has the foresight to see the chaos that might follow—a value system collapsing and a confused age where people no long can tell up from down. The solution he propose is the überman, the next step in human evolution, but he feared we might instead see a transformation of man into what he calls the Last Man.

THE UBERMENSCH

To become the Übermensch, one must transcend the established morals and prejudices of human society to define out own purpose and values in life. This is person who is willing to risk it all for the advancement of humanity.

THE LAST MAN

The Last Man is what Nietzsche feared would become of western man. Imagine a person laying on a couch with a bag of chips balanced on a potbelly, totally immersed in a game of Candy Crush after a long Pornhub session. Despite pleasures and comfort,the person is empty and miserable; There you have TheLast Man.

THE BOOK

The book is written in a biblical style and is full of parables, analogies and mythical imagery. we get to follow a prophet-like character named Zarathustra who has isolated himself in a cave on a mountain top for 10 years. He grows weary of his wisdom he descents into humanity to tell the world what he had learned.

Notes

📝 “To give birth to a dancing star you need chaos in your soul.”

📝 Nietzsche wrote the book in a 10-day burst of creative madness, “, and it is clear that he didn’t revise his work very carefully”. And it took me 2 months to read it. 😬

💭 The hardest book I’ve read to date and a good preparation for tackling the Bible after summer.

⚖️ VERDICT:

Just like a paralyzed person need stairlift to up to the top floor, I needed assistance to ascend to vicinity of Nietzsche’s ideas. Countless YouTube videos by professors and armchair philosophers where needed for me to gain a base level understanding of this book. And I cherished those lectures, more than I enjoyed reading the book.

It is not an easy read. But some parts of it are so powerful they’ll leave you awestruck.

??? out of 5

Find more great reads on my book reviews page and the Great Books List