The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom)

De: Friedrich Nietzsche

Narrado por: Michael Lunts

The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom) is one of Nietzsche's greatest books. His wonderfully fertile mind roams over mankind, his thoughts, his emotions, his behaviour and his weaknesses with remarkable clarity, with insight - but also with humour!

In this work are 383 separate paragraphs, some short, some long, but all singular observations - the epitome of his famous aphoristic style. 'Morality is the herd instinct in the individual.' 'The world is overfull of beautiful things, but it is nevertheless poor, very poor, in beautiful moments.' Being intellectual, he declares, is not equivalent to 'taking things seriously': why not laugh while thinking!

When should one be an Epicurean and when a Stoic? Nietzsche may be best known for Thus Spoke Zarathustra (The Gay Science was published in 1882, a year before Zarathustra, and actually contains its opening paragraph!) but with its potpourri of comments, some wild, some sharp, some rather odd, it is totally different in tone. The Gay Science represents the Friedrich Nietzsche one would want to meet.

All of the 77 poems included by Nietzsche in The Gay Science have been placed at the end of the main text, to be enjoyed by dedicated Nietzscheans.

The aphorisms and poems are persuasively read by Michael Lunts.

Public Domain (P)2016 Ukemi Productions Ltd

Nietzsche? Happy??

I loved the word pronunciation, a very good translation. It is amazing that the translator was able to ryhme Nietzche's poetry.

I am now a full-fledged fan of Nietzsche

Took a bit to get into the flow of his writing, written as in old-English (per-se) but otherwise quite intelligible and comprehensible, but once my mind acclimated to his flow, I discerned rhythm, rhyme, reason and incredible beauty with a deep appreciation for how his mind expresses and creates. I love this guy. Wish I could’ve met him as he penned his ideas that would reverberate thunderously through the hallowed halls of writers and philosophers, demonstrating his uniquely impetuous and creative genius, par-excellance. Second book I’ve read by him. Won’t be the last.

Great book, silly-sounding British reader

Although Michael Luntz reads well and consistently, he sounds like a cartoon caricature of an old Oxford professor - haughty, pretentious, overly British. I enjoyed the book on 1.15 speed to make it easier to comprehend while doing something else with my hands. This is a book of hard philosophy but it was written in a more digestible style meant to be consumed quickly, according to Nietzsche toward the end of the book. It's still pretty obscure in places so having the print version as well is a good idea. Fortunately the very short chapters are easy to find in the audio and physical book.

A flawed edition

This version has skips and missing passages, and js based on the awful Thomas Common translation. It should not be read or heard by anyone who isn't studying the history of Nietzsche's reception as it gets a lot of things badly wrong.