The Will to Power

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Summary: Don't Start Here, Rabblerousers...
Review: Even though Nietzsche is my favorite philosopher, I must agree with the other reviewers. Is doesn't take a genius to see that this was indeed a notebook and not nearly ready to be published. The Will To Power does put forth some very strong ideas, but the way they are put together here is just too much for the reader. He is on to another topic before you even know what the hell is going on. It would have been curious to see how this book turned out if Nietzsche did put his touch on it. Instead we are left with a book that remains unclear, and was not meant to leave his writing desk (the idea was shelved in favor for "The Revaluation Of All Values" ,which was supposed to be in four parts, the first part was finished and became "The Antichrist"). It is very good in places, I did enjoy it, but it was way too much to take. Try "The Gay Science," "Beyond Good And Evil," or "The Antichrist". And then you will see why people like me love reading Nietzsche. This is more for people who have everything else by him already and are looking to complete their library. Obviously Nietzsche's sister saw the dollar amount when she had it published posthumously.

Rating:
Summary: How to avoid superlatives?
Review: I hardly know why I am writing a review for "The Will to Power." Anyone kicking around the house on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with nothing good on the television, looking for a good "read"--that person is not going to stumble across "Will to Power" and say "Huh. Well, Luke Gage, POWER MAN, was my favorite comic book. Maybe this'll be just a good. I'll give it a whirl..." If you're going to read this book, you've got to have some idea about Nietzsche, or philosophy, and want to tackle it.

Now--I can't comment on whether Nietzsche himself was an anti-semite, or intellectual father of German National Socialism, or if he was mean to his cats. I don't know, and really couldn't care. Nor am I delusional enough to say "This is what Nietzsche really was thinking when he said X." In fact, I couldn't care less that this "book" wasn't "written" by Nietzche, but instead was culled together and translated by Walter Kaufman, who tried to separate out some of the [...] manipulated by the loving (sic) sister. No, I love this book because of the ideas in it, just as they are written.

This book is not a ripping good yarn, like "Gone with the Wind." This book reads like Hegal's "Philosophy of Right," in that it posits an idea, then has several corollaries to that idea, and then several conclusions based on that idea, all following a process. To get this books flavor, run the "search inside" function on "Nihilism," and begin reading at page 5.

I'm good at underling parts of sentences, so I can quickly go back, skim only the underlined parts, and keep the continuity moving. That helped me stay focused, and build on each new part. So what--Nobody else is going to care what I do to my books.

"Will to Power" begins as a discussion of "nihilism" meaning that the highest values devaluate themselves; There is no answer to the question "Why?" From that initial statement, Nietsche goes on to point out the death of a "god" based or god inspired (or revealed) morality: blind faith in a god is no longer a satisfactory basis for moral authority, nor is the concept of a moral authority dictated by a secular government a sufficient replacement. As the basis for morality collapses, a person confronting this specture may become more "moral," or adhere more closely to the behavioral rules and aspects of a moral order that the person rejects.....

I love this stuff....I never get invited to parties (big surprise), so this is a great way to spend those rainy afternoons. And it's not just me. National Public Radio's "Philosophy Talk" featured a program on Nietsche. If that's not mainsteam america, I don't know what is.

So--if you're interested, get this book. And don't worry if you don't know anything about Nietsche, or are worried that you'll instantly hate your mother and your girlfriend (yourself, if you're a woman), you'll become an over night nazi, (...) None of that will happen (...)

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Summary: This is not Nietzsche
Review: I will be brief, but I must warn the reader of this text. If you are looking for something more to the life and work of Nietzsche and have struggled and grappled with all of his texts and want to read a more personal and intimate account of Nietzsche's work and thought-DO NOT READ THIS. This text is not only an academic shame (note that serious Nietzsche scholars do not find this credible) but it is put together and edited by his sister and aunt, both of whom have their own agenda with Nietzsche's notebooks. And if one thinks that Nietzsche's notebooks are adequately portrayed in this volume, I am afraid that that person would be sadly mistaken. Unfortunately, only 3 of the 20 volumes of Nietzsche's notebooks have been translated into english (I may have the number of volumes wrong, but I can assure you that his notebooks are extensive). Moreover, each volume of his notebooks contain 800 plus pages. The Will to Power is 500, which does not even add up to one of the many volumes of his notebooks. Now if you have faith in his family, a family that was explicit in their happiness of Nietzsche's collapse so that they could bring him back to his Christian roots, and a family that did not even read all of his notebooks and was puzzled when reading the bits they did read (Nietzsche did not write in an ordered and easy to follow way) then I am afraid you are not a serious reader of Nietzsche's because you place more faith in the family of the author rather than the author himself. One review of this text articulates the belief that any serious reader of Nietzsche's should read this text and those that say the things articulated in this review have a hard time of digesting Nietzsche's thought. The "truth" is that if you are a serious reader of Nietzsche's, learn German and read the entire notebooks, not some snapshot. Nietzsche is an amazing thinker and one that is often misunderstood and note taken seriously. It is volumes like these that demonstrate that danger many fall into when taking up the task of Nietzsche's work. Amor fati.

Rating:
Summary: How to avoid superlatives?
Review: Nietzceh doesn't represent everything thats wrong with the world today, but he's certianly viaing for the title.

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Summary: His Sister
Review: Not exactly the best example of Nietzsche's work. As it is composed of Nietzsche's notes, assambled by his Sister, it dosn't carry the same message. His Sister, a major Anti-Semetic, definitly manipulated part of this to fit her own views (She had little understanding of her brothers work). This misrepresantation has definitly disrupted the view of Nietzsche, as well as giving some rather bad influence to the wrong people (Hitler...). This book is definitly not what was ment to be from Nietzsche's notes, but taken with a grain of salt, is still a good read.

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Summary: Response to Fred Strohm's Review
Review: Obviously, Mr. Strohm, in his absurd repudiation of Nietzsche's "will to power", failed to recognize the true meaning of "power" as N conceived it. Power, to N, is not political or physical; it has nothing to do with how "power is gained in human society". N himself declared that the desire to have power over others is itself a form of weakness, insofar as it serves as an escape to overcome oneself, which is true power. N even declares that the ascetic, who turns his back to society and "social power", represents one of the highest manifestations of the will to power. The will to power is about self-realization, overcoming the passions, creating [internal] order out of chaos, mastering one's fate; it is most certainly not about political power. Mr. Strohm's "glaring stupidity" concerning one of the greatest and most individualistic philosophic conceptions, leads one to conclude that even well-read "know-it-alls" fall embarrassingly short of N's persistent concern: "Please do not misunderstand me!"

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Summary: Befall the collapse of Christianity!
Review: One of the most interesting works ever! Even though these are just his notes, we find some of the most interesting and most powerful ideas of Nietzsche set out here. Understanding the great influence Nietzsche had on Western civilization especially with this book makes it worthwhile to add to your collection. The nazis just didn't make use of Nietzsche, many of their ideas came right from here. It wasn't as if the nazis had all their ideas and then looked in every text they could find for information and passages to support them. Rather this was the origin of many of the extreme nazi ideas. The emphasis on a master race, the priority of physiology, the authoiritarianism, the glorification of war, struggle, and violence all came from Nietzsche or was at least heavily reinforced by him. Its important to understand how society works. Many of the most powerful and unique social events can be traced back to the effect of an ideology or philosophy. The rise of Christianity, the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, the birth of America, the Nazis, the communist regimes all owe their existence heavily to philosophers who put forth ideas that allowed these events to happen.

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Summary: Nietzsche in a way predicted the Theory of Relativity
Review: The economic values of technological society must assume great quantities of supply, demand, suppliers, consumers, but Nietzsche was aware of how soon such values break down when they are applied to thinkers. THE WILL TO POWER collected items from Nietzsche's notebooks that reflected the relationship between society and thought. Sections 925 and 926, written in 1888 and 1887 or 1888, mention John Stuart Mill, the golden rule, and Nietzsche's personal objection to the attempt to generalize morality for a great mass of individuals. "I abhor his vulgarity, which says: `What is right for one is fair for another'; `what you would not, etc., no not unto others'; which wants to establish all human intercourse on the basis of mutual services, so that every action appears as a kind of payment for something done to us." (p. 489).

Section 925 calls J. S. Mill's kind of thinking "the instinct of the herd that finds its formula in this rule--one is equal, one takes oneself for equal: as I to you, thus you to me." In Section 926 Nietzsche claims that each individual "is something unique and does only unique things." Nietzsche is considered an aristocratic thinker because he explicitly separates himself from the masses to produce thoughts of his own. His thinking is "the cause of aristocratic segregation from the masses, because the masses believe in `equality' and consequently in equivalence and `reciprocity.'" Back in Section 744, Nietzsche disparaged philosophy about such things as "A science that, like all moral science, has not even reached the cradle yet!" (p. 394). As an example of how things really stand, section 745 is a short aphorism.

"An old Chinese said he had heard that when empires were doomed they had many laws."

Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate and misleading, Nietzsche's words twisted
Review: The Will to Power was published by Nietzsche's sister for her own purposes. Nietzsche did not get along with his sister - and for good reason. She was involved with a leading anti-semitic group of that day. Nietzsche painstakingly went over his notes and arranged each aphorism, each word, to be perfect. He was, after all, a professor of Philology. To accept his estranged sister's attempt at arranging and editing his notes into a book is insanity. She had her own agenda which was far from any of Nietzsche's intentions. This book is one of the reasons that Nietzsche got a bad reputation for being anti-semitic and connecting his idea of the ubermensch with Hitler's Master Race.

If you do read this book, take it with a grain of salt. Most of the words were his, but not in a form that he would have published.

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Summary: The Magnificent Bible for the elite
Review: This book is one of the most controversial, most extreme, but beautiful books ever written. More appropriately it is a collection of notes written by Nietzsche in the 1880's. This work has often been called his master work or magnum opus, although this is not true. Yet that does not change the brilliance and creative genius of this work. Many people try to discredit this work as authentic Nietzsche simply because it is too extreme for them. If one loves Nietzsche, and I mean really loves Nietzsche, not just reading him for entertainment,or to pass the time, then one must read this book. Of course,one should also consult and thoroughly read his published works as well, but any philosopher or avid lover of Nietzsche who neglects this work in their understanding and interpretation of Nietzche is making a crucial mistake. Many of these passages and aphorisms help one understand more clearly many of the ideas, and theories set out in his published works. These were notes that Nietzsche wrote, and like all of us, this means that some of this material is a little sketchy, a little ambiguous, unpolished, and in need of elaboration, detail, and clarification. However, reading this material in its entirety as well as a thorough reading of his other works, particularly his later works,The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, Twilight of the Idols, Ecce Homo, and the Antichrist will allow one to grasp his often misinterpreted philosophy. Of particular interest are his sections were he deals with the will to power as a physical theory of all phenomenon, his elaboration of the eternal recurrence as a cosmological theory and as a breeding tool. This work contains many passages dealing with his views on nihilism as well as his ideas for new values and new theories. It is easy to see why many have perceived this as his magnum opus, because of the originality, and great mass of material that links many of his own positive theories and contributions to philosophy. Be forwarned, you may find this book offensive, horrible, evil, and seductive. Just as Nietzsche would want it. Remember...Truth is ugly.