Hiking with Nietzsche

On Becoming Who You Are

By: John Kaag

Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

A revelatory Alpine journey in the spirit of the great Romantic thinker Friedrich Nietzsche.

Hiking with Nietzsche is a tale of two philosophical journeys - one made by John Kaag as an introspective young man of 19, the other 17 years later and in quite different circumstances: as a husband and father. His wife and small child in tow, Kaag sets off for the Swiss peaks above Sils-Maria, where Nietzsche routinely summered, and where he wrote his mysterious landmark work Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Both journeys are made in search of the wisdom at the core of Nietzsche's philosophy, but they deliver him to radically different interpretations and, more crucially, revelations about the human condition.

Just as Kaag's acclaimed debut, American Philosophy: A Love Story, seamlessly wove together his philosophical discoveries and his search for meaning, Hiking with Nietzsche is a fascinating exploration, not only of Nietzsche's ideals, but of how his experience of living relates to us as individuals in the 21st century.

Bold, intimate, and rich with insight, Hiking with Nietzsche is about defeating complacency, balancing sanity and madness, and coming to grips with the unobtainable. As Kaag hikes alone or with his family, but always with Nietzsche, he recognizes that even slipping can be instructive. It is in the process of climbing, and through the inevitable missteps, that one has the chance, in Nietzsche's words, to "[B]ecome who you are".

©2018 John Kaag (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Hard to stay interested.

I guess if you have read Nietzsche, you can probably relate more. I couldn't relate, though.

Both nostalgic and contemporary

I remembered who I was becoming as a twenty year old kid (and still am as a middle aged man). Thanks for the reminder to keep interpreting and understanding.

Good read together with Nietzsche

This is a nice book, combining a history of Nietzsche's career and life with a travel diary of the author's trip to Nietzsche's haunts in the Alps. I read it together with some of Nietzsche's writings and the combo was a pleasure.

SUPERMAN-SUPERWOMAN

Like Mary-Louise Parker’s memoir “Dear Mr. You”, “Hiking with Nietzsche” is nearly returned by this listener. Both memoirs, as the word suggests, are personal. However, Parker’s memoir is burdened by Parker’s self-absorption. “Dear Mr. You” reminds this listener of an actress who chose not to appear at the stage-door in New York after a forgettable stage performance. Parker is a good writer, but she needs a better subject.

“Hiking with Nietzsche” is not overly burdened by its writer’s self-absorption. Kaag offers some clarity to Nietzschean philosophical belief. However, clarity is only partially delivered. Some details revealed by Kaag of Nietzsche’s life are helpful.

Where Kaag fails is–in inadequately correlating his family life with Nietzschean philosophy. Kaag notes that Nietzsche spent a great deal of time in the mountains that Kaag and his family are visiting. He retraces some of Nietzsche’s peripatetic life in Basel and its surroundings. “Hiking with Nietzsche” is a disappointment but not a waste of time.

There is something to pursue in philosophy whether one agrees with Nietzsche or not. If “God is Dead” can man be moral? It seems doubtful based on world history. On the other hand, all species continue to evolve and adapt. Earth’s environment is no longer taken for granted. Are there supermen and women in our future?

hiking, philosophy, life and death

I hike. Your mind wanders when you hike. "trail thoughts". Nietche knew this, or rather lived it.

For me, this was an introduction to his thought (and Herman Hesse) in an accessible way I could relate to.

Nietzsche saved my life!

I enjoyed the biographical material about Nietzsche very much. However, I found the parallel journey - the author’s attempt to retrace the the philosopher’s transmutational journey through the alps - kind of embarrassing. The trembling, adolescent confessionary never stopped reminding me of Dwayne (Christopher Walken) in ‘Annie Hall’. Every mention of suicide in the book left me mumbling to myself - I have to go now, John, because I’m due back on the planet Earth. John’s medicated. He seems to have an eating disorder. He’s impulsive. Revery often turns to suicidal ideation and reckless behavior. He expresses resentment for two wive’s for pushing him toward responsible behavior. The claim is, reading Nietzsche saved John’s life. But nothing written ever gives the reader any sense that John recovers beyond simply accepting himself as he is ( I mean, he says he’s still taking the little pink pills at the end of the book). Nietzsche? Really? I believe it might be more appropriate to give John’s wife and daughter all of the credit for helping this man walk the earth. This book would have been far more interesting to me if John had stayed home. Fritz in the Alps is wonderful stuff. I hiked while listening to this audiobook. And I had a good time with it despite the awkward autobiographical annotation. Check it out.

Strong start and then it just would not end

It’s started off well and then it just went on and on and on and most of the last 2/3 of the book was pointless. I was really hopeful about additional insight on life and becoming who you are, but there really isn’t much here. Little to no meaningful insight outside of become who you are by becoming who you are.

A great book, academic value without an academic style

This presented a very interesting personal experience of Nietzsche by an academic mixed with his own personal struggles. It provided me with new insights into Nietzsche and was an easy listen. I listened to it while running, so for me it was "Running with *Hiking with Nietzsche*". The book did end fairly abruptly though, the author's personal conflicts seemed unresolved even in a story sense and his thoughts on Nietzsche were never summarized, maybe a second volume is in order! But even without those things, the book was excellent and has applications both in life and in academic philosophy.

A good narration but I generally wish the author themself would narrate.

fear, power and uncertainty

friedrich nietzsche is often referenced and quoted but less often read
john kagg has written a book to make nietzsche more approachable
kaag's youthful infatuation with nietzsche has matured into an adult understanding

nietzche's focus on fear and power and uncertainty resonate with 20th century readers
kaag helps unravel the source of these enduring themes in nietzche's troubled life
the book was written from the swiss town of sils maria, nietzche's home for 7 summers

the book serves to make nietzsche accessible with out trying to make him affable
i was particularly interested in nietzche's relationship with his lutheran pastor father
if you find these issues more than interesting then you'll find john kaag's book more than helpful

Another great book by John Kaag

Great second audiobook of the author. He continues to show us philosophy as a practical application for our lives. Thanks for bringing Nietzsche to life!

The narrator does a superb job...I highly recommend.