The History of Western Philosophy

The History of Western Philosophy (Bertrand Russell)

The blurb on the back reads...

`A great philosopher's lucid and magisterial look at
the history of his own subject, wonderfully readable and enlightening.' The
Observer

First published in 1946, History of Western
Philosophy went on to become the best-selling philosophy book of the twentieth century. A dazzlingly ambitious project it remains to this day as the ulitmate introduction to Western Philosophy. Providing a sophisticated overview of the ideas that have perplexed people since time immemorial, Russell's History of Western Philosophy offered a cogent precis of its subject. Of course this can not be its only reason for its popularity. Russell's book was 'long on wit, intelligence and curmudgeonly scepticism', as The New York Times noted, and it is this, coupled with the sheer brilliance of its scholarship, that has made Russell's History of Western Philosophy one of the most important philosophical works of all time.
Bertrand Russel (1872 - 1970). The Leading British philosopher of the twentieth century, who made major contributions in the areas of logic and epistemology. Politically active and habitually outspoken, his ethical principles twice led to imprisonment.

This is a big book and is definitely not a casual read. I found myself sometimes reading pages and realising that they needed to be studied rather than read. Sometimes what he said flew straight over my head, and as I was reading rather than studying, I was not in the mood to fight for understanding. I also received many skeef looks, and a few comments on the book while reading on the aeroplane.

That being said... there were also large parts that were `easy' reading and I flew through. Half history, half philosophy, I did find it an interesting introduction to Philosophy. I know very little about the subject other than through popular knowledge and discussion. Most of the `philosophy' I grew up with was of the religious kind, although the churches I went to picked passages rather than ever working through the whole of the bible... and I never read it from cover to cover.

I first heard of Bertrand Russell in maths classes at university through his famous

Liar's paradox: "I always Lie"

Russell was a famous atheist who took on organised religion. One of his best known essays is entitled Why I Am Not A Christian'.

The book is heavy, but worth a read if you are interested in getting into the subject.

Here is a link to Amazon customer reviews on the book, for what it's worth.