The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell读后感精选

《The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell》是一本由Bertrand Russell著作，Routledge出版的Paperback图书，本书定价：USD 45.95，页数：760，特精心收集的读后感，希望对大家能有帮助。

《The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell》读后感(一)：什么叫做吃力不讨好

Russell和Whitehead的Principia在当代思想史的评价看来简直是吃力不讨好的典范。罗素从1899年开始想这样一个project，到1910年写完，同一个project写了整整11年。而如今我们记得的都是他失败的地方——首先是1903年的set theoretical paradox，其次是1910年type theory的繁琐和缺陷，当然还有自始至终人文社论对这种柏拉图式的数理模型的敌视和耻笑：从逻辑证明数字2的存在花了多少页啦，数学历史上根本不是这样发展的啦等等。所有人都在期盼或试图证明这一宏伟计划的失败。但是失败与否我想罗素本身已经很清楚，或者已经不在乎了。他的回忆录中记载的是每一个深夜码论文码到绝望的博士生都会经历过的体验：从1902年到1910年一直在苦闷中坚持工作，永远不知道究竟有没有走出隧道的一天。他说他站在牛津附近的桥上看脚下的火车驶过，幻想第二天就卧轨，然而第二天却默默地回去工作。每天出门都担惊受怕房子起火，把手稿都烧光。当principia终于写完了，还得用一辆四轮车运去发表，出版社说印书要600镑，一半损失可以印刷方承担，另一半还得自己掏钱。最后royal society资助了200镑，两作者各自还掏了50镑。“超了《失乐园》的纪录。“写完以后再也无法从事关于数理逻辑的思考。

我一直是罗素的迷妹，这个喧嚣的世界里还有多少真诚的声音？但我不相信愿意花十多年的精力， 去完成这样一本极其艰涩复杂的书中的每一个论证，拖着一马车沉重的手稿去印书，完了还得自己掏钱——就为了那么一个柏拉图的理想——这样一个人会去推崇任何虚妄轻浮的事物。很难想象当今这个运作模式越来越商业化（也许一直如此），各学科由于政治原因不相往来的学界，还能不能产生这种呕心沥血的著作。有时我想罗素和那些计算机理论的先辈们看到他们毕生心血最后就是贡献给了亿万网民逛淘宝和刷朋友圈打游戏时那几分钟的狂热，和在这几分钟狂热中诞生的叹为观止的资本，不知道他们会怎么想。不过我想他们应该不在乎吧，毕竟这些人毕生都在无视世界的喧嚣，十几年艰苦工作仅仅为了解答一个悖论，用个体可悲的肉身去逼近永恒……这就是我们这些后辈崇敬的来源吧。

《The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell》读后感(二)：读罗素自传

这篇可能不能算是书评，只是我的一些感想吧，也许不能给没看过此书的人什么参考。但是想吼一声…… 我实在太敬仰罗素这个人了，如果不是因为有罗素这样一个人，我会觉得自己决不会赞同、敬仰、崇拜一个人到这种地步。

书中不少地方由于历史和文化背景不熟悉而没有理解，大量引用书信、日记、演讲稿等内容我也是跳过了很多。就这样，我终于读完了这本罗素自传（的正文）。

罗素这个人物，我最初是因为wxb很喜欢引用他而引起了兴趣（想想那几乎已经是十年以前了啊）。罗素的文章其实很常见于各类英文essay的选集中，我第一次就是在高中图书馆看到了一本英文教材中他的一篇文章而被他的文风给吸引了。而这几年来，我越了解他，越对他赞叹不已。他的一生经历之丰富，简直不是渺小的人类能拥有的一生。数理哲学家、受欢迎的作家、积极的改革倡导者和社会活动家，他的多重身份中的任意一个，都足以使一个人在人类的历史中留下痕迹。

罗素于1872年出生在英国的清教徒贵族家庭。他的祖父曾经是英国首相。他父亲家庭里的成员普遍性格内敛，而母亲家庭的人则比较活泼勇敢。我感觉他很好的把这两种性格结合了起来。由于父母早逝，他在祖母带领的严格的清教徒家庭里渡过了孤独的童年。我总怀疑清教徒式的严格、安宁朴素的生活其实还是比较有利于儿童智力的发展的，但也很可能使孩子性格懦弱，喜欢因循守旧。据说罗素本人非常痛恨清教徒式的生活。

小时候哥哥给他讲解平面几何的时候，他就无法接受公理。我非常欣赏这种怀疑论的态度。当时罗素以为，想要在这个世界上找到确定性，最有可能的地方就是数学，因此十八岁的时候，他进入了剑桥学习数学。由于在大学里认识了各种人，他年轻时的害羞性格完全没有了，渐渐转变为日后我们熟悉的犀利的作家、机智的演讲者。此后的很长一段时期，他的精力集中于比较学术的领域：数学、逻辑学、哲学和经济学。在这本罗素自己写的自传中，并没有对学术着很多笔墨。这一点给我留下一个印象也就是对他来说，学术其实也只是满足他感情需求的一件事。大战前，他这样的学者过着很安宁的生活，另外他又来自比较高层的家庭，接触过各种优秀的人物，也有能力去国外旅行。他爱上了比自己年长五岁的美国女性Alys，不顾家人反对和她结了婚。虽然他家族的朋友都是一些比较优秀的人，但是显然也有很多缺点。他爱上Alys很大的原因是因为在这个背景很不同的美国女性身上，他看到了很多和自己家族不一样的地方，很多自己家族和朋友们根深蒂固的偏见，在她身上没有。我感觉非常非常能理解这种感情。

第一次婚姻中，他一直过着比较“学者”的生活。就是在这段时期，他和原来在剑桥的老师Whitehead合著了《数学原理》。写这本书也是他希望通过数学找到确定的知识的最大的一次努力。这个努力也因为“罗素悖论”的发现而告失败。对于数学和逻辑学的很多地方，我不敢说我真正理解，但是我的理解是，罗素出发去找确定性，却证明了知识的不确定性。

在自传中，罗素总结道，写完数学原理之后他的智力再也没有恢复到过那时的水平。这让我对自己很担心，因为如果我的智力顶点就是现在的话，我会很失望的。好在还有四十岁证明了费马最后定理的数学家可以用来避免自己过早对人生采取一种放弃的态度。（不过……作为普通人也许不能和他们类比吧……）其实罗素直到去世前，都保持着敏锐的思维，一直在工作。年轻的时候由于各方面条件允许，他投身于了纯学术领域并取得了很大的成就。而这之后，他不仅过了智力高峰，而且还不能将自己的全部智力都投入学术，他选择了去做别的事情。很多罗素的批评者认为他过于强调理智，但其实他自己的人生选择大多数都是依靠感情的。

其实，也许智力和智慧的联系并不像我们通常认为的那样紧密。年轻的罗素显然没有日后那样的智慧。人生经历摆在那里，年轻人无法体会。虽然罗素和Alys的婚姻持续了很久，但在数学原理之后，他就发现对她的爱不在了。这种感情加上发现知识的不确定性，在罗素身上引起了很大的痛苦。我一直很同意罗素的一个观点：不幸的人生是可以用一定的办法避免的，只要你有充足的智力和精力，一种健康的生活态度会给你带来很多幸福；而那些不幸的人，他们的不行，肯定有很多外界的因素存在，但也肯定有他们自己对待生活的不明智因素。我一直相信，天生身体健康，智力超群，家庭又比较有社会地位，接触的人都很优秀，因此罗素本人的生活是健康幸福的。但是我以前一直不明白的是，他对不幸的思想，也理解得很透彻，似乎只有亲身经历过的人才会明白。在读这本自传的时候，我似乎明白了，要做到对人类痛苦的理解，罗素不仅靠着自己的强大理解力和同情心，他自己也经常陷于极端痛苦中——只有一个有智力有integrity的人才会有这样的痛苦。我不是想要赞扬这样的痛苦，我深信没有痛苦值得赞扬。

离开数学的罗素注意到了经济和政治。第一次世界大战深深地打击了他。在这之前，他的注意力完全在最美好的事物上：知识和美。他认识的人也多数是学者或贵族。这些社会‘精英’们完全没想到，文明的欧洲，居然会采取如此野蛮的行动。一战彻底改变了罗素对人性的看法。本来，他相信理性，相信即使是不幸的人，如果你向他展示美好的事物他还是会理解，会向往。但是一战后，他发现，人性还有悲惨的破坏性的一面。等到大家的这方面性格都被唤起了，要用理智来劝阻这些人是无比困难的。即便如此，罗素还是投入了effort和当时的和平主义者合作。虽然他心里充满了绝望，对他来说他那样做也不是为了能达到什么目的，而是为了展示世界上还有有理智的常人存在。另外，他的观点也从没有和正统的和平主义者一致，但是他还是尽所能和他们合作，写一些宣传的文章。他的影响力渐渐引起了政府的注意，最终因为一篇反对征兵的小册子，他被判入狱。如今看来，这也是罗素丰富的一生中一个有趣的篇章。（后来，在八十高龄的时候，罗素再次入狱……后面会讲到。）

wxb在一篇文中提到过，尽管罗素这样的“大贤”（实在不知如何替换这个词以更适合我的语境）对人类疯狂的破坏欲有很多精辟的阐释，但是由于wxb本人生活在一种叫嚣的宣传之中，他觉得自己对那种疯狂有更深的体会。（虽然想到wxb当年的处境再想想自己，没脸抱怨如今的环境不好，但是……）我简直也想说这句话。我们这里，一提到“不同”这个词，就完全没有了存在的理由。我很想知道wxb经常引用的“所谓参差多态，乃是幸福本源 ”这句话出自哪里，反正我目前还没有在罗素的文里读到过……我认为即使是在公开宣布追求民 主的国家，理解这一点的人也很少。

一战过后，对西方文明无比失望的罗素，随着一个考察团访问了苏俄。他希望从布尔什维克（<-这个不会是关键字吧？还是加空格保险起见～最近风声比较紧）那里看到人类的希望。结果，他只看到了官僚、僵硬的国家至上主义，完全没有了所有他认为的文明和美好的特征，军事化也使得国力花在了武装上，百姓生活普遍非常艰苦。没有创造力，没有生命，没有美好的人性。整本自传，罗素的口吻一直是一种坦诚和实事求是的笔调。而这一段里，罗素的笔调有点讽刺。他说：有一天，三个稻草人来拜访我……原来他们都是诗人，因此他们都过不下去了，其中一个被政府 逼他们写政 治方面的颂歌，结果写不出诗了。罗素还说，在苏俄看到的数学家，都过着比伦敦的乞丐还要悲惨的生活。

从俄国回来后，罗素收到了北京大学的邀请。他当时的女友Dora也是个喜欢领教不同事物的人，她愿意去中国，于是，罗素就开始了他为期一年的中国之行。我曾经读到过一种说法，说中国人普遍认为英国人能理解中国，虽然他们也是‘列强’之一，那是因为罗素能理解中国。虽然我认为那种说法很有偏颇，但是我完全能理解其中的正确之处。我感觉对于传统中国，罗素比很多现在的中国人更加理解。我感觉这其中有两点原因，一是传统中国的很多地方，和英国贵族的确有相似之处：讲究礼仪，重面子，尽管有点虚伪的嫌疑；第二个原因是，罗素有一种open mind，时刻准备理解新的东西，从中体会出更多的东西。尽管当时中国卫生条件、居住条件差，罗素在中国期间还曾的病奄奄一息，有家日本报纸还登出了他的讣告。但是，罗素非常喜爱中国。中国人向来无比尊敬学者，而且，我怀疑那个年代没有很多外国人居住在中国，人们对他还是当作贵宾，非常优待的。但是这些都不是主要问题，罗素在传统的中国人身上，看到了他喜爱的方面。中国人不像西方人那样好战，而喜欢幸福的小小生活。中国人喜欢小小的玩笑，很多中国人性格里都带有艺术家的成分。虽然，我毫不怀疑，罗素对于中国人的缺点也是同样敏锐地观察到了——这些应该会在那本Problems of China中提到。罗素后来曾把那本书寄给毛泽东，不知他老人家有没有费神看。但是……罗素没有预言到——尽管我感觉他是感到了那种可能性，但是他没有提那样的语言——中国会走向cp，在自传中，他说他的朋友Joseph Conrad对中国的语言比较准确。

我有时候感觉其实罗素是个很随性的人。比如说他非常厌恶日本。他访问日本的时候一直受到记者围追堵截。有些地方我读着忍不住放声大笑：他们在一个房间里，随口说一句话，就会听到隔壁房间里打字机的声音响起。还有，他和两位女伴在公交车上站着，一个日本人给他让座，他把座位让给了Dora，然后另一个日本人站起来让座，他又把座位让给了另一位女伴，这时，车厢里的人都被他的un- manly举动震惊了。我感觉，民族性是有一定道理的，尽管我一直非常反对先把人分类再评论。对于有潜力变得非常军事化的国家，罗素有一种感情上的排斥。

罗素的第二任妻子Dora给他带来了儿女。（他的大儿子和女儿都根据他了父母命名了，他们叫John和Kate。^^）他们居住在康沃尔海边，过了一段安宁的生活。随着儿女的成长，罗素开始关心儿童的教育。他无法接受当时任何学校的教育，后来决定和Dora一起办了一所先锋学校，以实行他们的教育观。这所学校几乎无法靠自己盈利，罗素不得不到处讲学，不停写书来维持学校的运作。如果我记得没错的话，Conquest of Happiness就是这个时候写的，目的是为了挣钱的书。此外，他也一直积极参与学校的管理。但是，由于很多方面的原因，学校最终是办不下去了。他们吸纳了很多问题儿童，因此本来就很难管理。而他们的教职员工有些也无法彻底贯彻他们的教育理念。此外，媒体也给这所学校很多不理解很纠葛。随着第二次婚姻的结束，罗素也离开了这所学校。

第二次世界大战的时候，罗素和他的儿女在美国。一开始是应讲学邀请去的。后来，美国的大学中爆发了一场排斥罗素的风潮，这些主要是由于罗素对于儿童教育和婚姻道德的观点引发的。有位女士还将纽约的一所大学告上法庭要求他们解除罗素的教职，称罗素的观点会毒害她就读于该校的女儿。在回忆这件事的时候，罗素很委屈地希望，他们如果直接告他就好了，那他就有机会为自己辩护，可是那学校还拒绝罗素出庭。于是突然间，美国没有一所学校愿意给罗素提供工作，而这时大战爆发，罗素也无法回国。他陷入了经济的危机。罗素最挣钱的一本书——西方哲学史——就是这个时候写的。这本书本来是为一位美国的基金会组织的演讲写的，结果该基金会主席是个反复无常脾气古怪的人，先逆社会风潮请罗素来讲课，后来又一时兴起撕毁了聘用合约，好在罗素从该合约的被违反得到了赔偿金，后又写出了西方哲学史，终于摆脱了经济困境。

二战过后，罗素终于回到了英国，享受了一段受尊敬的生活。他获得了种种荣誉，包括诺贝尔文学奖和英国国王授予的某个奖/称号。剑桥也重新邀请他回去讲学。他也比以前更加知名了。有时候在旅途中也会被人认出来。在被国王授予（某个勋章/称号）的时候，他感到很高兴，因为虽然他一直和政府有冲突，但是他一直很热爱英国。而且国王不得不把奖章授予一个在他的打牢里蹲过的人这件事也让人感到有趣。尽管我也很热爱英国，但是罗素身上的强烈爱国之心一直是我无法理解的。我想可能是因为我看到太多建立在对别的国家的仇恨之上的爱 国，还有看到太多太多以爱 国这顶大帽子来压 制思想使得真正的讨论成为不可能的任务，使我再也无法真正体会那种感情。（我还是相信罗素是对的，即使我无法体会或理解……）

罗素是最早理解相对论的人之一。他完全能理解原子弹这项技术的破坏性。在接下去的岁月里，罗素一直在为国际和平事务工作。首先是1965年的罗素-爱因斯坦宣言。罗素非常想让人看到，如果不采取行动，任凭政治力量和被煽动的民众自己的决定，人是有可能会用核武器毁灭自己的。他很早就认识到人不仅能从建设中体验到美好的快乐，更愿意从毁灭中获得强烈的快感。他集结了全世界各地的很多科学家的签名。他的目的是要征集不同文化背景，不同政体和意识形态下的科学家的签名，以展示人类是能超越那些浅薄粗暴的划分达到共识的。他得到了西欧科学家的支持，也得到了苏俄科学家的签名，但是寄往中国的信件不知为何没有回音。而媒体显然对爱因斯坦的签名印象最深刻。在这份宣言上签字，几乎是爱因斯坦生前最后的对外书信。（罗素-爱因斯坦宣言的宣读的日期，正好是在我生日前的三十年 ^^<-此人真无聊）

此后罗素积极参与和策划解除核武器运动的集会、演讲等活动，其中也遇到了各种各样的困难。政府阻挠集会，但是越阻挠，显然按罗素的性格，他会越起劲。而他在八十高龄再次入狱，其中的部分原因也在于希望通过入狱事件扩大他们的影响力，获得更多的同情心。我有点感觉罗素在次也玩起了政治手腕。

后来罗素又和解除核武器运动的一些核心人员产生了分歧。但是他的社会活动完全没有停止。他一直支持民众的 conscious disobdience。他成立了罗素和平基金会，特别支持各种受到不公正待遇的人。在八九十岁的时候，罗素主要的工作就是建立和维持基金会。该基金会如今仍然在运作。（我最近在他们的网站上买了书。）我感到，任何知道罗素的名字，并且理解赞同他的观点然后为以他名字命名的基金会工作的人，都非常值得相信。我很高兴罗素去世后还有这样一个基金会存在。罗素一直不是一个以扩大自己影响力为目的的人。但是他的影响力还是深刻的。

罗素在98岁的时候去世。1872年到1970年，这整个世纪，世界上发生了轰轰烈烈的大变化，而他也都参与了那些变化。他在18世纪末期，这最后的黄金时代度过了年轻的时光，那个时代科学急速发展，整个欧洲一片欣欣向荣，而他最初，也正是在学术界起步。他经历了两次世界大战，在和他一样的老一辈人都退居二线的时候，他仍然生机勃勃地工作着。大战之后世界陷入冷战，他也在其中积极地活动着。这本自传的最后一部的开头，罗素说到，他认为这个世界如今在走下坡路，因为相比人类所拥有的科技，人类的智慧太不够了。罗素决不是一个守旧的人，因此他说出这样的话，让人更加感到寒心。

我去读这本书的目的，是想更加了解一下这个让我着迷的人物。我想，正如他的一位学生为他写的传记的标题说的那样，他的令人着迷之处，在于他是个非常热烈的怀疑者，而且，他一直有足够的精力和智力去怀疑去热爱。这，也许是人类能采取的最好的态度了？不过我拒绝认为这方面能有个‘最’字存在。

《The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell》读后感(三)：对罗素自传的一些想法

What do I think of Russell's Autobiography？

by HartmannJG52 a.k.a. 哈特曼

For Chinese readers, Russell is well known for his work "A history of western philosophy". But the work that brought him the earliest fame is "Principia mathematica". In fact, Russell had extended his insights into many spectrums, which would be later revealed.

Intention to summarize the autobiography is fruitless, because Russell wrote it in such a plain language that the book's main themes are quite elusive. The word "plain" is a euphemism for "unsophisticated language but scattered thesis". Nonetheless, I have spotted some very interesting and furtive aspects of Russell which average readers might be engrossed in.

****Childhood****

Russell was brought up by his grandmother, a matron with Victorian ethics. Unlike most of children, he lived his childhood mostly in solitude and loneliness, which, in my opinion, was due to his squeamish nature.

"Throughout the greater part of my childhood, the most important hours of my day were those that I spent alone in the garden, and the most vivid part of my existence was solitary. I seldom mentioned my more serious thoughts to others, and when I did I regretted it.” - It seemed to me that Russell found tranquility in the sanctuary of nature.

With such increasing sense of loneliness and of despair of ever meeting anyone with whom he could talk, Russell was rescued by nature and books and later math from complete despondency. In many cases, such as this one, it's perhaps without dubious to say that childhood interest development is often a harbinger of future success.

At first, Russell's complete interest and source of happiness and alacrity derived from nothing other than math. It became a genuine attraction to Russell that while his grandmother was concerned about his overworking and kept his hours short, Russell work in his bedroom on the sly with one candle. With Indigence coupled with interest, Russell later became very adroit at math. Next to math he loved history. Once Russell discovered that he was intelligent, he determined to achieve something of intellectual importance if it should be at all possible, and throughout his youth his ambition became so implacable that he let nothing whatever stand in its way. And to my surprise, such overwork and ambition were never excruciating and made Russell fretful.

His family also had laudable and profound influences on him. His grandmother was of great importance that she had in molding his outlook on life. She gave Russell a Bible with her favorite texts written on the fly-leaf: "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." Her emphasis upon this text leads Russell in later life to be not afraid of belonging to small minorities. His uncle had considerable knowledge about science. Pertinent conversation with him about updated science did a great deal to stimulate his scientific interests. His Aunt used to teach him English Constitutional history. Russell’s tutors and governors were voluble and competent in several languages, such as German, French and Italian.

****Sex Drive and Adolescence****

As Russell reached puberty, His incipient sexual desire caused him to consider himself as nefarious. He started to conduct introspection on himself, and realized that introspection is good because it is the only method of obtaining a great deal of important knowledge; it ought not to be condemned as sordid.

His rising and unsatisfied sex drives given rise to a great intensity of idealistic feeling, which he did not at that time recognized as sexual in origin. He became intensely steeped in the beauty of sunsets and clouds, and trees in spring and autumn with an interest that was of a very sentimental ilk, "owing to the fact that it was an unconscious sublimation of sex, and an attempt to escape from reality. "

As aesthetics being ubiquitous from his eyes, he started to engage other aesthetic objects - poetry, religion and philosophy works. He perused Mill's political economy and logic, and made elaborate abstract of them; he studied Carlyle with a good deal of interest, but with a complete repudiation of his excruciating and purely sentimental arguments in favour of religion. He read Gibbon, and Milman's History of Christianity, and Gulliver's Travels unexpurgated.

His sexual development was not precocious, but his view of intimate relationships started to appear of maturity. Russell believed that sex without deep love is beastly. Since his view was in irreconcilable conflict with the majority who disparaged such matured attitude, he desisted to speak up, recoiled and retired to himself, and had as little to do with the others as possible.

Throughout his time at Southgate high school, he was very much steeped in politics and economics. He perused Mill's Political Economy, which he accepted Mill’s arguments forthwith and completely; also Herbert Spencer, who seemed to him too inexorable in The Man Versus the State, although Russell broadly concurred with his bias.

He then read about Henry George, which convinced him that land nationalization would quell underlying issues raised by Socialists and secure all the benefits that they hoped to obtain from Socialism, and continued to hold this view until the war of 1914-1918. On Utilitarianism and metaphysics, his salient grandmother kindly discouraged him from the pursuit of them, since they would have wasted his talents.

****LIfe in Cambridge****

Cambridge was integral in his life through the fact that it gave him friends, and experience of intellectual discussion, but it was not important through the interminable drudgery of actural academic instruction.

Philosophy evolution of Russell was worthy of mentioning. Russell came into Cambridge with only knowledge of John Mill. Under the influence of his friend McTaggart, he soon became a Hegelian, but only for a short period of time. Then he derided both Kant and Hegel. (I don't really concur with Russell on this part...)

The greatest happiness and solace from unsociability that Russell had obtained in his time at Cambridge was the connection with a body whom its members knew as "The Society", but which outsiders, if they knew of it, called "The Apostles". It's a small discussion group, eschewing the mass, where top intellectuals of this university would secretly discuss all manner of things, no doubt with a certain immaturity, but with a detachment and interest scarcely possible in later life. He was inclined to think that the best intelligence of Cambridge has been notable in this respect.

In Cambridge, Russell acknowledgement of economic theories has been in effect questionable and his judgments had been inadvertent. He articulated that it seemed to him to be owing to Keynes that Britain had not suffered from large-scale unemployment in the Great Depression. He would go further and say that if Keynes theories had been adopted by financial authorities throughout the world the great depression would not have occurred.

In my opinion, that is a brash and perfunctory judgment that ignored crucial nuance of conditions and assumptions of different economic theories. The rapidly changing nature of nuance will eventually oust economic theories that once served as effective premonition in only one historical era or eras.

****Marriage****

Russell initially preferred 姐弟恋, and married with Alys who was 5 years older than him. But after a few years, he suddenly found his affection to the girl that he wished to be most intellectual and lovely had desisted. His feeling of love towards her was gone, and he made it clear to her.

Although Russell remarried another two times, he seemed never to quell the pursuit of love and never succumb to loneliness. For Russell, paucity of love was tantamount to a bleeding laceration which would drain his alacrity.

****Parental Thoughts****

For Russell, the feeling of being parent was very complex.

“First and foremost, it is sheer animal affection and delight in watching what is charming in the ways of the young. Then, there was responsibility. Then there is an egoistic element, which is very dangerous: the hope that one's children may succeed where one has failed, that they may carry on one's work when death or senility puts an end ot one's own efforts , and, in any case, that they will supply a biological escape from death, making one's own life part of the whole stream, and not a mere stagnant puddle without any overflow into the future. “

****Works and Books****

Books that brought Russell fame:

"Principia Mathematica"

"A History of Western Philosphy"

Books that brought him financial security:

"Marriage and Morals"

"The Conquest of Happiness"

"A History of Western Philosphy"

But I found “Power, a new social analysis” as the most interesting.

The book was intended as a repudiation both of Marx and of the classical economists, not on a point of detail, but on the fundamental assumptions that they shared. Russell argued that power, rather than wealth, should be the basic concept in social theory, and that social justice should consist in equalization of power to the greatest practicable degree. This statement is very profound, since many later sociologists would concur and stipulate power as the rudimentary elements of sociology. It then followed that State ownership of land and capital was no advance and would stymie great prosperity unless the State was democratic, and even then only if methods were devised for curbing the power of officials.

Now, I feel compulsory to give a plethora of thoughts contrued from Russell’s statement above that China is departing from future prosperity due to virulent corruption and the absolute and unchallenged power of officials.

After Russell settled down in the US, he started to write history. The book of the History of Western Philosophy is biased, admitted by Russell himself. He said he does not admit that a person without bias exists, He thought the best that can be done with a large-scale history is to admit one's bias and for dissatisfied readers to look for other writers to express an opposite bias. Which bias is nearer to the truth must be left to posterity. "This point of view on the writing of history makes me prefer my History of Western Philosophy to the Wisdom of the West which was taken from the former, but ironed out and tamed - although I liked the illustrations of Wisdom of the West."

On book of “New Hopes for a Changing world”, He said that wherever there were two possibilities, I emphasized that it might be the happier one which would be realized. "Man new needs for his salvation only one thing: to open his heart to joy, and leave fear to gibber through the glimmering darkness of a forgotten past.”

This gave me some courage in the midst of a timirous mood and a strenuous life.

I intend to end this review with Russell's prologue from his autobiography, in which Russell certainly found what he had lived for :)

Hope this will shed some light on your life too.

Prologue - what i have lived for

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. Theses 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.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.

WIth equal passion I have sought knowledge, I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.