Product Description

The first volume of a biography of Bertrand Russell, covering the first 50 years of his life: his childhood, his early works including "Principia Mathematica", his relationships with prominent contemporaries, his bizarre sex life, his conscientious objection in World War I, and his visits abroad.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #422888 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 600 pages

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, exhaustive story of first half of his life.
Bertrand Russell worked hard, wrote fast and lived long. This makes him a challenging subject for biography, even before you take account of the fact that he was full of contradictions in his personal life, in his correspondence and in his published writing. Most biographers of Russell have ignored specific, particular but important aspects of this man's character to fit him into their book, but I think Monk has succeeded in presenting the whole man: his greatness and his smallness.

It's all here: the passion for mathematics; the passion for Ottoline Morrell; the rollercoaster intellectual ride with Wittgenstein; the wonderful honesty in academic life; the shocking dishonesty in personal life; the letters that make you change your mind every ten pages - do you admire this man, or detest him? And this volume covers just half his life!

If this biography has a 'Unique Selling Point', it is that Monk is prepared to let the reader have a go at understanding Russell's mathematical philosophy, which is where his true genius lies. Not only is this fascinating in its own right (at any rate for those of the right disposition!), we see how his philosophical progress and discoveries affected, and were affected by, his relations with other people - his social life. Even the most abstract realms of academia aren't immune to the effects of people's lives, emotions and actions.

I can think of no greater compliment to pay to this book than that it is precisely the volume I was hoping for once I had read Monk's biography of Wittgenstein, The Duty Of Genius. The Spirit Of Solitude is an exciting read, and pleasurable. (Volume II is similarly well-written, and contains much more about those episodes of Russell's life which are best known to the general public, but it is a much sadder book and does Russell little credit. If you want to know how great a man can be as well as how petty, stick to Volume I.)