Human, All Too Human

A Book for Free Spirits

By: Friedrich Nietzsche

Narrated by: Michael Lunts

It was with Human, All Too Human, first published in 1878, that Nietzsche developed the aphoristic style that so suited his challenging views and uncompromising style. The text is divided into three main sections: 'Of the First and Last Things', 'History of the Moral Feelings' and 'The Religious Life'. But the style remains the same: he declares the subjects - dream and civilisation; private ethics and world ethics; gratitude and revenge; well-wishing; vanity - and then discusses them in a few sentences or sometimes in a longer passage. This style enables him to cover an extraordinarily wide range of topics as his fertile and lively mind wander over man in his element.

This audiobook also contains the two parts of volume II: 'Miscellaneous Maxims' and 'The Wanderer and His Shadow'. These two collections are less well known - unjustly so, as they are packed with Nietzsche's wonderfully uncompromising views and observation on a lucky dip of topics including debauchery, bach, danger in admiration, deception in love and dishonest praise.

Here is an example: 'End and goal. Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has also not reached its goal. A parable.'

All in all, this 15-hour collection in an appropriately conversational reading by Michael Lunts is a fascinating, at times infuriating yet always entertaining discovery.

Public Domain (P)2016 Ukemi Audiobooks

many maxims are extremely relevant today

some maxims are only relevant to the 19th century reader. sometimes ideas provoked my thoughts for hours, sometimes I simply didn't understand the point.

Thrilling Nietzsche

Would you listen to Human, All Too Human again? Why?

Definitely. This is a the easiest way for me to digest Nietzsche. Reading his writings I get too distracted, but I've found that listening allows me better absorption. I actually played this entire book on 2x speed. It requires a slight increase in listening effort, but the challenge keeps you from drifting off.

What did you like best about this story?

This isn't the devastating Christian critique of The Antichrist, nor the ground breaking dismissal of ethics with Beyond Good and Evil, but a manifesto for free life. It contains several sections, moving from moral critiques to Christianity.

In short, this is a deconstruction of morals and virtue, revealing the false restrictions they impose. The content is unique from his other writings, although the themes are the same. There are no proprietary Nietzsche here to learn, but plenty of things to think about, including: the dangers of compassion, what creates the mindset of justice, the bias of religious virtue, and more.

More aphorism than consistent narrative, this book is easier to hop in and out of. Where as in his other works, if you miss something early on you might be missing a crucial ingredient for later.

What does Michael Lunts bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Solid reader; his voice was a comfortable fill in for whatever Nietzsche might actually sound like.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Feelings of my power growing.

the kingdom of joy

find freedom from tyrannical moral religious and metaphysical custom and soar into the kingdom of joy

To put it in thoughts…

This book has been such a kind one to me from the voice to the message. It appears that I have become a bit of a fan of Nietzsche; or better yet, I have become a fan of hard criticism. It really helps to clear my mind and challenge it all at the same time. This will have been my 3rd or 4th time listening to this book, and I still do not have the entire book encapsulated. I am in my 20’s and seem to like the profundity of Nietzsche’s questioning mind given his existential nature. Thank you

Glorious terror will grip you

This book gripped me to the core. Its aphorisms are read by a man whose honeyvoice darlings.