For nearly 55 years, he’s chronicled the weird, the wild and the obsessed … and with two new films coming out in April (Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman and James Franco; and Salt and Fire, featuring Michael Shannon and a supervolcano) and having just taught a filmmaking seminar in Cuba, Werner Herzog is showing no signs of slowing down. Over the course of a long, storied career – either 70 or 78 movies, not even Herzog knows for sure – the German filmmaker has explored the notion of “how far is too far?” in both fictional features and way-stranger-than-fiction documentaries. In honor of Erik Hedegaard’s profile of Herzog, and for those who simply know the director as the guy who lent his Teutonic baritone to both foul-mouthed children’s books and The Simpsons, we’ve put together a quick Herzog 101 primer: 10 essential movies that exemplify the genius and the madness that characterizes what’s still one of the most impressive filmographies in modern cinematic history.