Written in 1885, Thus Spoke Zarathustra was Nietzsche's personal favorite among all of his books; it has proven to be his most popular, having sold millions of copies in many different languages. In it, Nietzsche addresses the problem of how to live a fulfilling life in a world without meaning, in the aftermath of 'the death of God'.Nietzsche's solution lies in the idea of eternal recurrence which he calls 'the highest formula of affirmation that can ever be attained'. A successful engagement with this profoundly Dionysian idea enables us to choose clearly among the myriad possibilities that existence offers, and thereby to affirm every moment of our lives with others on this 'sacred' earth.This translation of Zarathustra (the first new English version for over forty years) conveys the musicality of the original German, and for the first time annotates the abundance of allusions to the Bible and other classic texts with which Nietzsche's masterpiece is in conversation.