# Reading Nietzsche: Where to Start, and Where to Go Next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176 "2013-03-28T14:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/1 "2013-03-28T14:51:15Z")
This is a question for those familiar with Nietzsche and conversant with his works. What should be the first piece one should read? Along the same lines, if one intended to read only five of his books or long essays, which five should they be? I’m not ruling out the possibility of reading more on down the line, but it is important to identify which works are “essential.” ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/2 "2013-03-28T20:04:57Z")
_On the Genealogy of Morals_ would be one of his more accessible works, and one that lays out a number of his key ideas. Looking it up on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Genealogy_of_Morality), it appears that ’ is considered by many academics to be Nietzsche’s most important work, and, despite its polemical style, out of all of his works it perhaps comes closest to a systematic and sustained exposition of his ideas.’ So there you go. Enjoy, try not to look into the abyss too much! ---
**Author:** ![trabajabamos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@trabajabamos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabajabamos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/3 "2013-03-28T20:08:43Z")
In order… [ol] [li]_Beyond Good and Evil_[/li][li]_On The Geneaology Of Morality_[/li][li]_Thus Spoke Zarathustra_[/li][li]_Ecce Homo_ (pronounced “Eeek, a homo!”)[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/4 "2013-03-29T13:52:47Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > _On the Genealogy of Morals_ would be one of his more accessible works, and one that lays out a number of his key ideas. Looking it up on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Genealogy_of_Morality), it appears that ’ is considered by many academics to be Nietzsche’s most important work, and, despite its polemical style, out of all of his works it perhaps comes closest to a systematic and sustained exposition of his ideas.’ So there you go. Enjoy, try not to look into the abyss too much! > [@trabajabamos](#): > > In order… > [ol] > [li]_Beyond Good and Evil_[/li][li]_On The Geneaology Of Morality_[/li][li]_Thus Spoke Zarathustra_[/li][li]_Ecce Homo_ (pronounced “Eeek, a homo!”)[/li][/ol] Thanks to the both of you! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/5 "2013-03-29T14:20:08Z")
> [@trabajabamos](#): > > In order… > [ol] > [li]_Beyond Good and Evil_[/li][li]_On The Geneaology Of Morality_[/li][li]_Thus Spoke Zarathustra_[/li][li]_Ecce Homo_ (pronounced “Eeek, a homo!”)[/li][/ol] I agree this is the best order. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/6 "2013-04-01T17:53:44Z")
I’d start with _Twilight of the Idols_, Nietzsche himself intended it as an introduction to his philosophy. Then **trabajábamos** ’ list. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/7 "2013-04-02T01:22:21Z")
Having read some Nietzsche I’d skip him entirely. Pompous and tedious and makes me all hitty, but that’s just the opinion of someone who has never read a Germanic philosopher or author, in English or in German, who did not make me want to punch him in the nose. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-nietzsche-where-to-start-and-where-to-go-next/654176/8 "2013-04-02T03:05:17Z")
_Beyond Good and Evil_ can be heavy-going, if essential, reading. To dip your toe agreeably, I would recommend _The Will to Power: Attempt at a Revaluation of all Values_. It consists only of aphorisms, which are yummy, and not in any order, but the brilliant deep whirlpool of his mind can be felt and reveled in immediately. Note that by his late works, Nietszche said that aphoristic philosophy was the correct way to understand his writing (not that germane here since the aphorisms are jumbled). The book was collated from Nietszche’s notes by his sister, who was married to a fierce and articulate anti-Semite who to this day has put so many off from Nietszche, and whose bizarre interpretation was readily excepted by the Nazis. (Nietszche in so many places called himself a philo-Semite, and cursed the German nationalists for their anti-Semitism, which he recognized as a particularly German use in the course of cursing them for million other reasons. Nietszche’s philo-Semitism did stop at the very fact of their being a Jewish, hence Christian religious worldview at all, but those arguments were always in regard to Judaism’s historical founding.)