Introducing Bertrand Russell: A Graphic Guide

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Dave Robinson, Judy Groves (Illustrator)

Bertrand Russell changed Western philosophy forever. He tackled many puzzles—how our minds work, how we experience the world, and what the true nature of meaning is. In Introducing Bertrand Russell we meet a passionate eccentric, active in world politics, who had outspoken views on sex, marriage, religion, and education.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography, Comics, History, Graphic Novels, Politics

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Ardavan Bayat · Rating 3 out of 5]

هیچ جنایتی علیه آزادی بیش از این هولناک نیست که آدمیان را در حالی به کشتن یکدیگر وادارید که وجدانشان بدانها می‌گوید در صلح زندگی کنید ص۹۹

کتاب خوبیه، زندگینامه‌ی کوتاهی از راسل

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding account of a brilliant man who left his imprint on several sectors of human thought and the crosses (umm right usage?) he bore through his life. The world needs to know more about both Russell the man as well as Russell the thinker and this does not disappoint in either.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was completely surprised by this book. When I picked it off the library shelf I didn't look inside. So the format of this work was totally unexpected. Here is a biography of Bertrand Russell that not only includes his long life story, but explains his philosophical thought processes in a quite clear and clever cartoon strip by Dave Robinson. The strip is illustrated by Judy Groves.
The biog provides the reader with an understanding of Russell's path through the logic of mathematics, from Euclidean geometry and Platonist mathematics to his empiricist philosophical ideas, from the works of Frege, Descartes and Locke to Wittgenstein.
B.R. was a socialist and pacifist, a founder of the C.N.D. movement. Although religious in a sense, he was against organised religion and particularly railed against Christianity, "The Christian religion as organised in it's churches, has been, and still is, the principal enemy of moral progress in the world." "I consider all forms of religion not only false but harmful." He was also an advocate of women's rights, who married several times and had numerous affairs. His outspoken views on sex,marriage,religion and education scandalised many-and still can.

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pick up any book on philosophy and philosophers and you will come across Bertrand Russell. Russell has been a thinker in the fields of philosophy of logic and has been in the forefront of it.
The Graphic Guide series on Russell does its best to explain his life and philosophical thoughts, as simply as it can; unfortunately for non-students of philosophy, Russell's thoughts are a little difficult to grasp in the first read.

[Andrew Hague · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating probably says more about me than the book itself. The first half of it went so far over my head that I was left staring at the pages with the expression of a man who's been looking at the same page of a 'Where's Wally' book for 3 months. The second half was easy to understand but after reading certain essays from Russell on idleness and so forth I was disappointed that the book totally neglected a large part of his work.

[Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now here's a philosopher I can understand and sympathize with. I may not agree with him 100%, but I appreciate his quest. I love how these books are illustrated. It's often hard to follow the complex and changing thoughts of a philosopher. The illustrations make it easier to absorb and remember the points.

[Supinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fulfilling but short book, introducing in summary the work of Bertrand Russell. The book covers his academic accomplishments such as principia Mathematica and also his personal life, such as his numerous marriages.

Innovate use of tragic novel style narrative, which added a lot to the ease in which the book is digested.

[Costin Grigore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading about his live remembered me that everything we read doesn't come from gods. We merely witness the struggles and the quest for truths of well prepared and equipped man.

[Manish Gadhvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

1) for a graphic guide....very poor graphics
2) after reading this book the impression you get about Russell is...a disturbed soul, a failed academic, a failed political activist, a person who failed in all relationships.....which I don’t agree with.
3) the book doesn’t say anything about his books i liked (power, in praise of idleness, the conquest of happiness, unpopular essays etc)
4) too technical for a beginners guide or short introduction
5) I would rather advise people to read Russell’s Wikipedia page instead of this guide.

[Rhonda Hankins]

Straightforward/brief/simplistic presentation of Russell's influences and opinions. About the right level for me and enough Bertrand Russell for me.

Freedom from the tyranny of custom/a horror at herd mentality/a distrust of conventional politics and politicians. All admirable.

Kudos to him for recognizing the disaster that was 1920 Russian rule and even greater kudos for admitting he had that wrong.

His personal life and inner thoughts seem to be an absolute chaotic mess but I suppose that's irrelevant (?) or is it?

Anyway, I'm done being curious about Bertrand Russell. Signing out.

[Mark Plaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an introduction with lots of cartoons and illustrations, but it certainly reminds me of what I found so difficult about analytic philosophy and the like. The reading gets more clear when you get past that and into his personal life and political activity. Russell was a very interesting person and it's definitely worth checking out, especially for Russell beginners.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a short book with lots of cartoonish drawings, it did teach me some pretty interesting things about the historical development of ideas (e.g. logical atomism). I don’t think that Bertrand would have impressed me if I had only read his accomplishments and political thought; what I have always loved is the solidarity that I feel when I read one of his highly rational expositions.

[Suhrob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked it up randomly, not knowing much about Russell's life.
This was quite fun.

I've enjoyed more the second half of the book - his life past Principia Mathematica.

Also - books in general have criminally few pictures. This one has many of them and is good.

QED.

[Ramon Mirabal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

It is a good and informatíve read, but with a little mistake: Mc Master University is not in Toronto but in Hamilton.On,Canadá.
Anyway thanks for the pleasure I had reading it: I recomend it to my Math. peers!

[Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice intro.

Hard to say how accurate it is without getting deeper into the topics, but it's a nice mix of science, society, personal drama, politics, and mostly philosophy

[Clive Hazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff

Pretty thorough overview of Russell 's work and life. Nice connections to contemporaries and others. Balanced evaluation of his work.

[Scarlett Keeble · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg this was so good

[Jackie Gildea Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love him so much

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

From his ambitious attempt to build a fully consistent system to logic to the peace advocacy of his later life, this book offers an overview of the philosophy and biography of Bertrand Russell. It offers insight into the mark left on the scholarly world by Russell as well as his struggles as a non-believer in a highly conservative time and environment.

It's an interesting and quick read, and worth looking into if you're interested in the philosophy or life of Bertrand Russell.

[jj · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was barely able to understand the dumbed-down summary of the work he did. I am humbled and grateful there are brains out there like his!