Reddit reviews Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography

Reading order? According to Brian Leiter.... (Plenty of different suggestions in the comments.)

More reddit posts dealing with this:

http://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/21hh5l/friedrich_nietzsches_book_which_books_and_in_what/

http://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/22ftpk/in_what_order_to_read_nietzsche/

http://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/1hnbx7/which_one_of_nietzsches_books_should_i_read_first/

http://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/m6hsa/what_nietzsche_book_should_i_read_first/

And similar: http://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/krvhh/i_want_to_read_one_book_by_nietzsche_what_do_you/

Personally, I'm reading Julian Young's biography (Yes, it's worth it) of the man, and reading his works chronologically as I go along. Young writes about all his works, and many of the unpublished ones, and reading about what happened in his life at the time of writing really brings something more into the text when I read it. I've also read his Selected Letters alongside, which lets me get a feel for how he was as a person. His writings typically come off as polemical (and they're meant to be), but his letters show that he was more than some fire-spewing dragon. That goes for both his prose, and his general attitude. So far, I've read along chronologically with his Early Notebooks as well, but I'm still torn about whether that has been worth it, or "overkill"... Anyway, I can recommend this approach, although it takes time :)

If I didn't have the biography to guide me, I'd probably start with Genealogy of Morals or Beyond Good and Evil, and pan out from there.

If you’re interested in the evolution of Nietzsche’s ideas on truth over the course of his writings I would highly recommend this book. As for his intellectual development generally—as in his break with Wagner and Schopenhauer, and the influence of materialism and Reé etc—I would recommend you try a biography such as this one.

There is also a terrific new biography by Julian Young, a scholar of 19th and 20th century German philosophy, which I have yet to finish but will now dramatically recommend: Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography.