Rating: 
Summary: Nietzsche in 90 Minutes--the WORST book I've ever read on N
Review: Having been a long-term fan of Nietzsche's work, I bought (actually paid money for) Strathern's book, since the title implies that the book is a quick overview of Nietzsche's life/philosophy. Now, I consider myself a amateur on the topic of Nietzsche-I read his works but am by no means a Nietzsche scholar, at least not professionally. However, even within the first few pages of the book, Strathern made it clear that he was clueless about Nietzsche's philosophy. I lost all faith in Strathern when on page 52 he utterly and foolishly misinterprets the concept of Eternal Recurrence. Strathern writes, "It simply does not ear thinking through." This apparently was true for Strathern, who makes it quite obvious that he did not give it sufficient thought to arrive at an understanding of his topic. Such a blatant error and shortcoming makes Strathern's views un-credible and unworthy of my/your time, consideration, and money. I enthusiastically recommend Professor Richard Schacht's production of FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE by Knowledge Products-it is a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Nietzsche in 90 Minutes--the WORST book I've ever read on N
Review: Having been a long-term fan of Nietzsche's work, I bought (actually paid money for) Strathern's book, since the title implies that the book is a quick overview of Nietzsche's life/philosophy. Now, I consider myself a amateur on the topic of Nietzsche-I read his works but am by no means a Nietzsche scholar, at least not professionally. However, even within the first few pages of the book, Strathern made it clear that he was clueless about Nietzsche's philosophy. I lost all faith in Strathern when on page 52 he utterly and foolishly misinterprets the concept of Eternal Recurrence. Strathern writes, "It simply does not ear thinking through." This apparently was true for Strathern, who makes it quite obvious that he did not give it sufficient thought to arrive at an understanding of his topic. Such a blatant error and shortcoming makes Strathern's views un-credible and unworthy of my/your time, consideration, and money. I enthusiastically recommend Professor Richard Schacht's production of FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE by Knowledge Products-it is a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair Mini-Biography of Nietzsche
Review: I bought this book because I wanted a brief biographical overview of Nietzsche. To this extent, the book was very pleasing. The large type and low number pages made it a very quick read (less than 90 minutes). It was worth purchasing (to me) for these points
A portion of the book is dedicated to a brief synopsis of Nietzsche's philosophy. I found this to be useless. I don't feel the coverage in this area was unbiased. There are a lot of points where the author offers his own opinions which are typically contradictory to Nietzsche. Having an opinion is fine but it doesn't belong in an overview text.
With all of this, it was worth reading for the mini-biography. Certainly, this won't be the only book you will need to read on Nietzsche if you are interested in learning about him. Aside from Nietzsche's own works Walter Kaufmann is a good area to start.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Cliff's Notes
Review: I had to do a project on Nietzschie and found just diving into his work confusing. This book made better starting point, it gave me some background. It's written in a very entertaining way. However, the point of view is very biased, so I would just use this as a jumping off point before reading some real (and objective) literature about Nietzsche.
Rating: 
Summary: Can be good or bad... Depends who you are...
Review: If you know absolutely nothing about Nietzsche, this book will help you get your feet wet. It cannot be the only book you learn from, but it is certainly helpful to the beginner. If you're a college student in a rush to whip up a paper, consider yourself [in bad shape]. Strathern gives a fairly decent account of Nietzsche's life, and rather unfortunately, it takes up most of the book. Nietzsche's concepts are given a meager eight pages leaving readers feeling unsure as to what Nietzsche really wanted to say. The author also doesn't elaborate on Nietzsche's concepts at all. The idea of Eternal Recurrence is very thin and bare, and the concept of the Superman is hardly laid out at all. There is no way anyone can understand the Superman from reading this book. I found that readers may feel stuck if they don't know Nietzsche's predecessors (Hegel, Schopenhauer) as Strathern assumes the reader knows these characters already. While the title is a misnomer (you can easily fit this in during your lunch break), it's a good refresher on Nietzsche's life and basic concepts. I do recommend reading more of the philosopher's works, as this book in no way covers it all.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks depth... very simple
Review: More of Nietzsche words should be included into this book. As is we get more of a biographical knowledge than of the actual work itself. More quotes would help and certainly a little more depth into his works as well. In the end it all seems like a MTV clip... too fast and too little. Same for other books in the series.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful enhancement for quick references to Nietzsche.
Review: Paul Strathern combines quick insight of Nietzsche's biography with his memorizing works. By breaking down simply the instances in Nietzsche's life, you are left refreshed and intrigued on most aspects of the exisitential philosopher. Though it is very short and simple, it yields at understandings that not only amuse you but informs as well.
Rating:
Summary: Not Authoritative, Not Inciteful, Not Useful, Not Nietzsche
Review: Paul Strathern in his short little tome on Friedrich Nietzsche manages to say almost nothing that is neccessary to justify the ambitious title of this book or the Publisher's claim that Strathern deciphers "philosophical thought in [an] entertaining and accessible fashion...making it comprehensible and interesting to almost everyone." On page 54, for instance, he writes: "The parable of Zarathustra is childishly simple, and on reflection it remains so. Yet its message is profound despite this." This is the sort of gibberish that infects his analysis in the eight-page section entitled Key Philosophical Concepts. Indeed, his insights are worthy of a contemporary journalist and just as depthless. Almost anyone involved in the discipline of Philosophy could have informed Strathern of the true merits of the above statement, but Starthern, although he has "lectured" in philosophy and mathematics according to the Author Blurb at the end of the book, apparently had no one reliable at hand to perform this service or to question his many demeaning and snide remarks about Nietzsche's work and his Philosophy. Psychologically, of course, this can be explained by the blurb previously sited which indicate's that Strathern has lectured in both Philosophy and Mathematics. He was undoubtedly more suited to being a professor of Math than Philosophy to judge from the quote just mentioned. The other Reviewer here who mentions his comments on page 52 about Eternal Recurrence is absolutely correct in their analysis but doesn't really go far enough in denouncing this rubbish. This is the sort of book dishonest publisher's foist on the unsuspecting public (and students) in the hope of fleecing them of their coin, albeit very little in this case. In spite of this one cannot rebuke the Publisher or Strathern enough for their part in this micro-atrocity. Nietzsche is the single most important philospher of the last two hundred years and he deserves more than this philstine treatment with its merde spread from cover to cover like a Tom Wolfe op-ed piece for the February edition of the New Yorker Magazine. Stay away from this silly book and don't waste your money or your time (as I did). Read Nietzsche the Philosopher instead or Kaufmann's book (as I am now doing) for a better overview than you'll ever get here. There. I've said enough. You get the picture.
Rating:
Summary: Is 90 Minutes adequete?
Review: Paul Strathern is to philosophy as Sparknotes are to Literature. He has taken complex ideas and condesced them into a paragraph or so. Philosophy majors can debate if this is a good or bad thing. The book defanitly forfills its purpose, a brief thourough introduction to Nietzsche.
The book is divided into three useful sections; the first is Nietzsche's life and works, the second is Nietzsche's key philosophical concpets and the third is the section entitled From Nietzsche's Writings. The most helpful was the second section, which explains oft-tedious concepts in a simple manner.
This book, or series, works magic for essays and position papers. Again, if its a deep understanding of Nietzsche that is desired, this is not the best choice. If its a basic understanding of his ideas, then by all means have at this book.
Rating:
Summary: Is 90 Minutes adequete?
Review: Paul Strathern is to philosophy as Sparknotes are to Literature. He has taken complex ideas and condesced them into a paragraph or so. Philosophy majors can debate if this is a good or bad thing. The book defanitly forfills its purpose, a brief thourough introduction to Nietzsche.
The book is divided into three useful sections; the first is Nietzsche's life and works, the second is Nietzsche's key philosophical concpets and the third is the section entitled From Nietzsche's Writings. The most helpful was the second section, which explains oft-tedious concepts in a simple manner.
This book, or series, works magic for essays and position papers. Again, if its a deep understanding of Nietzsche that is desired, this is not the best choice. If its a basic understanding of his ideas, then by all means have at this book.
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