Irvin D. Yalom's book "When Nietzsche Wept" relates a fictional meeting between the doctor Josef Breuer and the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and aims to teach the reader about the birth of psychoanalysis, neither of which may be of interest to you. Still, it's also a beautifully-made movie and, as an extra bonus, teaches you, almost at the very beginning, how to pronounce the great philosopher's name like a German --- stop at 1:50 and listen!
That's the thing with great Austrian/German thinkers: their writing is either obtuse or their names unpronouncable. I won't even try to tell you how to pronounce the name of Immanuel Kant lest I get banned from the internet, but pronouncing Sigmund Freud's name is easier to explain because his writing can be enjoyed - Freud = enjoyed; got it?
The book is full of memorable quotes. This one stands out for me:
"It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one's germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!"
I would like to quote it to anyone who ask me, "Do you have children?" It's so much easier than to explain that I come from a very dysfunctional family which was no role model for me; that I married relatively late; that my work and my financial circumstances never allowed me to "spew my germ into the future"; and anyway, who wants another Kraut? 😜
