The Will to PowerRecommendations

Represents a selection from Nietzche's notebooks to learn about his thoughts on nihilism, art, morality, religion, and knowledge theory, among other topics.

Nietzsche's notebooks, which he maintained throughout his most active years, provide a fascinating view into a great thinker's workshop and mind, and compare well to those of Gide and Kafka, Camus and Wittgenstein. One of the most renowned books of philosophy is The Will to Power, which was assembled from the notebooks. The first critical edition in any language is now available.

During the Nazi era, The Will to Power was generally misunderstood as Nietzche's best achievement in methodical work; after World War II, it has been widely disparaged. In truth, it is a remarkable collection of Nietzsche's notes, organized in a thematic order that allows the reader to locate what Nietzsche wrote on a wide range of topics.

In conjunction with R. J. Holilngdale, Walter Kaufmann applies his unrivalled talents as a Nietzsche translator and scholar to this collection. Professor Kaufmann has supplied an estimate of when each note was written. His continuous footnote commentary provides information essential to understand Nietzsche's line of thought, as well as indicating which notes were subsequently supplanted by newer formulations, among other things. The thorough index aids the reader in discovering the book's tremendous richness.