Is Neitzche Hard?

[sven]

One of my best friends, a guy with a philosophy degree, recently told me I should read Neitzche. He says I'll love his work.

A few days ago, my girfriend, also with a philosophy degree, said I should read Neitzche. She says I'll probably love his work.

I just found a couple Neitzche books for free on Kindlle. I'll probably read them when I'm done with my current book...but I'm worried. Can you get the full meaning of his works without a teacher? I'm worried that the meaning will fly right over my head, I'll waste my time, and I'll miss the important things. Can you read Neitzche without constantly having to check Spark Notes?

Am I over-reacting, and it's actually all really straightforward?

It depends on how you read him. In some ways you could read Thus Spoke Zarathustra just like any other story. I happen to think that Nietzsche was a misogynistic looser who liked to talk the talk, but failed to walk the walk. With guys like him it is often more revealing to look at the man himself rather than the things he wrote. If you are an anti-theist I suppose you could get a lot out of reading him, however. Nietzsche seems to have had a huge bone to pick with religion and god; he wrote a lot of catchy stuff about that.

EDIT:

LOL from Wikipedia:

'Lou Andreas-Salomé (born Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé, Russian: Луиза Густавовна Саломе; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and author. Her diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with a broad array of distinguished western thinkers, including Nietzsche, Freud, and Rilke. She was also a major cunt, which is why she turned down Nietzsche, the greatest man who ever lived.'

Not my edit of that article!