The first of his books to use aphorisms - though certainly not the last - Human, All Too Human breaks away from Friedrich Nietzsche's earlier book, The Birth of Tragedy, in both style and philosophy. Here we have this great writer's transition into the middle period of his career, with a strong emphasis on the metaphysical; in Nietzsche's opinion, in reference to the title of this volume, only through understanding can we overcome what makes us "all too human." Though we recognize the brilliance of this thought today, at the time of publication in 1908 (in English), he was, alas, poorly received.