Friedrich Nietzsche was among the most influential philosophers of the 19th century. But, given his embrace by the Nazis, his influence wasn’t entirely positive. “One is never fully in charge of their legacy,” writes John Kaag. True enough, but although Nietzsche’s ideas were broad enough to attract a variety of proponents, Kaag is a little too eager in his exoneration. The author of Hiking with Nietzsche is a follower, literally, retracing the philosopher’s steps in the Swiss Alps where he wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra. We learn about Kaag (more than most of us would care to), but also about the allure of philosophy—and a good deal about Nietzsche, whose ideas on order, chaos and tragedy are given clear exegesis. Perhaps a careful dose of Nietzsche should be prescribed nowadays. The 20th century and more so, the 21st, became the era of denial—an age neither ascetic nor aesthetic but anesthetic. Nietzsche enjoined his readers to face grim facts and embrace the pain.
