Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are

A revelatory Alpine journey in the spirit of the great Romantic thinker Friedrich Nietzsche

Hiking with Nietzsche: Becoming Who You Are is a tale of two philosophical journeys—one made by John Kaag as an introspective young man of nineteen, the other 17 years later, in radically different circumstances: he is now a husband & father, & his wife & small child are in tow. Kaag sets off for the Swiss peaks above Sils Maria where Nietzsche wrote his landmark work Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Both of Kaag's journeys are made in search of the wisdom at the core of Nietzsche's philosophy, yet they deliver him to radically different interpretations and, more crucially, revelations about the human condition.

Just as Kaag's acclaimed debut, American Philosophy: A Love Story, seamlessly wove together his philosophical discoveries with his search for meaning, Hiking with Nietzsche is a fascinating exploration not only of Nietzsche’s ideals but of how his experience of living relates to us as individuals in the 21st century. Bold, intimate, & rich with insight, Hiking with Nietzsche is about defeating complacency, balancing sanity & madness, & coming to grips with the unobtainable. As Kaag hikes, alone or with his family, but always with Nietzsche, he recognizes that even slipping can be instructive. It is in the process of climbing, & through the inevitable missteps, that one has the chance, in Nietzsche’s words, to “become who you are." 

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John Kaag is the author of American Philosophy: A Love Story, which was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice & an NPR Best Book of the year, & Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are, which was also an NPR Best Book of the year. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, & many other publications. He is professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, & lives in Carlisle, Massachusetts. 

Twitter @JohnKaag