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Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for Our Times (Societas) Paperback – 1 Aug. 2017

by Patrick West (Author)
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Many books have sought to introduce the writings of the infamous and influential philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, but Get Over Yourself puts matters the other way round. Rather than simply explaining his thought, it instead asks: what would Nietzsche make of us? What would he think of our 21st-century, digital age? In our time of identity politics, therapy culture, 'safe spaces', religious fundamentalism, virtue-signalling, Twitterstorms, public emoting, ‘dumbing-down’, digital addiction and the politics of envy, the book introduces Nietzsche by putting the man in our shoes. Get Over Yourself both uses Nietzsche’s philosophy to understand our society, and takes our society to explain his philosophy.

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  1. Part of series
    Societas
  2. Print length
    130 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Societas
  5. Publication date
    1 Aug. 2017
  6. Dimensions
    13.49 x 1 x 21.01 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    1845409337
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1845409333
  9. See all details
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Product description

Review

'A Must Read. Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Times by Patrick West. Absolutely brilliant. Thought-provoking, witty & challenging.'

-- Austin Williams,Director,Future Cities Project ― Twitter

"A bracing exercise in imaginative philosophy, in which a cultural critic wonders what Nietzsche would have made of our narcissistic age."

― The Tablet, 'Recently Published' Published On: 2017-11-16

"The book shows how [Nietzsche] can act as a tonic and inspiration to live our lives to the full and without fear."

-- David Lorimer ― Paradigm Explorer Published On: 2017-03-01

Review

'Brilliant! I never thought I'd thoroughly enjoy ― let alone find inspirational and often funny ― a book on Nietzsche.'

-- Ruth Dudley Edwards,writer and broadcaster

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Societas; 1st edition (1 Aug. 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 130 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1845409337
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1845409333
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.49 x 1 x 21.01 cm
  • Customer reviews:

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
67 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book very enjoyable and interesting, with a good exposition of Nietzsche's work. They also say the writing style is generally well written and accurate.

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6 customers mention ‘Content’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's content insightful, useful, and succinct. They also say it's a good place to start if you want to know more about Nietzsche's philosophy.

"An original and brilliant analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy, in relation to the utter craziness of today's Western political ideologies, thought..." Read more

"This is a very enjoyable and interesting introduction to Nietzsche...." Read more

"...So a good exposition of Nietzsche’s work, seeing the philosopher a little bit more as a literary figure and an aphorist, than as a pukka philosopher...." Read more

"...quibble aside, I would recommend this book as an entertaining overview of Nietzsche’s thought, especially as it applies to today’s society." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Readability’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very enjoyable and interesting. They also say it's incredible.

"This is a very enjoyable and interesting introduction to Nietzsche...." Read more

"...Reasonably amusing, but entirely predictable...." Read more

"An enjoyable and instructive read. Good place to start if you want to know more (or indeed just something) about Nietzsche." Read more

"More than I expected. Galvanising. Incredible...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Writing style’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style well-written and accurate.

"...Well worth it, by this insightful and astute author. Book arrived in excellent condition from Amazon, as described." Read more

"In this clear and well-written account, Patrick West paints a credible portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche as a philosopher with astounding insights,..." Read more

"...It is generally well written and – for the most part – accurate...." Read more

"Beautifully written, well crafted, highly intelligent, we assume the worst of Nietzsche ,but all he wanted was our best, The great self healer,..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche Will Not be Cancelled.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2022
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An original and brilliant analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy, in relation to the utter craziness of today's Western political ideologies, thought and society in general. Well worth it, by this insightful and astute author. Book arrived in excellent condition from Amazon, as described.
2 people found this helpful
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T. Thorn
4.0 out of 5 stars Does get a little Boris Johnson pop-political at the end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2018
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This is a very enjoyable and interesting introduction to Nietzsche. However, like others have mentioned, the book slowly descends into clichéd pop political attacks. On the one hand noting how Nietzsche didn't exactly physically live dangerously, then criticising health and safety. One barbed sentence which stuck out was a moan about young people complaining about the EU referendum. This was contrasting with earlier comments on Nietzsche's distain for patriotism. Nevertheless I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Nietzsche.
7 people found this helpful
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Victor Smart
3.0 out of 5 stars An excellent Nietzsche primer swerves off to become a rather familiar polemic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 February 2018
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In this clear and well-written account, Patrick West paints a credible portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche as a philosopher with astounding insights, even if he wasn’t quite the ‘dynamite’ he considered himself to be. West’s account of Nietzsche’s work tends to the ‘sensible’ rather than the ‘spectacular’. Setting aside many of Nietzsche’s shriller claims for his own ideas, West emphasises the epigramatical nature of his writings and his love of paradoxical statements. Taking one of Nietzsche’s incendiary sentence on its own makes no sense. Rather we should heed Karl Jaspers’ advice that no one should accept any advice in Nietzsche’s work until finding another passage that contradicted it. Only then could the reader decide what he really meant.
I found West’s account of Nietzsche entirely convincing. Nietzsche is not a system maker, he is a critiquer and a debunker of philosophies, cultural values and prejudices – both others’ and his own. And West sets out a few home truths about Nietzsche which urgently need stating: that his misogyny is repugnant and that Nietzsche the writer deserves some ridicule – he was reckless in the way that he wrote and took no care to ensure that his words were not open to dangerous misuse.
So a good exposition of Nietzsche’s work, seeing the philosopher a little bit more as a literary figure and an aphorist, than as a pukka philosopher. And sympathetic even while doing a little debunking of Nietzsche’s own life that was a lot less heroic than the philosopher would have liked. If West had left it at that, we would have had an excellent introduction to Nietzsche. But of course West’s book is not simply that – it asks what Nietzsche would have made of us and our contemporary discourses.
At this point West rather loses his impact.
Most of the topics that West tackles are the hot debating points of the moment for the ‘outraged’ right. Familiar bogies of safe spaces, the practice of the politically correct telling opponents they must ‘check their privilege’ and cultural relativism all loom large. And there are quite a few mentions of Brexit.
Whereas the first half of the book is thoughtful, scholarly even, the tone of the second part is closer to that of an extended column penned for the Spectator or Spiked. Reasonably amusing, but entirely predictable. West concludes, surprise, surprise, that Nietzsche would not have condoned safe spaces and would have been dismissive of cultural relativism.
Maybe my disappointment reflects my expectations for the book. Recently the likes of Steven Pinker, Lionel Shriver and alt-right hero Jordan Peterson have bemoaned the descent of the West’s academic studies in the social sciences and the humanities into a facile post-modernism: everything must be viewed through the prism of unequal power dynamics and the hunt is on everywhere for evidence of racism, sexism, imperialism and so on.
Fault for this sad debasement in academic life is said to lie with frustrated Marxists, notably Foucault, who seized on Nietzsche’s work to peddle a view that society is oppressive and all knowledge, far from being objective, merely reflects powers structures. Thus Nietzsche’s nuanced, paradoxical and often playful insights were transformed into a crude fad that has itself become oppressive. West’s book could have gone into this far more, explaining how much truth there is in the notion that Foucault ‘repurposed’ Nietzsche in this way and maybe offer some insights into why post-modernism has had such runaway success in taking grip in academic circles. A topic worthy of a more rigorous analysis in some future book by West.
34 people found this helpful
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Alex .
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, well crafted, highly intelligent, we assume the worst of Nietzsche ,but all he wanted was our best, The great self healer, and self helper
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2019
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A book you can always return to over and over again,to inspire and to remind us of our modern day pitfalls.
2 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars More than I expected. Galvanising. Incredible.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 November 2019
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I came onto this directly from Conspicuous Compassion, Mr West’s other book. It’s inspired me to reevaluate what I’m doing and what I’m reading. Perhaps I’m reading too much philosophy and getting lost in a labyrinth of ideas when I should just be out there living. Living life to the full. Letting go of resentments and allowing myself to grow into what I chose to be/become. Practical and life affirming. Not
for those averse to antinomianism.
2 people found this helpful
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Dr. WD Ashton
4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining introduction to Nietzsche
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2024
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This is a useful and succinct introduction to the philosophy of Nietzsche – especially if you are new to his thought. It is generally well written and – for the most part – accurate. My only real criticism is that that it repeats the tired old canard about Nietzsche’s mental breakdown and eventual death, being due to tertiary syphilis (General Paralysis of the Insane). No one today seriously believes this diagnosis – least of all those neurologists who have examined the evidence.
In fact, Nietzsche most likely died from a condition called cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). This is essentially a form of dementia due to repeated strokes. Although very rare, it starts in the late 30s and often presents with migraines, which Nietzsche certainly suffered from. Importantly CADASIL is hereditary and would therefore fit with the death of Nietzsche’s father – who died aged 35.
That quibble aside, I would recommend this book as an entertaining overview of Nietzsche’s thought, especially as it applies to today’s society.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche 101
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 March 2018
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An enjoyable and instructive read. Good place to start if you want to know more (or indeed just something) about Nietzsche.
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B. McCartney
3.0 out of 5 stars Marred by nonexistent copy-editing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2019
West does a good job of rescuing Nietzsche from his misappropriation by the Nazis and other unsavoury admirers who have, unjustly, marred his reputation. But it's a great pity that the publishers have seen fit to economize by dispensing with the services of proof-readers or copy-editors -- the text is littered with mistakes which impede a smooth read. Also, the Bibliography is confusingly listed by title of work rather than author's name, which makes it hard, if not impossible, to track down a reference by author's name and date in the text.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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kathleen grip
5.0 out of 5 stars He enjoyed it.
Reviewed in the United States on 10 May 2018
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gift for my son...He enjoyed it.
One person found this helpful
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Multieverett
5.0 out of 5 stars Un libro imprescindible sobre Nietzsche
Reviewed in Spain on 2 October 2017
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Es un libro ameno y actualizado de como vería el filósofo la sociedad actual. Ademas desmonta muchos mitos sobre la vida y utilización de sus ideas
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