Product Description

Bertrand Russell was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century and his autobiography is one of the most compelling and vivid ever written. This compact paperback edition contains an introduction by Michael Foot.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98817 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 760 pages

Evening Standard
One of the truly great autobiographies of all time

Review
'Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.' - Bertrand Russell, Autobiography

'Here is an epic, written with all the combined passion and clarity of which he was the master. Both the warnings of calamity and the recoveries of hope ring across the intervening years.' - Michael Foot, Introduction

'[He] believed that he derived at least part of his inspiration from the fountain of eighteenth-century rationalism and ... so often, when he was on the `verge of despair', he could still find the honest words to restore his faith in the human race.' - Michael Foot, Introduction

Witty, invigorating, marvellously candid and generous in spirit. - Times Literary Supplement

'One of the truly great autobiographies of all time.' - Evening Standard

'A marvel of intelligence, lucidity and with: a marvel of undeviating concern for his fellow humans.' - Philip Toynbee

'A marvel of intelligence, lucidity and wit; a marvel of undeviating concern for his fellow humans.' - Philip Toynbee

'He is frank about himself - his acts, thoughts and emotions - as Pepys or Rousseau, and the book is, therefore, like theirs, an extraordinary psychological revelation.' - Leonard Woolf

Among the most glittering literary products of the decade.' - Bernard Levin

From the Back Cover
`Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.'
Bertrand Russell, Autobiography
Thinker, philosopher, mathematician, educational innovator, champion of intellectual, social and sexual freedom and campaigner for peace and civil and human rights, Bertrand Russell was one of the most complex and controversial figures of the twentieth century and one of the greatest philosophers of all time. His life was one of incredible variety and richness. In keeping with his character and beliefs, his life story is told here with vigour, disarming charm and total frankness. His childhood was bitterly lonely but usually rich in experience. His adult life was spent grappling with his own beliefs and the problems of the universe and mankind, as well as in pursuit of love and happiness which resulted in five marriages. The many storms and episodes of his life are recalled with vivid freshness and clarity which characterised all his writing.