Entertaining and interesting

Not usually a fan of biography but I loved this booked and thought the performance suited the tone very well.

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Absolutely wonderful. Dynamite, in fact

Beautifully written, insightful, helpful in contextualising Nietzsche’s philosophy, exploding of myths, and ultimately a tragic human story of an afflicted genius who worked in obscurity and, by the time his work found international recognition, was beyond the capacity to know it. Excellent for those new to Nietzsche, and those who are thoroughly familiar.

Narration is excellent - don't be put off by the excitable start - it quickly settles down.

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2 people found this helpful

Nietzsche, excellent biography

I only know Nietzsche from rudimentary philosophy. This is an excellent introduction. It demistifies long held misconceptions. I learned for example how Nietzsche and Wagner met and broke up. Highly recommended!

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant biography with prose to match Nietzsche

A good place to start with Nietzsche. Brilliantly performed, I enjoyed this as a human story, as historical record, and as development of a philosophy. It is full of psychological insights and illuminating prose. Life really is stranger than fiction.

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1 person found this helpful

Human All Too Human Nietzsche as vulnerable man

Highly accessible introduction to Nietzsche 's writing, both sympathetic and insightful. Really enjoyed listening, the narration warm and at times poetic. Can be enjoyed either as a straightforward biography or as an introduction to Nietzsche's philosophy.

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This book is Dynamite

A moving and respectful biography of one of the greatest thinkers ever to have drawn breath.

Expertly read. I could not have asked for more.

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Awesome

Absolutely stunning biography - fantastically evocative prose and deft handling of Nietzsche’s oftentimes complex thought. Highly recommended!

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Brilliant

By far the best biography of Nietzsche I’ve read and very well read with English accent.

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2 people found this helpful

The Good European

Sue Prideaux's welcome biography of Nietzsche is a masterclass in how to write a plausible, compelling, readable biography of an iconic global figure who has already been the subject of so many more scholarly accounts. As you would expect of the author of Edvard Munch, the text of Nietzsche I am Dynamite! breathes eloquence and insight and reveals Prideaux's natural propensity for harvesting scrupulous research in order to gainfully articulate the linkages between persons and events in her story. Prideaux also tends to focus on Nietzsche's physical malaise and its weird dichotomy, demonstrating how it both handicapped him and inspired him to greater heights of intellectual rigour. However, Prideaux really excels in the relationship with Richard and Cosima Wagner, it blossoming and decay, alerting the reader to the fact that along with loyal friend Franz Overbeck, the Wagners were the most crucial human connection in Nietzsche's life. Prideaux is also strong on the perennial pernicious influence of Nietzsche's resentful sister Elizabeth Forster Nietzsche, whom the embarrassed 'aeronaut of the spirit' has to carry around like a withered limb and who posthumously manipulated his legacy. The hideous reality of the gulf between these eventually estranged siblings which serves as a symbol for the toxic division of the European spirit between pluralism and nationalism, openness and intolerance, dictatorship and freedom, is compellingly told. The wretched story of the colonising antics of Elizabeth and her Jew hating husband in a Paraguayan wilderness are ghoulishly fascinating if peripheral to the Nietzsche story, Other players in the drama such as Lou Salomé, Peter Gast, Malwida von Mysenberg, Paul Ree and Nietzsche's mother are all persuasively portrayed. Prideaux has been criticised for not concentrating enough on the philosophy, but this is rather unfair, that is not what this biography is about, it is an in depth introduction to the philosopher's life and relationships, the spiritual ramifications of his abysmal state of health, rather than a treatise on his philosophy, but having said this Prideaux does spend a good deal of time discussing the main areas of the key books, from the Birth of Tragedy onwards... the Apollonian and Dionysian, the eternal recurrence, ressentiment and the rest are all there. Nietzsche's final breakdown and rapid descent into irretrievable insanity is harrowingly and movingly recited and Prideaux hammers home the shocking state of maniacal delusion of her subject by quoting increasingly unhinged passages from the Antichrist 's final letters to aghast recipients. So in conclusion Five stars for the book, but sadly not for the reading performance. This audiobook was frustratingly marred by the poor quality of the reading which was not fit for purpose given the quality of the text. How on earth can a life of Nietzsche, the great European who spent his life travelling between countries and languages be delivered by someone who cannot pronounce basic French or German names accurately? Many instances of mispronunciation proved potholes on a route which halfway through had begun to wear out this reviewer's bearings. But this failure of pronunciation is endemic throughout Audible and I think any prospective reader of a text should have to prove they can at least pronounce names of authors, cities and books correctly. It is basic stuff. A writer of Sue Prideaux's pedigree deserves far better.

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This is a beautiful book.

My two heroes in this life are Valentino Rossi and FN. This book does a fantastic job of painting the backdrop for understanding the bravest thinker of all time.

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