|
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Brilliant, sarcastic... what more could you want?
Title: The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, volume 1
Author: Bertrand Russell
That's right, folks: volume ONE. Of three. You gotta love a guy who can write extensively about himself to the point where it fills three volumes.
I've recently become quite interested in Russell and am slowly meandering my way through other such fun books as Why I am Not a Christian and Unpopular Essays. Not exactly your standard light reading, so it's taking me a looooong time.
I never thought I would like philosophy. At all. But I adore Russell. He's funny, sarcastic, logical, blunt, brilliant, rational.... and rather open. Who else would include information about his youthful masturbatory tendencies in his own autobiography?
Apparently his early Christian upbringing left him with a little guilt in relation to such... activities.
It's also fascinating to discover the various brilliant minds with whom he associated. He had T.S. Eliot as a student. How much fun it would have been to be in his social group!
I must confess, I started this post back in February and forgot about it, so I can't remember much about the book anymore (which is why I made such a poor English major - I promptly forget most of what I read). I do recall that he wrote very openly about his unfaithfulness to his first wife.
But overall, Russell is an entertaining fellow, and hopefully soon I will pick up one of his books again. I don't think I will read the other 2 volumes of his autobiography, however.Labels: autobiography, Bertrand Russell, non-fiction, philosophy
posted by Kate at
3:29 PM
4 Comments:
re: paragraph the third: see: http://rageinthepage.blogspot.com/2007/05/ladies-ever-wonder-why-guys-are.html
6/13/2007 3:20 PM
When crashing on your floor last week, "Why I Am Not a Christian" was the book I swiped from your shelves to read before sleeping. I made it through about a paragraph before zonking out. But it looked interesting, and it's definitely going on my reading list! Russell does indeed sound like an intriguing fellow.
6/17/2007 10:15 PM
elizabeth - i didn't know you'd borrowed a book... not that i don't have them all out in full view or anything. i'm glad to hear russell proved to be a great sleep aid. :)
reyn - i like "funny, sarcastic, logical, blunt, brilliant, rational" people in general and tend to collect them as friends. i certainly would not want to be Russell's significant other. First of all, he's 6 feet under. Secondly, there's that minor problem of faithfulness. Thirdly, he's a bit of an arrogant bastard. Not really my type. But he is an entertaining individual with some interesting ideas.
6/18/2007 11:05 AM
That's me, sneaky in the ways of book thievery! Every book shelf, public or private, I view as my own personal property. It's a sickness, without a cure.
And I don't think I needed much in way of sleep aids...
6/18/2007 7:01 PM
|
|
