BERTRAND RUSSEL

Well, Polly Adler lived long enough to become an institution outside her house, so to speak, so this admiring, kid glove appraisal of Bertrand Russell's long and contradictory life should not come as too much of a surprise. It is a short book that deals with Russell's development in terms of his ideas. His major contributions to thought in mathematics, philosophy and personal ethics are reduced to layman's language quite clearly for a book that is a translation from the German imported from England. B.R. and his ideas seen through a haze of respectful affection lacks the spunk that made the man so well loved and hated. However, the book does outline those ideas and the consequent controversies in the context of the times in which he first presented them, demonstrating the bone-jarring honesty of the man as well as the Changing values of our society. It is an easy digest/survey for college students. There is a time line of the major events in Russell's career.