Nietzsche – The Dionysian Impulse (2009)

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche has been the most influential single text I’ve read in my life. Over the years, with each reread, it’s changed the way I look at the world. Before I read this book, I took the definitions for the words good and evil as givens and for granted.

It’s a book that I read, or read about, every time that I’m not convinced with my current beliefs. Out of every book Nietzsche wrote, this is the text that best sums up what I think he thought about in his spare time throughout his entire life in a physically detached but still coherent manner.

The Gay Science is another great Nietzsche book. Pick up The Birth of Tragedy if you get a chance though, Nietzche's early views on history and science are also worth reading and considering.

The Gay Science (pdf): http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Gay-Science-...

Direct Search: http://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-7001470329354026:d3...

Nietzsche should be studied alongside Plato. I can't remember the quote, but Nietzsche emphasized that the strength of a person could be judged by the strength of the enemies he choses, and Nietzsche definitely chooses Plato as his arch-nemesis.

Some people - like me - even think that Beyond Good and Evil is a direct reply to The Republic. Many amazing and sometimes disturbing lines of thought emerge if BG&E is read as if it were part of the dialogue with Socrates.

I've always loved this and many of the other insights and distinctions introduced by Nietzsche. While "The Birth of Tragedy" is a bit of a turgid read, the works following it are much sharper.

I'd honestly recommend his entire corpus as it's pretty much a goldmine of insights given that you take the time to read and understand the aphorisms. Nietzsche's prose style is undeniably powerful and beautiful, even after translation.

As Nietzsche became more and more isolated, socially and intellectually, he had less to say about the Dionysian impulse.

What he's describing is more clearly observed and understood by Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind, when Haidt discusses the hive switch.