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In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World
An Ars Technica Holiday Reading Title of 2021
A lively and approachable meditation on how we can transform our digital lives if we let a little Nietzsche in. Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: Am I living or distracting myself from living? In Emergency, Break Glass adapts Friedrich Nietzsche’s passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by “content.” Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche’s aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world. Drawing on Nietzsche’s work, technology journalist Nate Anderson advocates for a life of goal-oriented, creative exertion as more meaningful than the “frictionless” leisure often promised by our devices. He rejects the simplicity of contemporary prescriptions like reducing screen time in favor of looking deeply at what truly matters to us, then finding ways to make our technological tools serve this vision. With a light touch suffused by humor, Anderson uncovers the impact of this “yes-saying” philosophy on his own life―and perhaps on yours.
A lively and approachable meditation on how we can transform our digital lives if we let a little Nietzsche in. Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: Am I living or distracting myself from living? In Emergency, Break Glass adapts Friedrich Nietzsche’s passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by “content.” Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche’s aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world. Drawing on Nietzsche’s work, technology journalist Nate Anderson advocates for a life of goal-oriented, creative exertion as more meaningful than the “frictionless” leisure often promised by our devices. He rejects the simplicity of contemporary prescriptions like reducing screen time in favor of looking deeply at what truly matters to us, then finding ways to make our technological tools serve this vision. With a light touch suffused by humor, Anderson uncovers the impact of this “yes-saying” philosophy on his own life―and perhaps on yours.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published May 10, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
August 13, 2025
Digestible, practical and concise form of Nietzschean philosophy.
If like me, you find yourself chained to your screens and need someone to slap you out of it and into creative mode, this book may be for you. I’ve included an excerpt below which sort of summarises the main points. “Sort of” because Nietzsche wouldn’t want me to copy or cite anything verbatim, he’d prefer that I keep only what helps me live and delete the rest from memory.
“People too often let themselves be used by technology and by its creators. Used not as human beings but as screws of a machine… This happens in part because people feel that they always need more money. And they need more money because they have accustomed themselves to many wants. But freedom can be found if we can unlearn some of these wants to retain our independence from the world of the machine. We must rediscover a philosophy in rags and freedom of the spirit of a man who has few needs… Nietzsche gave up the bourgeois trappings of success…living as he did allowed him to exercise his deep convictions about a life oriented to creative thought rather than to financial productivity”
If like me, you find yourself chained to your screens and need someone to slap you out of it and into creative mode, this book may be for you. I’ve included an excerpt below which sort of summarises the main points. “Sort of” because Nietzsche wouldn’t want me to copy or cite anything verbatim, he’d prefer that I keep only what helps me live and delete the rest from memory.
“People too often let themselves be used by technology and by its creators. Used not as human beings but as screws of a machine… This happens in part because people feel that they always need more money. And they need more money because they have accustomed themselves to many wants. But freedom can be found if we can unlearn some of these wants to retain our independence from the world of the machine. We must rediscover a philosophy in rags and freedom of the spirit of a man who has few needs… Nietzsche gave up the bourgeois trappings of success…living as he did allowed him to exercise his deep convictions about a life oriented to creative thought rather than to financial productivity”
September 23, 2022
I believe I should have read the physical copy of the book. The phone screen didn't provide me with the needed experience or sence, if you know what I mean. Overall, the book was quite interesting and I really loved how the author combined Nietzsche's philosophy and the modern technology. I think I should read this book again sometime.
May 18, 2022
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Nietzsche. Even prior to his slow descent into madness, he mostly adopted anti-enlightenment principles and illiberal attitudes towards human equality. While Nietzsche was not a proto-Nazi himself (he hated bigots), his constant references to “higher types”—combined with his rejection of the idea that selflessness and compassion should be staples of morality—were easily incorporated into Nazi ideology (Hitler attended Nietzsche’s sister’s funeral).
So you would be forgiven for being inclined to pass on any book offering life advice from a man Hitler might have admired.
But you may want to reconsider. While many of Nietzsche’s ideas are objectionable, there is no doubt that he possessed the mind of a genius, and surely there is something we can learn from him. As the philosopher Julian Baggini said in response to criticisms of David Hume’s racist writings, “We should never completely dismiss even those who are almost always wrong, as they are almost always sometimes right too.” Nietzche’s genius may have been largely wasted on a contemptible psychology, but he nevertheless did produce some enduring ideas we can all benefit from today.
So the first lesson of the book may be this: Every prominent thinker has something to teach us, even if we mostly disagree with them. In fact, learning to critically interact with an author without slavishly following everything they say is a skill worth developing, as well as a sign of intellectual maturity. As Nate Anderson wrote:
“But if you don’t take Nietzsche as your guide and guru, if you instead embrace him as a dialogue partner and provocateur, these limitations need not be a roadblock to thinking with him. Nietzsche would have valued the attempt to wrestle with his ideas—even to reject some of them.”
So, what can Nietzsche teach us today? The overarching theme of his philosophy—even though he’s usually over-dramatic about it—is that a life of ease, comfort, pleasure, and safety is a rather poor and facile excuse for a life. While there is nothing inherently wrong with ease and comfort, in the absence of more ambitious goals, they can never truly create joy—which comes from creative struggle in pursuit of higher aspirations. This creative struggle often involves pain and discomfort, but this should be embraced, not avoided.
This more positive aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy is the focus of the book, and Anderson does a commendable job of applying the lessons to our tech-saturated world. He shows us how modern technology creates the kind of soul-crushing ease Nietzsche warned us about; with 24/7 access to the internet, the new digital paradigm encourages constant cheap entertainment, disconnection from our bodies and from the physical world, mental stimulation over physical activity, total digital control, and access to unlimited information.
Unlimited information poses its own special problems. Even ancient authors like Seneca complained that there were too many books to read, and proposed a more considered method of selection to ensure that one spent their limited time on the best books and authors possible. The problem, of course, is orders of magnitude greater today; we have near instant access to the entire canon of human literary and artistic output in addition to a constant stream of news and videos. Yet notice that most of us do not become scholars—we pass up the collective works of Shakespeare to watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and we avoid more difficult, timeless material and opt instead for easier, more popular works.
Information overload creates two additional problems: 1) It makes us feel that we need to keep up with and learn everything, preventing us from going deep in any one subject or topic, and 2) it drowns out our own voice and creative potential as we grow accustomed to simply repeating and reacting to the views of others.
Nietzche’s solution to this is to give up the life of ease and overstimulation; to be selective in what one chooses to read and learn; to forget the things that don’t create a positive impact in one’s life; and to establish positive, creative goals that require struggle and discomfort in pursuit of excellence.
This advice is no doubt relevant to our modern technology habits, but the reader may wonder if this orientation to life, in general, is universally applicable. One could instead adopt a more Epicurean stance and insist that a life of simple pleasures and quality time spent with family and friends is superior to the life of creative struggle. Nietzsche’s difficult, mostly solitary life may have excluded this possibility for him, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to follow suit. As Anderson wrote:
“Perhaps because his life-long illness deprived him of so many common pleasures—sleep, sex, food, the simple feeling of robust good health—Nietzsche could not content himself with hedonism.”
This brings up another critical point: a philosopher’s ideas often stem from their psychological dispositions, and what they consider to be the good life is simply the good life for them. Whether you follow Nietzsche’s path of creative struggle or Epicurus’s path of moderate pleasure might largely depend on your personality and life circumstances. (For a concise presentation of the Epicurean side of the argument, check out How to Be an Epicurean by Catherine Wilson.)
Notice also that you can embrace the life of creative struggle without adopting the hierarchical and illiberal philosophy of Nietzsche. Pursuing worthwhile goals does not necessitate harming or looking down on others, and it does not need to be, as Nietzsche suggests, such a solitary affair.
Nietzsche offers other more questionable advice, such as when he writes that he only ever reads the same eight authors (first of all, as Anderson points out, this isn’t even true of Nietzsche). And it’s generally bad advice anyway. Of course we should be selective in the material we read, but there’s also the danger of being over-selective. How can you know who the “best eight authors” even are if you don’t read more widely to discover them?
There’s been a tendency to overvalue specialization lately, but in my mind the value of indiscriminate, wider reading enhances your creativity by exposing you to various viewpoints and topics. And if Nietzsche is worried about having your own voice drowned out by reading, it seems to me that this will be more likely if you only read a limited number of authors, whom you might feel compelled to emulate rather than developing your own authentic voice.
Overall, the message of the book is a useful one, if not taken too far. You should be selective in what you read and consume, you should prioritize the real world over the digital world, and you’ll probably achieve more satisfaction in life if you set goals that are more ambitious than just being comfortable and safe. But taking things too far is precisely the danger with reading Nietzsche, as his distinguishing trademark among philosophers is his tendency to exaggerate almost everything. To Anderson’s credit, he recognizes and points this out, while retaining the core message that we should use technology as a means to achieving grander goals, not as an end in itself.
So you would be forgiven for being inclined to pass on any book offering life advice from a man Hitler might have admired.
But you may want to reconsider. While many of Nietzsche’s ideas are objectionable, there is no doubt that he possessed the mind of a genius, and surely there is something we can learn from him. As the philosopher Julian Baggini said in response to criticisms of David Hume’s racist writings, “We should never completely dismiss even those who are almost always wrong, as they are almost always sometimes right too.” Nietzche’s genius may have been largely wasted on a contemptible psychology, but he nevertheless did produce some enduring ideas we can all benefit from today.
So the first lesson of the book may be this: Every prominent thinker has something to teach us, even if we mostly disagree with them. In fact, learning to critically interact with an author without slavishly following everything they say is a skill worth developing, as well as a sign of intellectual maturity. As Nate Anderson wrote:
“But if you don’t take Nietzsche as your guide and guru, if you instead embrace him as a dialogue partner and provocateur, these limitations need not be a roadblock to thinking with him. Nietzsche would have valued the attempt to wrestle with his ideas—even to reject some of them.”
So, what can Nietzsche teach us today? The overarching theme of his philosophy—even though he’s usually over-dramatic about it—is that a life of ease, comfort, pleasure, and safety is a rather poor and facile excuse for a life. While there is nothing inherently wrong with ease and comfort, in the absence of more ambitious goals, they can never truly create joy—which comes from creative struggle in pursuit of higher aspirations. This creative struggle often involves pain and discomfort, but this should be embraced, not avoided.
This more positive aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy is the focus of the book, and Anderson does a commendable job of applying the lessons to our tech-saturated world. He shows us how modern technology creates the kind of soul-crushing ease Nietzsche warned us about; with 24/7 access to the internet, the new digital paradigm encourages constant cheap entertainment, disconnection from our bodies and from the physical world, mental stimulation over physical activity, total digital control, and access to unlimited information.
Unlimited information poses its own special problems. Even ancient authors like Seneca complained that there were too many books to read, and proposed a more considered method of selection to ensure that one spent their limited time on the best books and authors possible. The problem, of course, is orders of magnitude greater today; we have near instant access to the entire canon of human literary and artistic output in addition to a constant stream of news and videos. Yet notice that most of us do not become scholars—we pass up the collective works of Shakespeare to watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and we avoid more difficult, timeless material and opt instead for easier, more popular works.
Information overload creates two additional problems: 1) It makes us feel that we need to keep up with and learn everything, preventing us from going deep in any one subject or topic, and 2) it drowns out our own voice and creative potential as we grow accustomed to simply repeating and reacting to the views of others.
Nietzche’s solution to this is to give up the life of ease and overstimulation; to be selective in what one chooses to read and learn; to forget the things that don’t create a positive impact in one’s life; and to establish positive, creative goals that require struggle and discomfort in pursuit of excellence.
This advice is no doubt relevant to our modern technology habits, but the reader may wonder if this orientation to life, in general, is universally applicable. One could instead adopt a more Epicurean stance and insist that a life of simple pleasures and quality time spent with family and friends is superior to the life of creative struggle. Nietzsche’s difficult, mostly solitary life may have excluded this possibility for him, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to follow suit. As Anderson wrote:
“Perhaps because his life-long illness deprived him of so many common pleasures—sleep, sex, food, the simple feeling of robust good health—Nietzsche could not content himself with hedonism.”
This brings up another critical point: a philosopher’s ideas often stem from their psychological dispositions, and what they consider to be the good life is simply the good life for them. Whether you follow Nietzsche’s path of creative struggle or Epicurus’s path of moderate pleasure might largely depend on your personality and life circumstances. (For a concise presentation of the Epicurean side of the argument, check out How to Be an Epicurean by Catherine Wilson.)
Notice also that you can embrace the life of creative struggle without adopting the hierarchical and illiberal philosophy of Nietzsche. Pursuing worthwhile goals does not necessitate harming or looking down on others, and it does not need to be, as Nietzsche suggests, such a solitary affair.
Nietzsche offers other more questionable advice, such as when he writes that he only ever reads the same eight authors (first of all, as Anderson points out, this isn’t even true of Nietzsche). And it’s generally bad advice anyway. Of course we should be selective in the material we read, but there’s also the danger of being over-selective. How can you know who the “best eight authors” even are if you don’t read more widely to discover them?
There’s been a tendency to overvalue specialization lately, but in my mind the value of indiscriminate, wider reading enhances your creativity by exposing you to various viewpoints and topics. And if Nietzsche is worried about having your own voice drowned out by reading, it seems to me that this will be more likely if you only read a limited number of authors, whom you might feel compelled to emulate rather than developing your own authentic voice.
Overall, the message of the book is a useful one, if not taken too far. You should be selective in what you read and consume, you should prioritize the real world over the digital world, and you’ll probably achieve more satisfaction in life if you set goals that are more ambitious than just being comfortable and safe. But taking things too far is precisely the danger with reading Nietzsche, as his distinguishing trademark among philosophers is his tendency to exaggerate almost everything. To Anderson’s credit, he recognizes and points this out, while retaining the core message that we should use technology as a means to achieving grander goals, not as an end in itself.
April 24, 2022
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher towards the end of the 1800s. People love him and hate him. He is possibly the most polarizing philosopher in history. So, in the hope of sorting through it all, I read In Emergency, Break Glass, by Nate Anderson, an academic, journalist, human, and fan. The result: Nietzsche is both less and more, significant and irrelevant, full of insight, full of himself, and full of ...other things.
Nietzsche appears less a philosopher than what today we would call a life coach. For one thing, he didn't have much of a life. He quit his professorship, lived spartanly, had fewer and fewer friends (until he had none), was in constant agony (eye pain, migraines...) and was certified insane by the age of 44. He never married, had no children, and spent his adult life writing books no one read until after he died. To accept life lessons from such a man, as isolated and inconsistent as he was, is rather iffy.
He started out like a rocket. By the age of 24 he was chair of the philology department at the university in Basel, Switzerland. He was the center of activity, in the thick of things. But he couldn't take it. He suddenly gave it all up, moved to small rural villages, rented small and cheap lodgings, and kept to himself. He spent hours a day walking the woods, where he did his best thinking.
The result of this thinking was a prescription for life. It was a carpe diem sort of package. He exhorted readers to think, undistracted. And challenge themselves. Anything less than a life-altering struggle meant you weren't living life to its fullest. "How can anyone become a thinker if he does not spend at least a third of the day without passions, people and books?" Nietzsche lashes out, without admitting that for his own case, two out three ain't bad.
This is where Anderson comes in. His life is the usual American trashbarrel of Netflix bingeing, constantly stopping to respond to emails and texts, and endless pointless searches to satisfy a momentary thought. Every day. Hours of doomscrolling, interspersed with junk food snacking, and all of it sitting on a chair or at the extreme, a couch.
Nietzsche had the answer. Ditch the distractions, understand what was important in life, and pursue it forcefully all the time. Nietzsche wanted to be a "yes" man, a positive force rather than a naysayer. That is attractive to the Nate Andersons of the world, tired of criticism and seeking positive alternatives. Addressing the 21st century, Nietzsche said "Noise murders thought." If only he knew...
Nietzsche, in Anderson's telling, had a very positive outlook. "He wanted to be a Yes-sayer who stopped worrying about life's unfairness, who did not brood over past slights, who accepted what the world doled out. One does not get to pick and choose; everything in some mysterious sense, is ultimately all right. Even suffering and death are part of the pattern." Which is all true and even obvious, but still a lot to absorb. And no one had more trouble absorbing it than Nietzsche.
Anderson says Nietzsche "isn't amoral - he simply believes that negative morality is, in a word too easy. We need something that calls for our striving, not just our renunciation."
Anderson examines the state of life today, and concludes it is all about safety, and nothing about risk: "The digital paradigm active in many wealthy societies today stresses:
-constant entertainment
-physical safety
-control
-continual and worldwide connection with others
-unlimited information
-'another world' rather than my local, physical world
-mental stimulation over physical activity"
...which he finds depressing. The activity is all solo, safely ensconced at home, without need of the presence of any other beings. This can't possibly be what life is all about.
It is nothing new. There are tons of books that stress ditching the digital for the real, of limiting screen time, reconnecting with friends and relatives and an end to pointless bingeing, as nothing the least bit memorable, let alone important, comes from it. Checking the phone 200 times a day, as Americans do, is not a life. No one even gets a chance to experience genuine boredom. There's always more so-called news to scan. He says information overload is "a kind of smothering - not a spur to action but an inhibition of it." Anderson knows and acknowledges all this. But for him, Nietzsche saw it happening 150 years ago and tried to stop it then, so he is worth considering.
One of Nietzsche's greater gifts was the turn of phrase. Where run of the mill philosophers were wordy, Nietzsche was all about the biggest impact from the fewest words. He coined the term "will to power", which has been used to smear him as a proto-Nazi, but which Anderson says is about the individual's "ascending vitality of life itself." Nietzsche claimed it was more primal than even survival. It is the will to live the full life. It is neither good nor evil. And it makes Nietzsche eminently quotable.
Another was his concept of the last man. The last man was comfortable, lazy, contented and unadventurous. This term too has survived and thrived.
Meanwhile, on his dark side, Nietzsche could say some pretty regrettable things, Anderson says.
-"The weak and ill-constituted shall perish: first principle of our philanthropy. And one shall help them to do so..."
-"The sick man is a parasite of society. In a certain state, it is indecent to live longer."
-"Ascending life demands the most inconsiderate pushing down and aside of degenerating life - for example for the right of procreation, for the right to be born, for the right to live."
Readers might be forgiven for thinking him a fascist rather than a philosopher.
One of his very last friends, Ida Overbeck, was not fooled by Nietzsche's bold prescription: "Nietzsche hated the normal person because he could not be one." Again, this is not necessarily someone to learn from.
My own problem with this philosophy is that you are always becoming; you never are. There can never be a sense of accomplishment, a finality or even a success in this scheme. It is to forever struggle and/or die trying.
The way Anderson describes him, he seems like a Thomas Jefferson - he has a quote for everyone and everything, including both sides of opposites and contradictions. As Anderson admits, one has to pick out what to consider significant, because there is a lot that is worthless in his writings. Take this for example: "The fact that The Birth of Tragedy has endured for more than a century tells us how much the ideas have spoken to people. (Well, the ideas in the first half, anyway. The second half, with its praise of Wagner, is widely regarded as rubbish.)"
Similarly, Nietzsche claimed he only read eight authors, and read them repeatedly, rather than going any wider. Anderson labels this is a ridiculous statement to make, because Nietzsche had to read widely if only to pick the eight authors he settled on. And if it was true, you would not want to value anyone so narrowly read. It is a lose/lose position to take. The authors were Epicurus, Montaigne, Goethe, Spinoza, Plato, Rousseau, Pascal and Schopenhauer, in case that tells you anything.
Using such an inconsistent, if not defective agent to treat the decadence of the digital age is risky. I personally don't think it accomplishes that goal. As an intro to Nietzsche, the book has modern relevance that most straightforward biographies do not. But as a theorem to prove, it fails, much as Nietzsche did in his own time.
David Wineberg
(In Emergency, Break Glass, Nate Anderson, May 2022)
If you liked this review, I invite you to read more in my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. And you already know it is well-written. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
Nietzsche appears less a philosopher than what today we would call a life coach. For one thing, he didn't have much of a life. He quit his professorship, lived spartanly, had fewer and fewer friends (until he had none), was in constant agony (eye pain, migraines...) and was certified insane by the age of 44. He never married, had no children, and spent his adult life writing books no one read until after he died. To accept life lessons from such a man, as isolated and inconsistent as he was, is rather iffy.
He started out like a rocket. By the age of 24 he was chair of the philology department at the university in Basel, Switzerland. He was the center of activity, in the thick of things. But he couldn't take it. He suddenly gave it all up, moved to small rural villages, rented small and cheap lodgings, and kept to himself. He spent hours a day walking the woods, where he did his best thinking.
The result of this thinking was a prescription for life. It was a carpe diem sort of package. He exhorted readers to think, undistracted. And challenge themselves. Anything less than a life-altering struggle meant you weren't living life to its fullest. "How can anyone become a thinker if he does not spend at least a third of the day without passions, people and books?" Nietzsche lashes out, without admitting that for his own case, two out three ain't bad.
This is where Anderson comes in. His life is the usual American trashbarrel of Netflix bingeing, constantly stopping to respond to emails and texts, and endless pointless searches to satisfy a momentary thought. Every day. Hours of doomscrolling, interspersed with junk food snacking, and all of it sitting on a chair or at the extreme, a couch.
Nietzsche had the answer. Ditch the distractions, understand what was important in life, and pursue it forcefully all the time. Nietzsche wanted to be a "yes" man, a positive force rather than a naysayer. That is attractive to the Nate Andersons of the world, tired of criticism and seeking positive alternatives. Addressing the 21st century, Nietzsche said "Noise murders thought." If only he knew...
Nietzsche, in Anderson's telling, had a very positive outlook. "He wanted to be a Yes-sayer who stopped worrying about life's unfairness, who did not brood over past slights, who accepted what the world doled out. One does not get to pick and choose; everything in some mysterious sense, is ultimately all right. Even suffering and death are part of the pattern." Which is all true and even obvious, but still a lot to absorb. And no one had more trouble absorbing it than Nietzsche.
Anderson says Nietzsche "isn't amoral - he simply believes that negative morality is, in a word too easy. We need something that calls for our striving, not just our renunciation."
Anderson examines the state of life today, and concludes it is all about safety, and nothing about risk: "The digital paradigm active in many wealthy societies today stresses:
-constant entertainment
-physical safety
-control
-continual and worldwide connection with others
-unlimited information
-'another world' rather than my local, physical world
-mental stimulation over physical activity"
...which he finds depressing. The activity is all solo, safely ensconced at home, without need of the presence of any other beings. This can't possibly be what life is all about.
It is nothing new. There are tons of books that stress ditching the digital for the real, of limiting screen time, reconnecting with friends and relatives and an end to pointless bingeing, as nothing the least bit memorable, let alone important, comes from it. Checking the phone 200 times a day, as Americans do, is not a life. No one even gets a chance to experience genuine boredom. There's always more so-called news to scan. He says information overload is "a kind of smothering - not a spur to action but an inhibition of it." Anderson knows and acknowledges all this. But for him, Nietzsche saw it happening 150 years ago and tried to stop it then, so he is worth considering.
One of Nietzsche's greater gifts was the turn of phrase. Where run of the mill philosophers were wordy, Nietzsche was all about the biggest impact from the fewest words. He coined the term "will to power", which has been used to smear him as a proto-Nazi, but which Anderson says is about the individual's "ascending vitality of life itself." Nietzsche claimed it was more primal than even survival. It is the will to live the full life. It is neither good nor evil. And it makes Nietzsche eminently quotable.
Another was his concept of the last man. The last man was comfortable, lazy, contented and unadventurous. This term too has survived and thrived.
Meanwhile, on his dark side, Nietzsche could say some pretty regrettable things, Anderson says.
-"The weak and ill-constituted shall perish: first principle of our philanthropy. And one shall help them to do so..."
-"The sick man is a parasite of society. In a certain state, it is indecent to live longer."
-"Ascending life demands the most inconsiderate pushing down and aside of degenerating life - for example for the right of procreation, for the right to be born, for the right to live."
Readers might be forgiven for thinking him a fascist rather than a philosopher.
One of his very last friends, Ida Overbeck, was not fooled by Nietzsche's bold prescription: "Nietzsche hated the normal person because he could not be one." Again, this is not necessarily someone to learn from.
My own problem with this philosophy is that you are always becoming; you never are. There can never be a sense of accomplishment, a finality or even a success in this scheme. It is to forever struggle and/or die trying.
The way Anderson describes him, he seems like a Thomas Jefferson - he has a quote for everyone and everything, including both sides of opposites and contradictions. As Anderson admits, one has to pick out what to consider significant, because there is a lot that is worthless in his writings. Take this for example: "The fact that The Birth of Tragedy has endured for more than a century tells us how much the ideas have spoken to people. (Well, the ideas in the first half, anyway. The second half, with its praise of Wagner, is widely regarded as rubbish.)"
Similarly, Nietzsche claimed he only read eight authors, and read them repeatedly, rather than going any wider. Anderson labels this is a ridiculous statement to make, because Nietzsche had to read widely if only to pick the eight authors he settled on. And if it was true, you would not want to value anyone so narrowly read. It is a lose/lose position to take. The authors were Epicurus, Montaigne, Goethe, Spinoza, Plato, Rousseau, Pascal and Schopenhauer, in case that tells you anything.
Using such an inconsistent, if not defective agent to treat the decadence of the digital age is risky. I personally don't think it accomplishes that goal. As an intro to Nietzsche, the book has modern relevance that most straightforward biographies do not. But as a theorem to prove, it fails, much as Nietzsche did in his own time.
David Wineberg
(In Emergency, Break Glass, Nate Anderson, May 2022)
If you liked this review, I invite you to read more in my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. And you already know it is well-written. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
February 8, 2022
I really, really, really enjoyed and appreciated this book. Nate Anderson may or not be an ubermensch, but he’s definitely a mensch. He introduces us to some of Nietzsche’s ideas and then encourages us to use them as a defense against the information overload that most of us are experiencing. We also get a rough sketch of Nietzsche’s biography, and a fair critique of his more controversial ideas. The author’s relaxed, conversational style makes it easy to wrestle with the grand philosophical concepts he explores. A great introduction to Nietzsche, an entertaining read, and, more importantly, a challenging but practical call to live a more passionate and meaningful life.
July 28, 2022
I really enjoyed this short, easy introduction to Nietzsche. Mr Anderson's specific lens is an application to modern technology, and even a Nietzche scholar may find that perspective interesting, but mostly its a brief introduction to Nietzsche as a person and his philosophy. I think he does an admirable job of pointing out that although Nietzsche says a lot of things that modern readers will find objectionable, we shouldnt let that keep us from taking some valuable points from his work, and also- and this is something we confuse far too much these days- we do not need to revere him as a perfect ideal or an unquestionned guru in order to learn something worthwhile from him. Bottom line: technology should serve your life, not consume your life.
June 14, 2022
Accessible, succinct, and timely. I'm no Nietzsche expert but, from what little I do understand, Anderson successfully draws connections from the philosopher's more mainstream ideas to our present-day digital ills - all the while debunking some mainstream misconceptions, as well. What separated Nietzsche from the other big-name thinkers was his marvelous prose style and truly provocative (dangerous, even) ideas centered around the Human as a body, a feeling organism, first, and not an abstraction. Both aspects are honored in this book. Quick, helpful read.
January 22, 2023
One of those books that makes the pleasure of reading feel more like a noble pursuit than a selfish indulgence. The only thing that would make the book more meaningful would be to ponder it on a long walk in nature in the coming days.
I dare say if you read it, you're not done until you also act it out.
I dare say if you read it, you're not done until you also act it out.
Read
April 4, 2023Está muy interesante.
El autor empata la obra de Nietzsche con nuestro presente en el que nos la pasamos pegados a las pantallas (celular, televisión, tablet, laptop).
Nos anima a ser valientes y encontrar en la filosofía de Nietzsche razones de peso más allá de razones superficiales.
A lo mejor no lo recomendaría mucho mucho, yo lo compré por novedoso.
El autor empata la obra de Nietzsche con nuestro presente en el que nos la pasamos pegados a las pantallas (celular, televisión, tablet, laptop).
Nos anima a ser valientes y encontrar en la filosofía de Nietzsche razones de peso más allá de razones superficiales.
A lo mejor no lo recomendaría mucho mucho, yo lo compré por novedoso.
October 21, 2023
A relaxed overview of nietzsche - his life and writings. Nate takes this philosophy and applied it to our modern works.
He recommends not prioritizing safety and comfort because goals and struggle are more rewarding. Dropping screens and multiple tabs in favor of concentrated reading. Information diets to focus on books most valuable to you and to allow yourself to think your own thoughts.
He recommends not prioritizing safety and comfort because goals and struggle are more rewarding. Dropping screens and multiple tabs in favor of concentrated reading. Information diets to focus on books most valuable to you and to allow yourself to think your own thoughts.
May 22, 2022
Really a 4 for my personally tbh, but giving this a 5 because it’s definitely a book more people should read.
Great summation of the role of screens in our lives, touches upon the deeper meaning of this. Also provides some insight on what we can do to genuinely build a healthier relationship with technology.
Great summation of the role of screens in our lives, touches upon the deeper meaning of this. Also provides some insight on what we can do to genuinely build a healthier relationship with technology.
August 30, 2022
I would have given this book five stars, but I'm not the target audience. I spend a lot of time programming a computer, so my screen time probably exceeds that of most people on the planet. But I didn't grow up with devices engineered to steal your attention, and I have some kind of built-in aversion to them. If you grew up with these devices and didn't know that people are hacking your brain to get your attention, you might feel like this book is talking about/to you.
The book did change what I thought about Nietzsche - so I learned a lot. With hobbies like long hikes, camping, high-intensity cycling, and non-technical mountain climbing, I already appreciated the idea that 'constant comfort' was not a good goal if you want to feel alive.
On the other hand, I also love books, and this book made me take a serious look at my reading list here. After reading In Emergency, Break Glass, I decided I needed to be more considered in what I plan to read. I've started cutting my "Want to Read" list to only include books I will create time to read. I think Nietzsche was hyperbolic in many of his statements, like reading only eight authors (or whatever he actually said). On the other hand, I can keep my references as part of Umberto Eco's Unread Library from The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable and look things up or read bits when they fit ala How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.
My online chess addiction, like cheese, is another topic on which Nietzsche is suspiciously quiet.
The book did change what I thought about Nietzsche - so I learned a lot. With hobbies like long hikes, camping, high-intensity cycling, and non-technical mountain climbing, I already appreciated the idea that 'constant comfort' was not a good goal if you want to feel alive.
On the other hand, I also love books, and this book made me take a serious look at my reading list here. After reading In Emergency, Break Glass, I decided I needed to be more considered in what I plan to read. I've started cutting my "Want to Read" list to only include books I will create time to read. I think Nietzsche was hyperbolic in many of his statements, like reading only eight authors (or whatever he actually said). On the other hand, I can keep my references as part of Umberto Eco's Unread Library from The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable and look things up or read bits when they fit ala How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.
My online chess addiction, like cheese, is another topic on which Nietzsche is suspiciously quiet.
August 7, 2025
Great philosophy for the age of cellphones. I should re-read this to help rid myself of this rectangular parasite (as I type on it to register that I have read a book). A great, easy to read, and insightful work.
February 20, 2023
What I loved about this book was simple - it is a really practical way to think about screen consumption and find ways in which to have a healthier relationship that allows you to feel a more fulfilled, meaningful, non-convenient, "yes" oriented approach to life. It's not about tactics, but more about mindset around what your version of product device usage looks like.
The philosophy that Anderson ties to Nietzche is definitely an interesting framework to drive the book forward, but sometimes it does feel as if he is forcing it back to Nietzche when he doesn't need to. It also dragged a bit in the middle, but the end was great.
Quotes that really resonated with me:
- "Perhaps like me, you find yourself pick up your phone or cracking open your laptop as a sort of restless instinct...The most minute of hassles, the most microscopic of delays, even a pause in conversation and our attention shifts to the device. In these moments are we not, in some sense, slandering life? We crave a level of novelty and stimulation that the world rarely offers, and we show through our actions that we don't really think that much of life's paces. We are ungrateful for what has been given...It's not hard to see how this attitude becomes a subtle - but pathological - rebuke to the world."
- "Long ago we replaced the hearth with central heating. The furnace does not sit at the center of the home; instead, you must descend rough stairs to the back of the basement, where the heating apparatus lies entombed in a windowless room. The 'device paradigm' values ends more than means, so all the 'means' are hidden in the walls...With this change, the 'focal' property of the hearth was broken. Furnaces do not require family jobs, daily routines, and physical exertion. They do not require the same skill to use. And they do not bring people together. In fact, by efficiently heating all parts of all rooms, they make it much easier for family members to disappear into separate spaces."
- "Work is winning over more and more the good conscience to its side: the desire for enjoyment already calls itself 'the need of recreation,' and even begins to be ashamed of itself. 'One owes it to one's health,' people say when they are caught at a picnic. Indeed, it might go so far that one could not yield to the desire for the vita contemplativa (that is to say, excursions with thoughts and friends), without self-contempt and a bad conscience."
- "What we want to avoid is seeing the body as a rechargeable battery that exists to keep the mind going."
The philosophy that Anderson ties to Nietzche is definitely an interesting framework to drive the book forward, but sometimes it does feel as if he is forcing it back to Nietzche when he doesn't need to. It also dragged a bit in the middle, but the end was great.
Quotes that really resonated with me:
- "Perhaps like me, you find yourself pick up your phone or cracking open your laptop as a sort of restless instinct...The most minute of hassles, the most microscopic of delays, even a pause in conversation and our attention shifts to the device. In these moments are we not, in some sense, slandering life? We crave a level of novelty and stimulation that the world rarely offers, and we show through our actions that we don't really think that much of life's paces. We are ungrateful for what has been given...It's not hard to see how this attitude becomes a subtle - but pathological - rebuke to the world."
- "Long ago we replaced the hearth with central heating. The furnace does not sit at the center of the home; instead, you must descend rough stairs to the back of the basement, where the heating apparatus lies entombed in a windowless room. The 'device paradigm' values ends more than means, so all the 'means' are hidden in the walls...With this change, the 'focal' property of the hearth was broken. Furnaces do not require family jobs, daily routines, and physical exertion. They do not require the same skill to use. And they do not bring people together. In fact, by efficiently heating all parts of all rooms, they make it much easier for family members to disappear into separate spaces."
- "Work is winning over more and more the good conscience to its side: the desire for enjoyment already calls itself 'the need of recreation,' and even begins to be ashamed of itself. 'One owes it to one's health,' people say when they are caught at a picnic. Indeed, it might go so far that one could not yield to the desire for the vita contemplativa (that is to say, excursions with thoughts and friends), without self-contempt and a bad conscience."
- "What we want to avoid is seeing the body as a rechargeable battery that exists to keep the mind going."
February 8, 2023
A lovely, enjoyable, prescriptive read. Anderson treats readers to a mini survey of Nietzsche’s life and ideas, musings on the liabilities of technology, and surprisingly specific and thoughtful suggestions about how we might go about forcing technology into the service of life, rather than the other way round.
Anderson, a technology journalist, doesn’t hate technology. Nor is he unaware that Nietzsche died nearly a century before modern all-consuming virtual networks worked their way into the nerve center of humanity. His contribution in “In Emergency, Break Glass” is to superimpose Nietzsche’s 19th century ideas over the top of 21st century technology issues. The result is illuminating and even fun.
Refreshingly, Anderson evaluates Nietzsche with clear eyes. He does not gloss over the fact that certain of Nietzsche’s ideas were repurposed in the years and decades after his descent into madness and his death by Nazi sympathizers and even Nazis themselves. But for those, like me, with limited background on Nietzsche, Anderson contextualizes contemporary problems with Nietzschean thought without apologizing for Nietzsche’s warts and flaws. “In Emergency, Break Glass” pulls off this balancing act admirably.
Essentially, Anderson hones in on Nietzsche’s attitudes toward knowledge acquisition, taking time to develop original thought versus binging on others’ ideas, physical activity, forgetting, the benefits of struggle versus the vacuousness of ease, and the need to leverage knowledge in the service of living life. Anderson applies this thinking to modernity with its hyper-focus on sedentary consumption of “empty calories,” meaning largely inconsequential audio/visual material that tech companies carefully curate to each individual’s liking. In this way, Nietzsche becomes a bit of a critic of the overuse of social networks.
The most interest and helpful component of “In Emergency, Break Glass” though is Anderson’s thoughtful prescriptions for tech addiction. He avoids broad, bland slogans (i.e. no screens after 8 pm) in favor of useful principles, like asking oneself how a particular foray online is going to advance a goal, sharpen a skill, or, more generally, serve a purpose. This type of thinking and writing makes Anderson’s work here particularly useful and timely.
Anderson, a technology journalist, doesn’t hate technology. Nor is he unaware that Nietzsche died nearly a century before modern all-consuming virtual networks worked their way into the nerve center of humanity. His contribution in “In Emergency, Break Glass” is to superimpose Nietzsche’s 19th century ideas over the top of 21st century technology issues. The result is illuminating and even fun.
Refreshingly, Anderson evaluates Nietzsche with clear eyes. He does not gloss over the fact that certain of Nietzsche’s ideas were repurposed in the years and decades after his descent into madness and his death by Nazi sympathizers and even Nazis themselves. But for those, like me, with limited background on Nietzsche, Anderson contextualizes contemporary problems with Nietzschean thought without apologizing for Nietzsche’s warts and flaws. “In Emergency, Break Glass” pulls off this balancing act admirably.
Essentially, Anderson hones in on Nietzsche’s attitudes toward knowledge acquisition, taking time to develop original thought versus binging on others’ ideas, physical activity, forgetting, the benefits of struggle versus the vacuousness of ease, and the need to leverage knowledge in the service of living life. Anderson applies this thinking to modernity with its hyper-focus on sedentary consumption of “empty calories,” meaning largely inconsequential audio/visual material that tech companies carefully curate to each individual’s liking. In this way, Nietzsche becomes a bit of a critic of the overuse of social networks.
The most interest and helpful component of “In Emergency, Break Glass” though is Anderson’s thoughtful prescriptions for tech addiction. He avoids broad, bland slogans (i.e. no screens after 8 pm) in favor of useful principles, like asking oneself how a particular foray online is going to advance a goal, sharpen a skill, or, more generally, serve a purpose. This type of thinking and writing makes Anderson’s work here particularly useful and timely.
March 14, 2024
"I did not want to write on lined paper, because I wanted my writing like Nietzsche to be wild and fragmented" (not a direct quote). One hundred percent spot on, Nate Anderson did what he set out to do, he wrote a whole book that was so wildly fragmented it had no real reason to exist and didn't answer any of the questions it started the journey of answering.
What happened, and I can almost guarantee this, is that Anderson had an idea for a book on tech saturation and just so happened to also really like Nietzsche. So, like any sane person (as sane as Nietzsche) would do, he wrote a book with Nietzsche as his Jesus figure. The problem being that Nietzsche, even when looking at the technology of his time, really didn't say anything substantial about the issue. So Anderson instead cherry-picked quotes out of Nietzsche's work and made it fit as best as he could.
The author makes it well known his feelings on religion, while at the same time continually running his logic right into the realization that religion isn't a failure of mankind right before changing the subject and once again going on a tangent in the opposite direction. Why does this book have chapters? Anderson should write a book with Carl Jung as his savior on why his last book had chapters even though they didn't actually create breaks between ideas and why lucid, full thoughts are lazy and bad for your health or something.
Let us not forget that Nietzsche was probably narcissistic, and treated the people around him like garbage until he desperately needed them to take care of him while he fell into madness and spent the last decade of his life actually insane.
What happened, and I can almost guarantee this, is that Anderson had an idea for a book on tech saturation and just so happened to also really like Nietzsche. So, like any sane person (as sane as Nietzsche) would do, he wrote a book with Nietzsche as his Jesus figure. The problem being that Nietzsche, even when looking at the technology of his time, really didn't say anything substantial about the issue. So Anderson instead cherry-picked quotes out of Nietzsche's work and made it fit as best as he could.
The author makes it well known his feelings on religion, while at the same time continually running his logic right into the realization that religion isn't a failure of mankind right before changing the subject and once again going on a tangent in the opposite direction. Why does this book have chapters? Anderson should write a book with Carl Jung as his savior on why his last book had chapters even though they didn't actually create breaks between ideas and why lucid, full thoughts are lazy and bad for your health or something.
Let us not forget that Nietzsche was probably narcissistic, and treated the people around him like garbage until he desperately needed them to take care of him while he fell into madness and spent the last decade of his life actually insane.
September 30, 2022
Disclaimer: This book is not what you are looking for if you are looking for specific practices one can take to be more content and less anxious in a world full of screens and an over-abundance of information. However, to the one looking to have a conversation with Fredrich Nietzsche about understanding how an unbounded relationship to technology can dampen our ability to experience and engage with life fully, this book is perfect. As someone who has tried to go "cold turkey" with technology before and engage in limiting time to no avail on the problem, this book helped tremendously. Engaging, easily-digestable, and condense for any person to read and walk away wanting to do more with life.
It is important to understand that Anderson wishes for us to take on attributes of a Nietzschian, not become one. Nietzsche's values can often become self-destructive and paradoxical, creating the opposite life of the one he writes about if one were to take all of his teachings to heart.
If you find yourself ridden with social-anxiety, screen addiction, or a general dissatisfaction with the state of your life right now because of screens, read this book!
It is important to understand that Anderson wishes for us to take on attributes of a Nietzschian, not become one. Nietzsche's values can often become self-destructive and paradoxical, creating the opposite life of the one he writes about if one were to take all of his teachings to heart.
If you find yourself ridden with social-anxiety, screen addiction, or a general dissatisfaction with the state of your life right now because of screens, read this book!
August 3, 2022
Very repetitively fails to do justice either to Nietzsche or to electronic screen devices when properly used.
But what, you ask, is the proper use of phones, laptops, tablets, televisions as bulk information sources and video streaming devices? A very important question for us all, no doubt. The author's simplistic answer: unplug them all and do your thinking joyfully walking, rowing or however one likes to do the active life outside, as he imagines Nietzche, Wordsworth, and other greats to have done in primitive, screenless eras.
We all need to find a balance between the benefits and excesses of all too easily accessible information. It doesn't do to discount the benefits. As for Nietzsche, to me his relevance to any of this finally seemed tangential at best.
But what, you ask, is the proper use of phones, laptops, tablets, televisions as bulk information sources and video streaming devices? A very important question for us all, no doubt. The author's simplistic answer: unplug them all and do your thinking joyfully walking, rowing or however one likes to do the active life outside, as he imagines Nietzche, Wordsworth, and other greats to have done in primitive, screenless eras.
We all need to find a balance between the benefits and excesses of all too easily accessible information. It doesn't do to discount the benefits. As for Nietzsche, to me his relevance to any of this finally seemed tangential at best.
June 6, 2022
I loved this book. It was engaging and easy to read/ understand. Walking in I did not know much about Nietzsche so this book sort of served as an intro book for me in that sense. It was well written and very explanatory so I was not confused. Most importantly Anderson provided great arguments and perspectives for the shift in lifestyles in this 'tech-situated world'. He brought up points I hadn't considered before and did it in such a way that the result of trying to create a healthy distance from technology after reading this book is much more likely to be sustainable. Thank you for this book.
August 14, 2022
In this very small book, the author tries to explain how he has relied on the writings of Nietzsche to help deal with the perils of our modern world. I appreciated many of the explanations of Nietzsche's writings, as I have found them mostly too weird and torturous to plow through in the past. I think I made it through "Beyond Good and Evil" and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", but that's about it. The author has an interesting point of view and lays out lessons to be learned that are worth thinking about. He also makes clear that a lot of the time good old Friedrich as just venting or being hyperbolic, so don't worry too much about the really weird stuff. Good fun if you like philosophy.
August 21, 2022
Πρόκειται για ένα βιβλίο εκλαϊκευμένης φιλοσοφίας γραμμένο με το ύφος που θα περίμενε κανείς - τίποτα περισσότερο, τίποτα λιγότερο. Αναλύει τι προκαλεί η υπερβολική χρήση τεχνολογίας στον άνθρωπο (βλ. μοναξιά, χάσιμο χρόνου, άχρηστες γνώσεις κτλ) και μετά, μέσα από τα κείμενα του Νίτσε και κανα-δυό φορές με περιστατικά από την ζωή του, απαντά στο συγκεκριμένο πρόβλημα.
Γενικά δίνει την αίσθηση ότι ο συγγραφέας πάλεψε λίγο για να φέρει τα λόγια του Νίτσε στο σημείο που τον βόλευε ώστε να απαντήσει στο πρόβλημα που ο ίδιος έθεσε.
Αλλά αυτό δεν με πειράζει.
Δεν διάβασα αυτό το βιβλίο σαν μια σπουδή πάνω στον Νίτσε, οπότε δεν με νοιάζει ιδιαίτερα αν, κόβοντας και ράβοντας, ξέφυγε από το "πραγματικό πνεύμα" των λόγων του φιλοσόφου. Έπειτα τον Νίτσε τον αντιπαθώ (αλλά και θαυμάζω).
Το βιβλίο κατάφερε να με κάνει να συζητήσω με τον εαυτό μου κατά την διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης, με ειλικρίνεια, αφού ήμασταν μόνο οι δυό μας και να ανακαλύψω κάποιες ιδέες που δεν τους είχα δώσει σημασία πριν.
Το βιβλίο δεν έχει αυτόν τον θρησκευτικό χαρακτήρα των new age βιβλίων αυτοβοήθειας. Αναφέρεται μόνο δύο φορές σε προσωπικά περιστατικά που δεν είναι και τόσο σημαντικά (δεν λέει "κοίτα τι έκανα Εγώ, τώρα θα σας δείξω όλες τις λύσεις), δεν "πουλάει" συμπεράσματα με φθηνό τρόπο (τα 10 τιπς για να...) και δεν δίνει την αίσθηση πως σε οδηγεί στην Μία και Μοναδική Αλήθεια.
Το άφησα στην άκρη, διάβασα λογοτεχνία και ξαναγύρισα γιατί με "μπούκωσε" αφού έπιανα συχνά τον εαυτό μου να αφήνει το βιβλίο για να σκεφτεί αυτό που διάβασε.
Όταν το τελείωσα αισθανόμουν πως κάτι είχα κερδίσει, όχι μια σειρά από κανόνες που ξέρω πως δεν θα εφαρμόσω ποτέ, αλλά μια λίγο βαθύτερη συνειδητοποίηση κάποιων πραγμάτων.
Γενικά δίνει την αίσθηση ότι ο συγγραφέας πάλεψε λίγο για να φέρει τα λόγια του Νίτσε στο σημείο που τον βόλευε ώστε να απαντήσει στο πρόβλημα που ο ίδιος έθεσε.
Αλλά αυτό δεν με πειράζει.
Δεν διάβασα αυτό το βιβλίο σαν μια σπουδή πάνω στον Νίτσε, οπότε δεν με νοιάζει ιδιαίτερα αν, κόβοντας και ράβοντας, ξέφυγε από το "πραγματικό πνεύμα" των λόγων του φιλοσόφου. Έπειτα τον Νίτσε τον αντιπαθώ (αλλά και θαυμάζω).
Το βιβλίο κατάφερε να με κάνει να συζητήσω με τον εαυτό μου κατά την διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης, με ειλικρίνεια, αφού ήμασταν μόνο οι δυό μας και να ανακαλύψω κάποιες ιδέες που δεν τους είχα δώσει σημασία πριν.
Το βιβλίο δεν έχει αυτόν τον θρησκευτικό χαρακτήρα των new age βιβλίων αυτοβοήθειας. Αναφέρεται μόνο δύο φορές σε προσωπικά περιστατικά που δεν είναι και τόσο σημαντικά (δεν λέει "κοίτα τι έκανα Εγώ, τώρα θα σας δείξω όλες τις λύσεις), δεν "πουλάει" συμπεράσματα με φθηνό τρόπο (τα 10 τιπς για να...) και δεν δίνει την αίσθηση πως σε οδηγεί στην Μία και Μοναδική Αλήθεια.
Το άφησα στην άκρη, διάβασα λογοτεχνία και ξαναγύρισα γιατί με "μπούκωσε" αφού έπιανα συχνά τον εαυτό μου να αφήνει το βιβλίο για να σκεφτεί αυτό που διάβασε.
Όταν το τελείωσα αισθανόμουν πως κάτι είχα κερδίσει, όχι μια σειρά από κανόνες που ξέρω πως δεν θα εφαρμόσω ποτέ, αλλά μια λίγο βαθύτερη συνειδητοποίηση κάποιων πραγμάτων.
June 23, 2023
Do more
The book is an ode to do more and to take agency of your life; a Nietzsche rightfully reintroduced.
While my takeaways differ from Nate's, it showed me a side of Nietzsche that I had not considered before, in a form not bereft of hyperbole, most fitting to Nietzsche himself.
In short - have a go at the book, make sure it takes you two years to read because you are reading it only when out by yourself in a loud pub, and who knows, you just might want to join Nate's invitation in the end.
The book is an ode to do more and to take agency of your life; a Nietzsche rightfully reintroduced.
While my takeaways differ from Nate's, it showed me a side of Nietzsche that I had not considered before, in a form not bereft of hyperbole, most fitting to Nietzsche himself.
In short - have a go at the book, make sure it takes you two years to read because you are reading it only when out by yourself in a loud pub, and who knows, you just might want to join Nate's invitation in the end.
November 28, 2023
I think everyone should read this who feels frustrated by the excessive use of technology in this day and age. The hunger for information.
I love how accessible this book is to read. I was impressed by the connection Anderson made between “the last man” way of living and modern society. This will definitely be a reread in the future. I learned a lot from it and it had me thinking about my thought patterns and what I choose to spend my time doing, and even more so with philosophical ideas tied into it so I can have words of explaining it.
A confident 5/5 rating
I love how accessible this book is to read. I was impressed by the connection Anderson made between “the last man” way of living and modern society. This will definitely be a reread in the future. I learned a lot from it and it had me thinking about my thought patterns and what I choose to spend my time doing, and even more so with philosophical ideas tied into it so I can have words of explaining it.
A confident 5/5 rating
May 24, 2022
Fantastic read, if not as proscriptive as one would hope. Still, Nietzsche himself was not so how could Mr Anderson be?
Still, folding creative self-overcoming, the restriction of other voices, and engaging the physical body in with the integration into a like minded community is likely as good as a nugget of advice as you could get.
If nothing else, it is good to remember that Nietzsche was no nihilist and once said, "all good things laugh." I choose to think that includes dogs.
Still, folding creative self-overcoming, the restriction of other voices, and engaging the physical body in with the integration into a like minded community is likely as good as a nugget of advice as you could get.
If nothing else, it is good to remember that Nietzsche was no nihilist and once said, "all good things laugh." I choose to think that includes dogs.
June 13, 2022
Came across this book thank to Alan Jacobs. It is an interesting exploration of Nietzche through the lens of balancing the benefits and pitfalls of technology. I found the parts wrestling with Nietzche's life and writing more interesting than the "What to do about technology?" parts but that may be because I have read a lot of books on technology and its impact on our lives. If the only thing you think about this famous philosophy is Nazi sympathizer, than this book offers a more nuanced look. And it offers some good advice on approaching life in an age of technology saturation.
November 22, 2023
Nietzsche. Nietzsche? Nietzsche!
Rigid with a strong sense of self belief he stands at odds with today’s society:
One should read only a very few books, slowly and repeatedly
One should stay away from distractions of any type (he would absolutely abhor social media)
One should only trust ideas that come when walking
One should spend at least a third of each day in solitude in deep thought
These and many other of his beliefs are fleshed out in this highly readable book.
Rigid with a strong sense of self belief he stands at odds with today’s society:
One should read only a very few books, slowly and repeatedly
One should stay away from distractions of any type (he would absolutely abhor social media)
One should only trust ideas that come when walking
One should spend at least a third of each day in solitude in deep thought
These and many other of his beliefs are fleshed out in this highly readable book.
August 5, 2022
A short, but solid book that uses the life, writings, and philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche to live a more active, goal-oriented, and ultimately happier life in a world saturated with technology and social media.
December 1, 2023
This was a bit of a slog. Very dense, like an academic thesis on modern tech through the framework of a biography on Nietzsche. Maybe that’s exactly what I should have expected, but I just thought it would be a little bit easier to consume.
May 10, 2025
Great, humourous and well balanced examination of Nietzsche's work. I had expected a bit more ruminations on modern technology. But Anderson very eloquently explains why there is no easy 5 step solution and it's still worth it to engage with a 125 year old philosoph for our modern world.
January 21, 2026
This is the best book I read about the how to transform your digital life. I am so surprised it is not more popular. I have found this book in Robart's on a display, and thank god for all those librarians and their assistants for putting it there. I love it when books find me.
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