Why I Am So Wise

He has been called a brilliant thinker, strikingly original, subversive, evil, creative, brazen, intellectually passionate, challenging, and the Anti-Christ ("God is a crude answer, a piece of indelicacy against us thinkers").

Reading German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), can be a life-changing experience. He rejected Christianity as well as the morality of his time, embracing instead the belief that we are able to create our own values. The ideal man, in his view, was the "Ubermensch," or superman, characterized by strong, creative, positive qualities, and able to impose his will upon the weak and worthless.

Written in 1888 but not published until 1908, Why I Am So Wise is Nietzsche’s singular autobiography, which sets out the story of his life in bizarre and provocative fashion yet remains key to an understanding of work. Why I Am So Wise is Nietzsche’s last great work. In January 1889, he began his descent into madness when he is said to have been found in tears in a Turin street, with his arms around a horse that had been beaten by its master.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.