Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Anderson (The Internet Police), deputy editor at Ars Technica, explains in this unorthodox and often funny guide what Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has to say about coping with modern technology and information overload. The author found in Nietzsche's work a way to reclaim his life from an endless stream of emails and media, particularly via the philosopher's belief that creation gives life purpose. "Ease, comfort, pleasure--they are all fine as far as they go, but they are certainly not life's point; creative exertion, even struggle, makes life matter," Anderson writes, contending that technology has bred contentment but not happiness because it has reduced opportunities for original thought. To forge a more meaningful life, the author recommends taking Nietzsche's advice to "sit as little as possible" and engage in outdoor physical activities, which foster presence. Anderson finds in Nietzsche's "hostility against new books" a prescription for deep-reading favorites rather than indiscriminately consuming digital and print media. Unconventional arguments (read less, forget more) and Anderson's facility in distilling the useful from Nietzsche's writings while tossing the "bad, cruel or juvenile" breathe some refreshing originality into the screen obsession discourse. This is a must-read for anyone overwhelmed by the Information Age. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A concise primer on how to live a meaningful life in our digital world. It is one of Nietzsche's unique attributes that books about him often carry the life force that animates his own works. This book is no exception. As the narrative opens, Anderson, deputy editor of Ars Technica and author of The Internet Police, writes about how he was stuck in an all-too-familiar digital rut. "Perhaps you have felt the same discomfort," he writes, "looking up from yet another spam email to wonder: What has become of the wonder and danger of life?" Looking for such wonder and danger, Anderson turned to Nietzsche, who offers a rousing and viable alternative to our screen-obsessed lives. So many writers get Nietzsche wrong, but Anderson reads him accurately and thoroughly, and he helpfully points out elements of his life and work that have been misunderstood or reached the level of myth. However, instead of full-on Nietzscheanism, Anderson recommends "thinking with him," which necessarily entails facing up to the philosopher's many shortcomings, especially his misogyny, as well as celebrating his many virtues. "Take Nietzsche as your guru and you will run into all sorts of problems," writes the author. "As one of my philosophy professors told me, 'If you're not offended by Nietzsche, you're not paying attention.'…Nietzsche was a flawed human being and a creature of his time." Thinking with also means going beyond. "If Nietzsche could see what many of us can't, perhaps we can see something Nietzsche couldn't"--that many of his goals "are often accomplished in community….[He] correctly diagnosed the need for joy in an industrializing world, where life and work felt commoditized and flattened." Anderson's vision is less heroic and iconoclastic than Nietzsche's, but it's more human and moderate and, therefore, more practical. Anderson gives us the philosopher we need for the moment at hand, and it is a welcome gift. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
