Book · 1883
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A prophet comes down from ten years alone on a mountain to tell humanity God is dead and hand them a superman instead.
What does Reddit think of Thus Spoke Zarathustra?
The most-upvoted thread (↑438) exists mainly to correct people on "God is dead," arguing Nietzsche meant the Enlightenment had removed the possibility of belief, not that he was cheering. A second (↑357) walks through eternal return via John Kaag's Hiking With Nietzsche, treating the idea as a thought experiment rather than a doctrine. On r/askphilosophy, one answer (↑110) calls Thus Spoke Zarathustra many people's first book of philosophy and says that's fine if the reader is persistent and curious. Another (↑106) pushes back hard on academic jargon as an answer style, dismissing "post-post-structuralist" talk as "completely missing the point" for anyone new. The recurring content itself: the three transformations, camel to lion to child (↑104), and Zarathustra descending to rescue humanity from the Last Man (↑102).
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · 'God is dead' as the most misunderstood line, corrected on repeat
- · Eternal return explained through secondary sources like Hiking With Nietzsche
- · The camel-lion-child transformations as the recurring explainer
- · A running argument on r/askphilosophy over jargon versus plain explanation for newcomers
Common praise
- + One r/askphilosophy answer calls out jargon-heavy answers as completely missing the point for anyone actually new to Nietzsche (↑106).
- + r/philosophy walks through the three transformations, camel, lion, child, clearly enough to function as a study guide (↑104).
- + A top comment bothers to correct the single most misquoted line in the book rather than just repeating it (↑438).
Common criticism
- − r/askphilosophy's scored sentiment on the book reads mixed, and the sample doesn't show anyone mounting a full-throated defense of it as a first read.
- − One comment treats it mainly as a pipeline into philosophy from r/Stoicism-style questions, not as a book that stands on its own for the person asking (↑319).
- − Nobody in the displayed excerpts quotes Zarathustra's actual prose; the discussion stays at the level of paraphrased concepts.
Who it's for
Come here for the ideas, not the prose, that's how r/askphilosophy and r/philosophy both treat it in this sample. If you want your first Nietzsche book to double as an intro to philosophy generally, one top answer says that's a reasonable way in, so long as you're patient with the style (↑110). Skip the jargon-heavy explainers if you're new; r/askphilosophy has its own users calling that approach out (↑106). And if "God is dead" is the only line you know going in, expect the actual argument to be more careful than the meme (↑438).
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Thus Spoke Zarathustra?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“Abstract “God is dead” is a widely quoted statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche used the phrase to express his idea that the Enlightenment had eliminated the possibility of the existence of God. But here’s where things get tricky. Nietzsche’s exasperation,…
“ABSTRACT: In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche lays out his notion of the eternal return. Such a hypothetical situation, in which one must live their lives over and over, can be taken as a dreadful possibility. However, this video, using notable scholar John Kagg’s Hiking With Nietzsche, argues tha…
“There is a large portion of posts on /r/Stoicism that go like this: "Hey guys, X happened, how should I deal with it? What is a stoic way to deal with this? How do I not feel bad". I didn't personally write a post like this, but hardships were also a reason why I got interested in that philosophy. …
“Imo, *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*. I think Nietzsche is many people's first introduction to philosophy, which I think is fine in general if one is persistent and curious of philosophy more generally - Nietzsche is quite critical of other philosophers prior and concurrent of his time - but *TSZ* is qui…
“Some of the other answers here are a bit myopic, focusing on his influence on such and such academic philosopher. If someone isn't familiar with this world, I don't think these answers are helpful. Rattling off words like *Post-post-structuralist* and *methodological* is completely missing the point…
“Abstract: in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche outlines the three transformations that the philosopher must go through. The camel is the stage of learning where we burden ourselves with a great weight. This is the phase of the scholar and the apprentice learning the ways of the world and everything …
“Abstract: In this video, I explain the storyline of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Zarathustra is a sage who descends from isolation to save mankind from the era of the Last Man. Humanity has become preoccupied with consumption and pleasure; so much so that they no longer create anything. Zarathustra gathe…
“He didn't. Fanon quoted him as saying this, but he got it from Beauvoir and she has Descartes as having said it. I don't know if Descartes did say it, but yeah. Nietzsche did talk about children and 'becoming child' in Zarathustra, so you can look at that if you want to know his thoughts. >On the …
“>Niezscthe if "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" has enough plot? Steer clear, friend That's no normal text. ​ 'Notes from the underground' or 'the idiot' by Dostoevsky 'All men are mortal' by de Beauvoir 'nausea' or 'the age of reason' by Sartre
“When it comes to Nietzsche, I may (or may not, I'm not sure) have an unpopular view: don't start with secondary sources. I would read something short and concise of his, something that can introduce you to Nietzsche's tone and style of writing. I would recommend The Antichrist, the second to last wo…
“Assuming you refer to the quote in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" (not sure if it appears in other works) I would just add that the book differs strongly from most philosophical works. It is a work of poetry/philosophy and other works of Nietzsche engage in much less ambiguous figures of speech as they do…
“Personally, I feel Nietzsche is the example *par excellence* of philosophy as great literature. *Beyond Good and Evil* is so aesthetically beautiful, from a literary perspective, and *Thus Spoke Zarathustra* is practically a work of philosophical fiction by today's standards. Reading Nietzsche is al…
“As far as flavors of Nietzsche go in my opinion Thus Spoke Zarathustra is his most joyful. I always liked it a lot more than his other stuff for that reason.
“I agree it was his most joyful, but as far as his works go I think it's the hardest to comprehend without outside sources or previous knowledge. If you are looking for a philosophical book that's creative, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is it. If you are looking for something more straight forward (assumi…
“Which ideas from Nietzsche are you looking to teach? I don't know what the internet is saying about Nietzsche, but to break down the real ideas broadly: Metaethics: Focus on *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*, Nietzsche's self-described best work. What are values in a world where we create them ourselves? Ho…
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Readers also mention
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Ranked best-of lists and editorial guides where this book's tracked mentions place it.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra — frequently asked
Is Thus Spoke Zarathustra a good first philosophy book?+
Reasonably, per r/askphilosophy's top answer on the subject (↑110), which calls Thus Spoke Zarathustra many people's actual first book of philosophy and says that's fine for someone persistent and curious.
What does 'God is dead' actually mean in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, according to Reddit?+
Not what the meme implies. The top-upvoted r/philosophy explainer (↑438) argues Nietzsche used the phrase to describe the Enlightenment eliminating the philosophical possibility of God's existence, not to celebrate atheism or announce a literal event. The same thread treats this as the most common misreading worth correcting.
Is r/askphilosophy hostile to jargon-heavy explanations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra?+
One highly upvoted comment is, at least (↑106). It calls answers leaning on terms like "post-post-structuralist" completely missing the point when the person asking is new to the book and to philosophy generally. That's one comment's position, but it's the more upvoted of the two competing answer styles in this sample.
What are the three transformations in Thus Spoke Zarathustra that Reddit keeps explaining?+
Camel, lion, and child, per a highly upvoted r/philosophy breakdown (↑104). The camel is the burden-carrying learning stage, absorbing the discipline of scholarship and tradition, framed as the first of three stages the philosopher passes through on the way to the other two. The same explainer treats all three as sequential, not optional, stages of the same transformation.