7 h 10 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 10 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your deepest beliefs about right and wrong hide wishes you have never questioned?
In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche challenges the way Europe thinks about truth, God, morality and the human mind. He turns his questions on philosophers themselves. Does their search for truth rest on reason alone, or do personal wishes and fears shape the answers they defend?
Rather than build a single argument step by step, Nietzsche moves through short essays, jokes, warnings and sharp observations. He explores the origins of morals, the costs of faith and the possibility of a free spirit: a thinker willing to break with inherited beliefs and experiment with ideas.
What you’ll discover
- The wishes behind reason Look beneath philosophical arguments to question what their authors want to be true.
- A mind that experiments Meet Nietzsche’s free spirit, who dares to loosen the hold of inherited beliefs.
- Morality with a history Explore his challenge to the idea that right and wrong remain fixed forever.
- Virtues under close scrutiny Follow his questions about compassion, humanity and tolerance, and what these virtues may conceal.
- Short sayings, sharp questions Pause over maxims that turn large questions into brief encounters with your own assumptions.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy bold arguments, sharp sayings and questions about where values come from will find plenty here. It suits anyone curious about psychology, religion, morality and culture.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Question the value of truth itself
- Every philosophy is a hidden confession
- The self, the will and the soul are constructions
- Independent minds wear masks and choose solitude
- Religion shapes people, for better and worse
- Short sayings catch what arguments miss
- Morals are a long constraint born of fear
- Collecting facts differs from setting human aims
- Modern virtues, cruelty and the good European
- Master morality and slave morality shape Europe's values
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Beyond Good and Evil
by Friedrich Nietzsche · 1886
A philosopher asks why anyone wants truth at all, and what might lie beyond good and evil.
Challenging5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Why do you want the truth? Why not untruth, or uncertainty, or even ignorance?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Question the value of truth itself
Nietzsche begins by turning philosophy on itself. Philosophers praise the will to truth, but he asks what that will is worth. Why not untruth, uncertainty or ignorance?
Metaphysicians in every age believe in opposites of value. They assume truth cannot grow out of error, or an unselfish deed out of selfishness. So the highest things must come from another realm. Nietzsche calls this a prejudice, not a proof. Perhaps the good things we honor are woven together with the bad things we condemn.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1886
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/beyond-good-and-evil.
Nietzsche, F. (2026). Beyond good and evil. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beyond-good-and-evil (Original work published 1886)
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beyond-good-and-evil.
@book{nietzsche2026beyond,
author = {Nietzsche, Friedrich},
title = {Beyond Good and Evil},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/beyond-good-and-evil},
note = {First published 1886}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Beyond Good and Evil
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Beyond Good and Evil about?
It questions the idea that good and evil are fixed opposites. Nietzsche examines philosophers, religion, morals, scholars and nations, asking what instincts and needs lie behind their beliefs, and proposes a new kind of thinker who creates values.
What does beyond good and evil mean?
It means looking at moral judgments from outside, as products of history and psychology. Nietzsche does not mean having no values. He asks where the labels good and evil came from and whom they serve.
What is the will to power in Nietzsche?
It is his name for the basic drive of living things to discharge strength, grow and command. He argues that this drive explains more than self-preservation does, from the workings of the will to the shape of philosophies.
The author
Friedrich Nietzsche
1844–1900 · German philosopher
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher born in Röcken. He taught at the University of Basel in Switzerland from 1869 to 1879. He wrote The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1885), and Beyond Good and Evil (1886). He died in Weimar, Germany.
More by Friedrich Nietzsche
All 10 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
