بيرتراند راسل: السيرة الذاتية 1/3

by Bertrand Russell, برتراند رسل, أنوار يوسف (Translator)

بيرتراند راسل السيرة الذاتية (3 أجزاء) بقلم برتراند رسل. ... هناك ثلاثة أهواء تحكّمت بحياتي: التَوَق إلى الحب، البحث عن المعرفة، وشفقةٌ لا تُحتَمَل تجاه معاناة البشرية. إن هذه الأهواء الثلاثة، الشبيهة بالأجنحة العملاقة، دفعَتْني بقوةٍ هنا وهناك، بطريقةٍ لا يمكن السيطرة عليها، فوق بحرٍ عميق من الأسى، يبلغ مشارف اليأس نفسها.بحثتُ أولاً عن الحب لأنه يجلب النشوة، نشوةً عظيمةً جداً لدرجة أنني كنتُ سأُضحّي أكثر من مرة بما تبقّى من الحياة لأجلِ ساعاتٍ قلائل من هذه المتعة. وبحثتُ عنه أيضاً لأنه يُريح من الوحدة، تلك الوحدة الرهيبة التي يطلّ فيها الإدراك المرتعد للمرء من فوق قمة العالم إلى الهاوية القاسية المقفرة التي لا يمكن فهمها. وأخيراً، بحثتُ عنه لأن في الزواج عن حب رأيتُ على شكل صورةٍ صوفيّة مُصغّرة، الصورة التنبؤية للجنة التي تخيّلها القديسون والشعراء. وبشغفٍ مماثل بحثتُ عن المعرفة. تمنيتُ أن أفهم دواخل البشر. تمنيتُ أن أعرف لماذا تسطع النجوم. وحاولتُ أن أستوعب فعالية نظرية فيثاغورس التي بموجبها تتحكّم الأرقام بالعالم. فحققتُ القليل من هذا وليس الكثير. إن الحب والمعرفة، طالما كانا مُتاحَيْن، يُحلّقان بي نحو السماوات، لكن الشفقة تعيدني دائماً إلى الأرض. فصدى صرخات الألم تُدوّي في قلبي. أطفال جياع، ضحايا معذَّبون من قبل مستبِدّين، كبارٌ في السن بلا معين يشكلون عبئاً كريهاً لأبنائهم، وعالم الوحدة والفقر والألم كله يسخر مما ستؤول إليه حياة البشر. أتطلَّعُ إلى التخفيف من الشر، لكنني لا أستطيع، فأنا أيضاً أعاني.

Genres: Philosophy, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, History, Memoir, Biography Memoir

1224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was seventeen when the first volume - of the first edition - of this towering classic was released. I was Mesmerized - and DEVOURED it.

And it had a HUGE impact on my thinking.

At about the same time, during March Break, I discovered the poetry of T.S. Eliot in my parents’ library. Same thing - and another PIVOTAL moment.

So unlike Russell in temperament but Equally significant in my life.

I would become a young man riding two horses simultaneously - no mean feat, and potentially fatal!

But then I learned the two men were fast friends.

At Harvard in its Glory Days before WWI, Russell was a visiting Philosophy professor. Eliot was his star undergrad student.

The Englishman was a hard-headed Empiricist, but the American, Eliot, was an imaginative Idealist. However, Russell had locked horns aggressively with British Idealists, and publicly humiliated them.

But Eliot remained a very good friend.

Why?

Simple.

They were both Puritans.

In the infamous first edition of his autobiography, in a section since expurgated, Russell publicly revealed that his young bride, Alys, his first wife, unsuccessfully tried to convince him to be an apostle of Free Love - as she proved to be.

Russell was appalled. He refused forthwith to have any more contact with her. They later divorced.

It was the critical and highly stressful period of the writing of the Principia Mathematica, a time of near-nervous collapse for Russell - his Dark Night of the Soul.

THEY espouse Free Love; WE advise self-control. Know where to draw the line! Good, wholesome living needs nothing more. We can find our releases in any number of other ways.

Russell finally found a modicum of release in the hard work of building a better world.

For he was one of the key architects of the post-war solution to the inveterate bête noires of humanity: he believed the panaceas to be science, social progress and universal mental hygiene.

And while Eliot was finding release from his devils in Anglo-Catholic Faith, Russell escaped HIS, in Utopianism. And also in silence (more about that in a few seconds).

But they remained friends for life.

Because they were both puritanical Blood Brothers!

Now, Puritanism seems pretty strait-laced, but both Russell and I share the same escape. In his world-famous essay In Praise of Idleness (available free online), he touts the salubriousness of lengthy, habitual periods of DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Works like a charm, as Brother Steindl-Rast and all meditators find. It replenishes our Spirit within!

However, the dichotomy Puritanism reveals is irreconcilable, save through the faiths we practise.

And Life, unfortunately, is often a Struggle - but it’s still Good. The Spirit makes it so!

Because if you forever ‘walk on with hope in your heart, you’ll NEVER walk Alone...’

For the joy of life is found in the love and light of the Spirit, and the encouragement our lifelong friends bring to our souls.

As Goethe said, “let no one lose heart who has those!”

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most memorable sentence is definitely "I went out bicycling one afternoon and, suddenly, as I was riding along a country road, I realized that I no longer loved Alys". He immediately went home and told her about his unexpected discovery.

I can't imagine anyone writing this who wasn't a mathematician. (I know a lot of mathematicians). As Tom Stoppard comments in The Real Thing: "He's cycling along, and what happens? He falls off the bike? No, he realizes he no longer loves his wife!"

I was going to finish the review here, but I just made a realization myself. I was given this book as a present, when I was 19 years old, by a fairly well-known mathematician. I'd been dating his daughter, and we had broken up a few weeks earlier. It had been quite a serious thing for both of us. Now I wonder whether he meant anything in particular by giving me the book. He's a very deep guy. I see him occasionally (I am still good friends with my one-time girlfriend), but I don't think I'd dare ask him.

I'm surprised I didn't think about this until now.

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acknowledgements
Introduction

--Autobiography

Postscript
Notes
Index

[Peiman E iran · Rating 5 out of 5]

دوستانِ گرانقدر، این کتاب، زندگینامۀ زنده یاد «برتراند راسل» بزرگوار و اندیشمند است که به قلمِ ارزشمندش در سه دوره، نوشته شده است... آنچه در جای جایِ نوشته هایش به چشم میخورد، درسِ انسانیت و خردورزی و مهربانیست... اِی کاش روزی برسد که فرزندانِ این سرزمین با فلسفۀ این بزرگمردِ تاریخ، آشنا شده و به یاریِ این آموزگارِ بزرگ، زندگیِ خویش را از بندِ موهومات رها ساخته و فلسفۀ خرد و دانشِ انسانی را سرمشقِ زندگی خویش قرار دهند.... یاد این انسان خردمند، همیشه زنده و گرامی باد
در زیر به انتخاب، نوشته هایی از این کتاب را برایتان مینویسم.. بدونِ تردید اندیشیدن در این نوشته ها، برایِ شما دوستانِ آگاه، مفید خواهد بود
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در سال 1921 به چین سفر کرده بودم.. هنگامی که در شهرهایِ مختلفِ چین مشغولِ سخنرانی بودم، به یکباره در پایتختِ این کشور یعنی شهرِ پکن، دچارِ ذات الریۀ شدید شدم و علاوه بر آن، از اسهالِ خونی، ناراحتی هایِ قلبی، کلیوی و ورمِ دیوارۀ سیاهرگ، رنج میبردم.. این بیماری سبب شد تا به لذتِ خواندنِ یادداشت هایِ تسلیت بابتِ مرگم دست یابم، بی آنکه به راستی مرده باشم... به یاد دارم که روزنامه ای مربوط به ادیان و مذاهب و مبلغینِ دین اسلام، پیامی با این متن در موردِ مرگ من نوشته بود که: انشالله از این به بعد، دینداران و مبلغین مذهبی، از مرگِ آقای برتراند راسل، نفسِ راحتی خواهند کشید!!!!! حال من به عنوان یک انسان، نگران این هستم که آن دینداران، زمانی که متوجه شوند که من کماکان زنده هستم، نفسی به سختی بکشند و زندگی بر آنها دشوار شود... چینی ها قرار بود پس از مرگِ من، برایم بارگاه و گنبدی در کنارِ دریاچۀ غربی ساخته و آن را به زیارتگاهِ راسل تبدیل کنند.. راستش را بخواهید، اندکی متأسف شدم که این اتفاق نیفتاد، چراکه آن موقع تبدیل به یک قدیس میشدم.. و چقدر باکلاس و بامزه است که یک بی دین و خردگرا که تمامیِ قداست هایِ دینی و قدیسان را دروغین و ابلهانه میشمارد، خودش به یک قدیس تبدیل شود
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عزیزانم، با خواندنِ این جملات از راسل، به این نتیجه میرسیم که دین و مذهب چگونه باعث میشود کینه و دشمنی در وجودِ متعصبان و پیروانش ریشه دوانده و آنها راضی به مرگ و بدبختیِ دیگر انسانها باشند.. این دین جز دشمنی و بدخواهی و نابودیِ خردِ انسانها، چه چیزی برایِ انسانیت به جا گذاشته است... خودتان داوری کنید
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من، در این سالها، برایِ رسیدن به دیدگاهی که هم شخصی و هم اجتماعی بوده، زیسته ام
شخصی از آن جهت که از بزرگواری و سربلندی و زیبایی نگهداری کنم تا لحظه ای را فراهم کرده باشم که به این دنیا و انسانها و موجوداتش، خرد و دانشِ بیشتری ارزانی داشته و پیشکش کنم
اجتماعی از آن جهت که در اندیشه و رویاهایم، اجتماعی را ببینم که در آن انسانها آزاد میرویند و آزاد زندگی میکنند و چیزهایی مثلِ بیزاری و آز و حسد میمیرند و خشک میشوند، چراکه کسی از آنها تغذیه نمیکند
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من از خطرِ تجهیز شدنِ کشورها به سلاحِ هسته ای و آسیب هایِ هولناکِ آن، آگاه بودم.. بنابراین تصمیم گرفتن به همگان نسبت به این موضوع هشدار دهم.. گمان میکردم که اگر از حفظِ جانِ انسانها و آدابِ انسانیت سخن بگویم، سبب میشود تا انگیزۀ حفظِ جان، نسبت به انگیزۀ داشتنِ بمبِ هسته ای، نیرومند تر شده و بر آن پیروز شود... فکر میکردم مردم دوست ندارند منظرۀ آتش گرفتن و کباب شدنِ خود و خویشاوندان و همسایگان و هر موجودِ زندۀ دیگری را تماشا کنند.. بنابراین لازم بود تا این خطر را گوشزد کنم تا انسانها از هر دسته و نژاد و حزبی، با یکدیگر یکپارچه شده و جلویِ ساختِ این سلاحِ ویرانگر را بگیرند و امنیت را برایِ انسانها و موجوداتِ کرۀ زمین، تأمین کنند.. ولی بعدها فهمیدم که تمامِ تصوراتم از این مردم اشتباه بوده است... انگیزه ای در این میان وجود دارد که از حسِ انسانیت و دلسوزی و حفظِ جان نیز نیرومندتر است! و آن انگیزه چیزی نیست جز: آرزویِ برتر بودن از دیگران
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سه احساسِ ساده، ولی نیرومند، زندگیِ من را تحتِ سلطۀ خویش درآورده است: شورِ دوست داشتن، شورِ دانستن و اندوهی بی پایان برایِ رنج و دردی که بر انسانها وارد میشود.... از آنجا که در زندگی همیشه عشق را درخواست کرده ام و عشق مرا از تنهایی رهایی بخشیده.. بنابراین برایِ انسانها نیز عشق و یکپارچگی در عشق و جهان دوستی را آرزو دارم
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امیدوارم این ریویو، برای شما دوستانِ خردگرا و مهربان، مفید بوده باشه
«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some 45 years ago whenever I saw this formidable memoir by one of the great thinkers, philosophers, mathematicians, etc. in the 20th century I thought I would never finish reading it due to its presumably complex narrations as well as highly academic jargons used normally by those world famous intellectuals everywhere. However, in 2002 something called fortune has dictated to change my conviction when I came across this oldish, brownish paperback at the UQ flea market one morning and I decided to buy it (AUD 7.50) and then wondered if I could read it till the end.

Since then I read some of his books, for instance, 'Conquest of Happiness,' 'In Praise if Idleness,' 'Fact and Fiction' (unfinished) etc. and, surprisingly, found most of his narrative descriptions humble, readable and understandable. One of the reasons is that, I think, he's applied his formidable wisdom on logic in his writings. In other words, he's wisely written in those logical terms, sequences, examples, etc. so that, fortunately, his readers worldwide could and still can enjoy reading his innumerable titles you can find/order from any good bookstores in your countries. As for those unfamiliar with him, you may read his biography in the Wikipedia website first and you may start any Part/Chapter you prefer in 'Fact and Fiction' (Routledge 2010, first edition published by Allen & Unwin 1961) as follows: [Chapter titles in Part I only]

PART I Books that Influenced Me in Youth
1 The Importance of Shelly
2 The Romance of Revolt
3 Revolt in the Abstract
4 Disgust and Its Antidote
5 An Education in History
6 The Pursuit of Truth

PART II Politics and Education
...

PART III Divertissements
...

PART IV Peace and War
...

While reading his books, I normally have a pencil to mark, tick, underline, question, etc. as well as take notes of some interesting terms/ideas/phrases, etc. For example, I found this sentence enlightening, wondered how it could be and thought if it could be doable.

And we laughed consumedly -- sometimes about nothing at all . (p. 559)

I mean the adverb, 'consumedly' since I've never read/found it anywhere till I read him.

This autobiography has three parts: 1872-1914 (7 Chapters), 1914-1944 (6 Chapters) and 1944-1967 (4 Chapters). You may read the text in each chapter first since every chapter (except Chapter 1) is followed by various letters from himself, from/to his friends/dignitaries, as well as articles, speeches, leaflets, etc.

When I was in my twenties studying in Bangkok, now I still recall seeing him sometime on television or in newspapers as an elderly activist, he might have been a nonagenarian then, among those young and middle-aged people. I kept wondering why he still kept doing so in such a great old age, therefore, when I read his biography his fame has since commanded my awe-inspiring admiration and respect as one of the great scholars whom I can keep reading and applying his wisdom in my life.

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Από τις σημαντικότερες μορφές του προηγούμενου αιώνα, ο Russell απέδειξε περίτρανα πως ο πνευματικός άνθρωπος μπορεί να είναι ταυτόχρονα και ενεργός πολίτης, "μετέχων και ουχί απράγμων".
Ο μακρύς του βίος, αλλά και πνευματική του παρακαταθήκη με τη μορφή πολύτομου και εξαιρετικά ποικιλόμορφου έργου, μόνο δέος μπορούν να προκαλέσουν. Πολλώ δε μάλλον, δεδομένου πως ως το τέλος σχεδόν της ζωής του, δεν εγκατέλειψε ποτέ την "αρένα" της κοινωνίας και των συγκρούσεών της.
Τούτου δοθέντος, θα ανέμενα μια σαφώς πιο πληθωρική, παθιασμένη και ποικιλόχρωμη αυτοπροσωπογραφία. Αντ' αυτού, το πολυσέλιδο αυτό κείμενο κινείται μάλλον με τη μορφή ελαφρού… κυματισμού, παρά πλημμυρίδας, όπως ήταν η ζωή του ανδρός. Θα έλεγε κάποιος πως ο μαθηματικός κατίσχυσε του φιλοσόφου και η καταγραφή των σημαντικότερων στιγμών του βίου του γίνεται περισσότερο αποστασιοποιημένα από ό,τι ίσως ανέμενα.

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

از بهترین زندگی نامه ها

[Xander · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing autobiography by an amazing person! Written in Russell's last years (he reached 98 years) it is sort of distorted, in the sense that the period 1872-1914 comprises a third; the period 1914-1944 another third; and the period 1944-196ish another third. In short: the closer you come to Russell's moment of writing the text, the longer and less interesting the material becomes.

And this is sad, since the most touching moments - especially personal letters - of the book are when Russell personally reflects and reminisces on his childhood and his early career as a philosopher and mathematician. He was a passionate man, tending towards mysticism in his younger years, yet gradually losing all hopes of finding any certain truths - his latter years are more pessimistic (fearing a nuclear war and the subsequent destruction of mankind) and more skeptic. The way Russell describes persons and events of his life, using his wit and emotional insights, is truly wonderful. As a reader, you'll get swept along and feel you are taking part in the life of a man who embodied the radical changes that took place during his (long) life.

In his later years Russell felt more and more that now there was a new world, and at times wondered why he was still part of it. (This kind of deep reflection and sadness was part of Russell's life - he lived through multiple suicidal phases.) His grandfather met Napoleon Bonaparte in person, and Russell's own first three decades took place in the nineteenth century. Although he had a keen eye in predicting world events (for example the First World War, Hitler and Stalin, as well as the A-bomb) - showing us that he did adapt continuously to these roaring times - he did feel slightly alienated and depressed at the end of his life. Which was countered by his fourth love - supposedly the fullest love he ever experienced - showing us that the abstract philosopher was in other terms a worldly man of flesh and blood: he was married three times and had a whole string of liaisons.

As mentioned, the final third of this book (Volume III) was written in 1969-1970 (the latter being the year he died) and as he mentions in the preface to this volume, will not offer much personal information about relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. Instead of this - which made volumes I and II so superb - we get page after page on Russell's exploits in international relations, his travels with his third wife, his publications, etc. I found these things less interesting and more distant from Russell's personal life and was rather disappointed with his approach to this third volume. Allegedly, the fact that he would have to describe his last 20-30 years, all recent events, involving many people still alive (at the time of publication), was a major reason for Russell to change his strategy.

Too bad, since it really hurts the overall quality of the autobiography. The first two volumes easily deserve the full five star rating, yet the third volume deserves not more than three stars (at most).

In all, I can recommend this book to anyone interested in personal stories, biographies, or in general the radical changes in the twentieth century. Here are the personal musings and thoughts of a man who lived the last three decades of the nineteenth century, lived through two World Wars and a roaring period in between, and died at the time when the Cold War was still full blown on. Against these historical backgrounds, you'll witness the growth of a human being - a man full of deep thoughts and feelings, of sufferings and pains, but also of happiness and love of mankind. With Rousseau, this is probably the best autobiography I've ever read!

[Kenghis Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One may hypothesize that all works of philosophy are in essence works of self-reflection. From blatant examples such as Augustine's "Confessions" to more subtle parts of Descartes' "Meditations," philosophers have often used their own experiences to help us understand the world we live in. In this sense, we can contrast to the former works the works of philosophers such as Aristotle or Heidegger who shy away from using the first person and deal with subject matters not only strictly of interest to the writer, but which seek to gain popular understanding. Bertrand Russell is a curious mixture of the two approaches. His committment to objectivity and to rigorous thought that is arguably impossible without a certain degree of "common ground" frequently seems to overshadow his own subjectivist foundations in which he approaches the questions of philosophy. In what is perhaps the most powerful two pages of the book, at the introduction, Russell outlines three primary principles that have motivitated him to do what he did in life. In a sense, then, the autobiography provides the reader with comforting answers as to why anybody would wish to live such an amazing life. In this sense, it is perhaps Russell's most self-reflective work of philosophy. The book is entertaining, the stories enjoyable, and the message deeply profound: how Russell came to appreciate the fields that he was interested in, and how he found the principles that guided his life. He had also been kind enough, in the edition I read, to include copies of letters of correspondence and pages from his diary as a youth. While this may have been motivated by a less-than-humble desire to provide future scholars with primary source material to study himself, they are themselves works of philosophy, and many of the doubts about life Russell struggled with as a youth strike a chord in all of us. Indeed, Russell's Autobiography is an entertaining and personally illuminating approach to one of the most fundamental philosophical questions of how one's life is to be lead.

[Amit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undoubtedly, Bertrand Russel is a legendary figure in the field of philosophy and literature. His views on politics, sex and literature have made him a legendary and most influential figure of the twentieth century.
His views were something different than the other writers. He has done a remarkable job in mathematical philosophy as well. His autobiography shows his personal p[ersepctive about writing these things.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Founding Fathers obviously placed a high value on happiness or they wouldn't have insisted on pursuit of it as a basic right in a major American document. Bertrand Russell, who already as an adolescent was trying to reconcile the meaning of life and the role of reason, adopted a Millian (if that's a word) premise to "act in a manner. . . to be most likely to produce the greatest happiness, considering both the intensity of the happiness and the number of people made happy." In The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, volume I, Conscience, he argued, was too dependent upon education, a product a evolution and education, and therefore "it is an absurdity to follow that rather than reason." The inherited part "can only be principles leading to the preservation of the species" and the education part of conscience is derived from the same imparted wisdom that "made Bloody Mary burn the Protestants." Russell was good friends with Alfred Whitehead who was a teacher and mentor to him, although in later years to parted on aspects of their philosophies. He perceived Whitehead as having the qualities of a perfect teacher: "He took a interest in those with whom he had to deal and knew both their strong and weak points. He would elicit from a pupil the best of which a pupil was capable. He was never repressive, or sarcastic or any of those things that inferior teachers like to be. I think that in all the abler young men with whom he came in contact, he inspired, as he did in me, a very real and lasting affection."

Russell's comments about people he met and his friends were amusingly perspicacious. "My impression of the old families of Philadelphia Quakers was that they had all the effeteness of a small aristocracy. Old misers of ninety would sit brooding over their hoard while their children of sixty or seventy waited for their death with what patience they could command. Various forms of mental disorder appeared common. Those who must be accounted sane were apt to be very stupid."

It was while in the midst of writing his great Principia Mathematica that he had a revelation that was to alter his life. Alfred Whitehead's wife was in severe pain from a heart condition and while attending to her he came to the following reflections: "the loneliness of the human soul in unendurable; nothing can penetrate it except the highest intensity of the sort that religious teachers have preached; whatever does not spring from this motive is harmful, or at best war is wrong, that a public school [the English public school is the equivalent of an American private school:] is abominable, that the use of force is to be deprecated, and that in relations one should penetrate to the core of loneliness in each person and speak to that. . . . cared only for exactness and analysis, I found myself filled with semi-mystical feelings about beauty, with an intense interest in children, and with some desire almost as profound as that of the Buddha to find some philosophy which should make life endurable."

[Moh. Nasiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

راسل در بیوگرافی اش گفته برای چه زیسته ام ؟
گزیده
سه شوق ساده ، ولی قاهر و نیرومند ، بر زندگی من فرمان رانده اند : 
"یکی "سودای عشق" ، یکی "طلب دانش" و دیگراحساسی تحمل ناپذیر از شفقت و "همدردی با آلام بشری .

این سه حس ، چون بادهای تند ، مرا خود سرانه به این سوی و آنسوی کشانده  و بر اقیانوسی از غم تا لب گرداب نومیدی پیش رانده اند .

نخست جویای عشق بوده ام ، از آنکه عشق ، وجد و شادی می آفریند ، وجدی آنچنان ژرف که حاضر بوده ام برای بدست آوردن چند ساعت از آن شادی شگفت ، باقی عمرم را نثار کنم .دیگر بدان خاطر که عشق آدمی ، را از رنج تنهایی می رهاند ، تنهایی هولناکی که در آن انسان ، لرزان و ترسان در مرز هستی ، به دره بی انتهای نیستی می نگرد و بر خویشتن می لرزد .سرانجام عشق را بدان خاطر جویا بوده ام که در اتحاد عشق ، بهشتی را که در خیال قدیسان و شاعران گذشته است ، در یک مینیاتور عرفانی به چشم دیده ام .اینهاست آنچه در عشق جستجو کرده و یافته ام ، هر چند که عشق از آن خوب تر است که با زندگی آدمیان در آمیزد . 

دانش را نیز با همین شوق و شور طلب کرده ام و پیوسته آرزو داشته ام که از راز دل آدمی با خبر شوم و سر تابش ستارگان را دریابم و کوشیده ام تا اعداد فیثاغورثی را که بر جهان کون و فساد حاکمند بشناسم . و در این راه به اندک بهره ای دست یافتم .

عشق و دانش ، این دو شوق نخست ، بدان قدر که از آنها بهره یافتم ، مرا به سوی آسمان سوق داده اند ، اما احساس شفقت و همدردی با رنجهای آدمیان پیوسته مرا به زمین باز گردانده است . پژواک فریادهای دردآلود در قلبم به اهتزاز می آید . کودکان قحطی زده ، قربانیان شکنجه های جلادان ستمکار ، کهنسالان ناتوان و بیچاره ای که خود را بار منفوری بر دوش فرزندان احساس می کنند و تمامی دنیای تنهایی و فقر و رنج ، طنز تلخی است که آرمانهای بلند انسانی را ریشخند می کند . در دلم بوده است که از شدت رنجهاو کثرت شرور در جهان بکاهم . اما توفیقی نیافته ام و خود نیز از این شرور و بدیها رنج برده ام .

این راهی است که من در زندگی پیموده ام و آن را شایسته زیستن یافته ام و اگر بار دیگر موهبت زندگی عطایم شود با خوشحالی همین راه را خواهم پیمود .
  🍃🌾🌸🍃🌾🌸                         
بر گرفته از کتاب " 365 روز با ادبیات انگلیسی " دکتر الهی قمشه ای

[Bogdan Sapunaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the rebellious Cambridge aristocrat to the tireless campaigner for peace, these pages vibrate with ideas, memorable encounters, and unexpectedly candid little confessions. If you want to see what the life of a philosopher who shuns the ivory tower and takes his convictions to the streets can look like, Russell’s autobiography is nothing short of masterful.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first two volumes are the best, very good reading.

The third volume is quite a bit dryer, and doesn't have the personal details that make the other volumes so interesting. Still, I recommend the whole thing very highly.

[Sam Schulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest books I've ever read - partially intended by Russell, partly unintentional, which makes it even funnier. Don't wait until you are 60 as I did or 90 as my father did to read it (although the dirty bits are wonderfully enjoyable to a 90-year-old man, should you ever be at a loss for what to read to him. Particularly funny is Russell's upbringing (by the much-younger wife of his grandfather, the former PM, and his aunt - who are masters of guilt-induction, sexual guilt and random rules of conduct (Don't you know that you should never talk about any fractions except halves and quarters? - it is pedantic!" she told little Bertrand. "How like his father!: she said, turning to my Aunt Maude.") Russell slyly boasts about his sexcapades, apologizes for criticizing his first wife ("my self-righteousness at the time seems to me in retrospect to be repulsive") before sharing at length with the reader the "substantial grounds for my criticisms." There are wonderful encounters with Santayana (who wanted to get his underwear from his Paris apartment before the Boche destroyed the city, and with it the Parisians and a ms Santayana had been working on for 10 years ("I care more for my underwear"), of Joseph Conrad, the man whom BR most admired and thought resembled him (hah!), DH Lawrence (BH gives a vivid picture of what it was like to be the object of DHL's sudden crazes), Whitehead, Ottoline Morrell, TS Eliot (he hints at an affaire between himself and Vivienne), Wittgenstein, and many others. He comes across as sound on Lenin and Bolshevism ("a new aristocracy even more cruel than the old one, but in this case the artistocrats are a group of Americanized Russian Jews"), explains his opposition to WWI, support for WWII and suggestion that the US nuke the USSR in 1948.
Most of all it shows how a brilliant man can waste the vast majority of his life trying to persaude others to change their minds about politics.

[Abubakar Mehdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to find the impetus behind the passions of such a relentless activist for Peace and Logic. Russell is one of my favorite philosophers. And this books fairly describes the values he held dear, and the events that effected his intellectual development. I find it hard to write about him. He is very raw and open about himself, just the way he is about everything else. the chapters about his early life are most charming and very engrossing. This is a fine book for anyone interested in the philosophy of Russell or in him as person. His attitude towards love is admirable. This quote is how he ends his autobiography.

"I have lived in the pursuit of a vision both personal and social.
Personal:To care for what is noble, what is beautiful, for what is gentle.
Social:To see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken."

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

russell's prologue is exquisite, near perfect. a remarkable man.

"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...."

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became interested in Russell as a peace activist while still in high school. Later my best friend spent a college year abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, dating Lucy, one of Russell's grand-daughters while there. Returned, he read The History of Western Philosophy, highly recommending it. By then I'd become exposed to the philosopher/mathematician's reputation and intended to study him. Years later, having read a bit, espying the autobiography on sale at a used bookstore, I purchased the three volumes and got to carrying them regularly to the local cafe. Their contents surprised me.

I had expected a lot about The Principia, more about his philosophical beliefs. But most of the books concerned his family, his personal life, his romances, politics and educational beliefs.

[Ollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Few human beings have had the kind of life Bertrand Russell has had. He was a thinker, a philosopher, a mathematician, a progressive and an activist. As a journalist he has lived through some of the most important eras in human history and actually engaged with it to the point where he almost can be called proto-Gonzo. His writings are loaded with cleverness, witticism, and charm, and are relevant nearly a century after they were written. And to top it all off, he lived to be almost 100, so it would be an understatement to say that he had a lot to write about. With that in mind, I expected Bertrand Russell’s autobiography to be the autobiography to end all autobiographies. And it might have been this unrealistically high bar which caused me to being so disappointed in this book.

It’s not that in his lengthy (over 700 pages!) autobiography doesn’t offer an interesting look back at the milestones of his life, it’s that such precious little of the book is actually devoted to this. In fact, it’s safe to say that Bertrand Russell’s autobiography consists mostly of letters he both wrote and received. Spanning the majority of his life (this autobiography was finished when Russell was at the ripe old age of 97–a year before he passed), this book is, as expected, full of anecdotes about his life and career. And indeed, it’s here that the book shines, as Russell is able to look back on these events mostly in a funny and entertaining way. The bad news is that at the end of each chapter we are inundated with page after page of letters (even those which other people wrote to him), which often outnumber the “autobiographical” section of the chapters themselves. These letters, on the other hand, are mostly boring as they focus on the minutia of his daily life, or are from individuals we don’t know or remember, or are about accounts we don’t care about. So it’s not that Bertrand Russell’s written autobiography is a boring book, it’s that he has supplemented the different eras of his life with tedious letters.

In addition, it’s interesting to notice what Russell has chosen to extrapolate on and talk about in depth, as there is very little here about his brother and grandmother’s deaths and his relationships after his first wife Alys: in short, anyone with whom he has had a strong personal relationship.

So after putting in so much effort, the reader feels cheated because we are dealing with the stories of one of history’s most interesting human beings. Russell’s Autobiography does indeed have shining moments, but unfortunately with the sheer amount of filler they come too few and far in between.

[ZaRi]

"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. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great 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 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 this 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. "

[TK Keanini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thinker and it really captures a very different time in society.

[فيصل · Rating 4 out of 5]

سيرة ذاتية جميلة وسلسة وهي مكونة من ثلاثة أجزاء ولكني لم أجد سوى الجزء الأول منها مترجماً وهو بدءً من طفولته حتى بداية الحرب العامة الأولى. برتراند راسل بجانب تمكنه وضلوعه من علم الرياضيات وفلسفتها؛ فهو ضليع في الأدب ويحفظ العديد من القصائد مما انعكس بشكل واضح على كتاباته التي استحق عليها جائزة نويل للآداب. في سيرته كان صريحا وبدأ غريباً اهتمامه بذكر تفاصيل عائلية وكذلك حديثه عن حياته الجنسية وخلافه مع زوجته الأولى ونقده الصارخ لحماته. تتضمن المذكرات ملاحق كثيرة من رسائل وغيرها بشكل يدعو القارئ للملل. تحدث في فصل كامل حول كتابه "أصول الرياضيا��" وأظن الترجمة الدقيقة هي " المبادئ الرياضية " أو " پرنسيپيا ماثماتيكا " لأن كثيراً مايتوهم البعض بأنهما نفس الكتاب بينما الكتاب الأول قد كتب راسل مسوداته قبل زيارته لأمريكا عام 1896 وهناك التقى العالم الرياضي بيانو وأهداه كتابه " المنطق الرياضي" والذي أكد فيه على أن الرياضيات ماهي إلا صورة من صور المنطق، وقد أفاد راسل من أفكار بيانو . ثم فيما بعد في عام 1900م اشترك مع وايتهيد بكتابة " المبادئ الرياضية ". والسبب الذي حملني على الاعتقاد بأن راسل كان يقصد الكتاب الثاني لا الأول لأنه تحدث في ذلك الفصل عن التعب الذي ناله مع وايتهيد ونفسيته المضطربة وزوجته المصابة بنوبات هلع.


برتراند راسل سليل لأسرتين ارستقراطيتين. فهو حفيد اللورد جون راسل الذي تولى رئاسة وزراء بريطانيا لمرتين بطلب من الملكة فيكتوريا. ووالده مفكر ملحد وصديق حميم للفيسلوف سيتوارت ميل وكذلك زوجته والدة بيرتراند. توفيت والدته ثم بعدها بسنة توفي والده بعدما جعل وصاية ابنه بيراتراند وأخيه لملحدين اثنين مما أثار حفيظة الجدة فسارعت بجعل الوصاية في عهدتها، وكان البيت سياسي بامتياز وكذلك علمي وأدبي فكان هناك عم وعمة مهتمين بالعلم والأدب فأثروا وعلموا راسل الشيء الكثير وكانت مكتبة جده اللورد راسل غرفة دراسته كما يقول. تتميز عائلته لأمه بتنوعها العقائدي والفكري إذ أن خال براتراند الأكبر هنري مسلم والآخر قس والثالث ناقد شرس للكنيسة وهكذا. فساهمت نقاشاتهم وجرأتهم في طرح أفكارهم بشكل كبير في بناء شخصية راسل التي كانت خجولة. وكان لجدة راسل لأمه ديوان يأتيه كبار مفكرو البلد وأدباؤه. يعزو راسل الكثير من الفضل لأسرته لوالدته فيما وصل إليه. وكانت أسرته داعمة لحقوق المرأة على الرغم من صلاتها الوثيقة بالملكة فيكتوريا التي كانت معارضة شرسة- وهي امرأة- لإعطاء المرأة حقوقها. بعدما قام أخ بيتراند الأكبر بتعليمه وهو في الحادي عشر من العمر الهندسة الاقليدية خاب رجاؤه فيها لانطلاقها من بديهيات لا بد من التسليم بها دون برهان. وهذا له أثر كبير في انشغال بيتراند فيما بعد بدراسة ومعالجة " مشكلة الأسس " في حقل الرياضيات.

[P.J. Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the great autobiographies of all time, for its clarity and candor, for its amazing scope, for its cast of interesting characters. Russell was driven by logic. He could see the illogic, the absurdities, in the way the world operated. His refusal to compromise with those absurdities made him conspicuous, made him a great man. He believed that human suffering could best be relieved by putting the world on a logical, a rational, basis. But the world did not understand, still does not understand. Like most people ahead of their time, he was punished for his efforts.

My notebooks are rich with quotations from these three volumes. Whether your interest is psychology, education, war and peace, history, literature, whatever, you will find much food for thought in these books.

[Rahmanism · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب نسبتا خوبیه
در مورد اکثر افراد و مکان‌ها در پاورقی کتاب شرحی توسط مترجم نوشته شده با توجه به اینکه اینترنتی نبوده و جستجو سخت بوده کار بزرگیه، هرچند گاهی اشتباهاتی داره.
و در مورد اسامی هم انگار با تلفظ فرانسه یا چیزی شبیه‌ش نوشته. شاید اون زمان اینطوری مرسوم بوده.‎
ضمنا این جلد اوله.

[Najla Hammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

أنهيت الجزء الأول فقط
للأسف لم أجد الجزء الثاني من السيرة على الإنترنت ولا النسخة الورقية منها -من الأساس-.

[Jonathan Keogh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reckoning the man, I believe it would be fruitful to compare him to a scientist and mathematician of the same age.

Bertrand Russell was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family, with a long history of public office, in the late 19th century. His Grandfather was twice Prime minister, and his father was an Earl. The men and women whom he came into contact with in his early life shaped his future interests: Catholics, Quakers, Lutherans, Puritans, Buddhists, Darwinists, Atheists, Agnostics, Anarchists, Communists, Socialists, Liberals, Imperialists, Nationalists, Suffragettes, Irish Home Rule activists, Contraceptive activists, Free-Love activists, and various types of historians and philosophers; it is in this high minded environment of theories and spiritualities that Bertrand Russell narrates his formative youth. He was very well tutored, and by his adulthood he was fluent in the classical languages and thoroughly proficient in mathematics. After experiencing his first pubescent urges, he became obsessed with many of the Romantic poets, such as Shelley. Looking back, he explains, the sweet joy he would experience on reading such works of beauty were actually an outlet for his repressed sexual urges. He viewed himself and the various processes and peoples of his life through a high-minded theorising of various philosophies and ideas. It is no surprise that he became a philosopher and a mathematician. At least partly from his reading Mill, he was a proponent of women’s suffrage; and later, before the first World War, he became a pacifist, for which he was both politically and physically attacked.

I cannot speak on his philosophy with any sort of authority; however, I can do so with his mathematics. He was generally interested in the foundations of mathematics, and developing an abstract logical framework in which the ordinary mathematics of 1+1=2 may be logically and formally deduced. Again, it is to the abstract theorising that he normally gravitates. This possibly explains his lifelong feelings of loneliness that at various times drove him to thoughts of suicide. Surprisingly, he was not especially well read for his time; but he did have a deep understanding of those ideas he chose to speak of; which, combined with an unpretentious eloquence, produced a noble and progressive philosopher-writer. His History of Western Philosophy is excellent, although sometimes lacking in scope.

While reading of his travels in the US during WWII, during which he was hired as a sort of popular-philosophy lecturer for middle class workmen, it struck me at once that, at this exact time, Richard Feynman, a man born into poverty amidst the Great Depression, was working on the first atomic bomb. Feynman was not a man of philosophical theories or spiritualities. From a very young age, he spent his time tinkering with radios and listening to his father read from a popular encyclopaedia. While his father worked in sales, he would work as a busboy in the local hotel. He was self-taught in mathematics, and in his spare time would read about biology and chemistry instead of history, politics, or philosophy. Through pure ability alone, he was awarded a scholarship from MIT to study physics. Later when taking the graduate entrance exam in Princeton, he received a perfect score in mathematics, but did poorly in the history and English portions.

It is very hard to overstate the influence Richard Feynman had on physics and science as a whole. His receiving of the Nobel Prize was predicated on his formalising of all hitherto knowledge of electromagnetism into one coherent theory: the theory of Quantum Electrodynamics. Quantum Electrodynamics is quite possibly mankind’s greatest achievement. I will gladly argue anybody on this fact. Through it, we have achieved a complete understanding of a fundamental process of our universe, no matter at what point in time and space you are considering. This is just one of Richard Feynman’s contributions to mankind’s knowledge of the universe.

Bertrand Russell was the last of those men before the World Wars who, by sitting in his armchair and debating abstract philosophy, could achieve pre-eminence and influence. Today, we no longer have any time for such things. The men of pre-eminence are the scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, popular novelists, and the politicians. We have dispensed with the abstract in the public sphere and have elevated the pragmatic and scientific. Richard Feynman, for example, knew barely anything about history or philosophy. He knew nothing at all about the classics, and in fact had only a passing knowledge of one language other than English, namely Portuguese. He was born into a working class background, and vehemently disparaged pretension and all sorts of affected sophistication. Even though both men were mathematicians and scientists, they occupied very different realms (although, they were both friends of Einstein).

These days, any achievement in science, politics, or popular literature, far outweighs all contributions of high-minded philosophers to the average person’s life. Who honestly cares if some Harvard professor has delineated a new argument for Kantian thought, when Bill Gates has supplied the world with cheap computing? Never again will you commonly hear someone debating the merits of a philosophical or spiritual theory on the bus; any public speaker who demands attention in such things are branded as quacks. These days, any sort of sophisticated discussion we have in the public sphere are purely scientific and socio-political. Men and women like Elon Musk, or Angela Merkel are known to everyone; while the pre-eminent abstract philosophers of today are known to virtually no one.

This is Bertrand Russell’s legacy; the last of a dead strain of intellectuals. He was a great man, nonetheless.

[Elsbeth Kwant]

In praise of idleness is one of the most beautiful essays I know - it is about what life is about. As is this autobiography, though in praise of idleness is pithier. Russell concludes that in his striving for truth he is disappointed, but in his striving for a better world he is not.

[Anima]

“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.”

[Andrei Poleacu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesanta pe alocuri, dar militantismul din ultima treime a cartii e plictisitor.

[thinkingape · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites

Excerpt

The day of my departure comes near. I have a thousand things to do,yet I sit here idle, thinking useless thoughts, the irrelevant, rebellious thoughts that well-regulated people never think.the thoughts that one hopes to banish by work, but that themselves banish work instead. How I envy those who always believe what they believe, who are not troubled by deadness and indifference to all that makes the framework of their lives. I have had the ambitions to be of use in the world, to achieve something notable, to give mankind new hopes. And now that the opportunity is nearer,it all seems dust and ashes. As I look into the future, my disillusioned gaze sees only strife and still more strifes,rasping cruelty, tyranny,terror and slavish submission. The men of my dreams,erect, fearless, and generous will they ever exist on earth? Or will men go on fighting, killing,and torturing to the end of time, till the earth grows old and the dying sun can no longer quicken their futile frenzy? I cannot tell. But I do know the despair in my soul. I know the great loneliness, as I wander through the world like a ghost, speaking in tones that are not heard, lost as if I had fallen from other planet. (P335)

Modern Physics

Alone in the tower at midnight, I remember the wood and downs, the sea and the sky, that daylight showed. Now, as I look through each of the four windows, north, south, east and west, I see only myself dimly reflected, or shadowed in monstrous opacity upon the fog. What matter? Tomorrow’s sunrise will give me back the beauty of the outer world as I wake from sleep.But the mental night that has descended upon me is less brief, and promise no awakening after sleep. Formerly, the cruelty, the meanness, the dusty fretful passion of human life seemed to me a little thing, set, like some resolved discord in music, amid the splendor of the stars and the stately procession of geological ages. What if the universe is to end in universal death? It was none the less unruffled and magnificent. But now all this has shrunk to be no more than my reflection in the windows of the soul through which I look out upon the night of nothingness. The revolution of nebulae, the birth and death of stars, are no more than convenient fictions in the trivial work of linking together my own sensations and perhaps those of other men not much better than myself. No dungeon was ever constructed so dark and narrow as that in which the shadow physics of our time imprisons us, for every prisoner has believed that outside his walls a free world existed; but now the prison has become the whole universe. There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness, anywhere; only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.Why live in such a world? Why even die? (p393)

But beneath all this load of failure I am still conscious of something I feel to be victory. I may have conceived theoretical truth wrongly, but I was not wrong in thinking that there is such a thing, and that it deserves our allegiance, I may have thought the road to a world of free and happy human being shorter than it is proving to be, but I was not wrong in thinking that such a world is possible, and that it is worthwhile to live with a view to bringing it nearer. I have lived in the pursuit of vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle: to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where the hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken.