Thus spake Zarathustra

Zarathustra was Nietzsche's masterpiece, the first comprehensive statement of his mature philosophy, and the introduction of his influential and well-known (and misunderstood) ideas including the "overman" or "superman" and the "will to power." It is also the source of Nietzsche's famous (and much misconstrued) statement that "God is dead." Though this is essentially a work of philosophy, it is also a masterpiece of literature, a cross between prose and poetry. A considerable part and parcel of Nietzsche's genius is his ability to make his language dance, and this is what becomes extraordinarily difficult to translate. It has been almost 40 years since Hollingdale's version for Penguin and almost 50 since Kaufmann's. However, anyone who appreciates the German original knows that these translations are merely adequate. While earlier translators have smoothed out the rough edges, cut corners and sometimes omitted troublesome passages outright, this one honors and respects the original as no other. Kaufmann and others are guilty of the deplorable tendency to "improve" on the original. Much is lost by this means, to say nothing of the interior rhythms, the grace notes, the not always graceful but omnipresent and striking puns and wordplays. And in not a few instances the current translation improves on Kaufmann's use of English or otherwise clarifies what Nietzsche is really saying

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kstenerudOct 2024

Have Space Suit Will Travel (Heinlein)

Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein)

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (one story in the book "Different Seasons" by Stephen King)

Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)

The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

Roadside Picnic (Strugatsky)

Frankenstein (Shelley)

Brave New World (Huxley)

Farenheit 451 (Heinlein)

Never Cry Wolf (Mowatt)

A Whale for the Killing (Mowatt)

The Machine Stops (Forster)

Heart of Darkness (Conrad)

Starship Troopers (Heinlein)

The Jungle Book (Kipling)

Lost in the Barrens (Mowatt)

The Republic (Plato)

Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke)

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 (Dumas)

Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)

The Wind in the Willows (Grahame)

A Christmas Carol (Dickens)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass (Carroll)

Watership Down (Adams)

Gulliver's Travels (Swift)

Animal Farm (Orwell)

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unrestifarianMay 2024

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 most scientists never even think to ask. . but that seems the most radical question of all (as in getting to the 'root' of it all).

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thatjoeoverthrMar 2022

Jacob’s Room, Virginia Woolf

Before this book I generally did not read, unless it was a Star Trek branded airport novel. I had just got an iPad and was rummaging around the Project Gutenberg texts they’d dumped into iBooks. I chose it impulsively.

This book set my brain and heart on fire and opened the world of literature for me. It’s very specific, though, and I can’t -recommend- it to anyone.

There is little spackle in this book, as if every sentence and scene is cropped a bit beyond the point of readability. But reading aloud it flows well. There is effectively no plot and a great deal of its merit is 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 Prince and Pulp (bukowski) in Polish. But it really wasn’t an effective way to continue and Polish was the priority. All other hobbies had to go.

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fellowniusmonkDec 2021

This list of books may sum up my entire personhood, some I read at a young age.

Thinking Fast and Slow. After you read it take a course on statistics & probability.

The Art of Strategy

The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

Armor by John Steakley Great book of fiction, helped me understand PTSD.

Read a lot of Asimov, robot series, foundation and short stories starting with The Last Question.

Jules Verne

Mark Twain, various stories but particularly the Diary of Adam & Eve

The Jungle Book by Kipling

Lost Horizon

Robinson Crusoe

Dune Series

Enders Game and sequels.

The Odyssey

The Count of Monte Cristo

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card because it helped me understand that a cultures internally consumed fiction tells you about its values.

The book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Job. Leviticus 25. 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 and along with my personal interactions with him at the time it helped clarify that he is not a person whose opinion holds any weight or even much thought. I remember at the time thinking it was unbearably poor reading.

Farmer Giles of Ham. If you've already read the hobbit, LOTR, etc. it helped me understand the framing of Tolkien way better.

Then read Pride and Prejudice through the lens of Farmer Giles of Ham. Calling it a romance novel is a disservice.

A James Bond Novel. I can't remember the name but there is one in particular that describes why he always acts so overtly and not spy-ish at all. The explanation helped me understand why you should throw yourself fully into work projects and helped me get over fear of mistakes. It made me a far better consultant as well while I was doing that.

So good they can't ignore you & deep work.

How to win friends and influence people.

Run Silent, Run Deep.

The Communist Manifesto

The Christian Manifesto

From Dawn to Decadence.

Romance of the 7 kingdoms.

Life together.

There's a big yellow book about the 6 day war, it's very detailed and blow by blow, I can no longer remember its name but it impressed upon me the chance and vagaries of war.

The Free Will Defense. Alvin Plantinga (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)

In Defense of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. William Lane Craig (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)

No little people. Francis Schaeffer

The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich.

The Rails Way. 1st edition.

Javascript. The good parts.

Visual quick start guide to SQL.

^These three are probably the most important books I ever read, they probably changed the trajectory of my life more than any others on the list.

Midnight's Children. Rushdie

Roberts Rules of Order.

The four loves

Love languages

A once popular anti catholic tract called "The Trail of Blood".

Basically there is truth, falsehood, history, emotion and understanding in all these works, synthesizing these particular books made me who I am today. There are many others but these are the ones that come quickly to mind and whose titles I can still mostly recall.

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krylonOct 2018

As a German, allow me to respectfully disagree. I think 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.

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robobroMar 2015

    - 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

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