Russell: A Very Short Introduction

Russell was a huge influence on me when I was in high school, and is chiefly responsible for my career choice of eventually becoming a professional philosopher. So I can hardly be expected to be detached in commenting on a book attempting to cover Russell's life and philosophy. Still, Grayling pulls it off very nicely, giving the reader a good sense of the long and complex life of Bertrand Russell, his contributions to logic and mathematics, and his writings on social and moral issues (he was very politically active, and got arrested twice for anti-war activities). The last chapter is also -- I think -- a well balanced appraisal of Russell's overall contribution to modern philosophy, both directly and through the people he influenced (beginning of course with Wittgenstein, who was Russell's student). A must read if you are interested in philosophy and don't want to tackle technical commentaries on BR.

Grayling has achieved a good survey of Russel's Work in the realm of logic and philosophy as well as his contributions to social, moral, political and educational debates. The selling point for me is the fact that he does it with so much brevity and crispness. Without going into the gory details of his philosophical and logical ideas, Grayling still strikes a good balance and makes for some intersting reading.Highly recommended for people who'd like a quick introduction to Russel.

Bertrand Russell thought and wrote about many things from highly technical logic to popular questions of politics and education. In the lucid, elegant and beautifully accurate prose for which he is well known (see his other books and his writings for the Financial Times Book Review, Prospect magazine, and elsewhere), the British philosopher A. C. Grayling gives a concise survey of Russell's entire range of thought. In the biographical first chapter Russell's life and works are summarised; in the next two chapters his achievements in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and general philosophy are described with succinctness and clarity; and in the final chapters his popular and political thought is explained, ending with an assessment of his achievement as one of the century's greatest thinkers. Because Russell is a founding figure in analytic philosophy, an understanding of his work provides an introduction to contemporary debates in philosophy also, so this little book is not only a highly pleasurable "good read", but an education in the basics of philosophy.