Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo (German: Die Eroberung des Nutzlosen) is a 2004 book by the German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It is Herzog's diaries from the troubled, three years long production of the 1982 film Fitzcarraldo.[1][2]
Kirkus Reviews called the book a "valuable historical record and a strangely stylish, hypnotic literary work".[1]Jonathan Levi of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it reveals Herzog "to be witty, compassionate, microscopically observant and -- your call -- either maniacally determined or admirably persevering".[2]
