Nietzsche in 90 Minutes

By: Paul Strathern

Narrated by: Robert Whitfield

Length: 1 hr and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

With Friedrich Nietzsche, philosophy was dangerous not only for philosophers but for everyone. Nietzsche ended up going mad, but his ideas presaged a collective madness that had horrific consequences in Europe in the early 1900s. Though his philosophy is more one of aphorisms and insights than a system, it is brilliant, persuasive, and incisive. His major concept is the will to power, which he saw as the basic impulse for all our acts. Christianity he saw as a subtle perversion of this concept, thus Nietzsche's famous pronouncement, "God is dead."

In Nietzsche in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Nietzsche's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world.

©1996 Paul Strathern (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Shallow and misleading

This book is close to worthless. A great philosopher receives a high handed, patronizing treatment from an intellectual midget, the author, who reviews important concepts that he does not understand through the lens of politically correct cliches of our times. The inappropriately patronizing tone of the narrator, who is quite lost as to where to apply emphasis or ironical tone (so he does that randomly) is irritating. My advice is save your time and money. I should have taken the trouble to listen to an excerpt.

A short biography

The best part of this book is the sketch of Nietzsche's life. Strathern does well here. He balances this with a glimpse (and it's only a glimpse) into his philosophy. As usual, such a brief taste of a philosopher can give a distorted view his work, but if Strathern's work is taken for what it is -- and invitation to look further -- it can be very usful. Ignore (or investigate further) some of Strathern's simplistic descriptions of some of Nietzsche's thought and you'll have fun with Whitfield's reading.

a bit biased

I wish it just gave me.more.info.on the actual philosophy, instead of so much historical information

Good biography; hostile+uncomprehending analysis

This book is about:
60% Nietzsche-biography, which is well-done.
10% Strathern's personal interpretations of Nietzsche, which is hostile and not very smart.
30% various quotes from Nietzsche, which tells a little of what Nietzsche thought.
0% the context that a 21st-century lay reader would need to understand why Nietzsche's ideas mattered.

Worth reading for the biography, but not at all useful as an introduction to Nietzsche's thought.

After Nietzsche, philosophy became dangerous for e

Understand that no philosopher/philosophy can be given justice in 90 minutes, but this book does a nice job of condensing major themes and refuting the usual misrepresentations of Nietzsche's thought. A nice comparison when viewed against Spinoza in 90 minutes, Spinoza being his near exact opposite. Whitfield's, huh wit, and humor makes what could be a dry reading very enjoyable. The performance is excellent.

Yeah...wow...

If you know anything about philosophy, listen to the first thirty seconds of this and try not to crack up. Scholasticism was a “slumber” from philosophy? Wow...

Overly critical but good overa

I felt that the work was overly critical of Nietzsche's attitudes, arrogance and uncomfortable philosophical views. it fairly described his ideas but became tedious and tiresome when criticizing him for his arrogance. Particularly irksome was the assessment of 'Thus Spake Zarathrustra', which was a flat out attack on Nietzsche's humanity. We get it. Nietzsche exhibited some narcissism and other troubling attitudes. But a history essay should not be a critique. Just give us the details absent the grandstanding. History should be neutral.

Good Overview, but leaves a lot to be desired

This was a good overview of Nietzsche's life, and very brief overview of his philosophy. It only speaks about the highlights, and left me thinking, wanting to know more. The narrarator's voice is not my favorite.

terrible

very bad title. will put you to sleep

Outdated translations & old interpretations!

The Narrator states in this that: Zarathustra, Hess, and Dostoevsky are so terrible that they can only be enjoyed by teenagers.
Do I need write more?