This three- volume autobiography is conventional in form and content. A poem written by Russell "To Edith" is reproduced in manuscript and placed at the beginning of volume 1. This poem addressed to his fourth wife reads like a summary of his spiritual autobiography and comments on the whole work. It speaks of a man who led a turbulent life and found solace, peace and fulfilment in a human relationship. His intellectual achievements evidently did not help him to find peace. He finds ecstasy and peace only after he marries Edith Finch and waits for death with a sense of fulfilment. Here one finds in Russell a pacifist who found peace very late in life. The Prologue titled "What I Have Lived For" speaks of his yearning for love (1: 13). The three passions that have governed his life are the longing for love the search for knowledge and his unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, he says, like the great winds have blown him " . . . hither and tither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish reaching to the very verge of despair" (13). The longing for love is placed foremost. Ecstasy, which comes from love, is a feeling for which he would have sacrificed all the rest of his life. He finds love at last in his relationship with Edith. Pursuit of knowledge comes second in importance and pity for the suffering humanity comes last. This has been Russell’s approach to life and he found it worth living. The Prologue comes to an end with the statement that he would gladly live his life again if the chance were offered him. Russell is optimistic at this point.

In all the volumes of the autobiography, Russell has appended letters and photographs. The letters establish his position in society as an intellectual. They show his relationship with eminent personalities. They also afford views of the autobiographer from various angles. However, they have been carefully picked so as to reveal only what Russell wants to be revealed. Any biography of Russell’s would prove that many of the letters received by him have been excluded in the autobiography.

The photographs have been arranged in a chronological order, beginning in the first volume from the photograph of Russell as a child to the last one in volume three taken in 1962.These photographs establish the point that the autobiography is historically true.

As for the readability of the work, the first volume and the first half of the second volume sustain the interest of the reader. There after, the second half of the second volume and the whole of the third volume become a hurried documentation of certain ideas and incidents that the autobiographer wants to record. The third volume as a whole lacks the presence of the autobiographer and thus loses hold on the reader. It deals with Russell’s involvement in the Second World War and his post Second World War activities.

One of the charges against Russell is that he changed his views towards the latter half of his life. This charge he answers in his autobiography in the following words. About his marriage Russell confesses:

As far as his second marriage is concerned, whether Russell was "blinded by theory" or by his personal preferences is debatable. About his ideas on war, Russell says that he had never held the non-resistance creed absolutely. However, the practical difference between opposing the first war and supporting the second, according to him, was so great as to mask the considerable degree of theoretical consistency that in fact existed (2: 192).

Protecting the human race against a return to barbarism or complete annihilation was what Russell was concerned about in his post - war writings. He thought that the First World War was likely to put civilisation back to the dark ages. This prompted him to write to President Wilson requesting him to forcibly intervene to end the war (Russell 3:28). His later appeal for the threat of war on Russia was made in the hope of halting the arms race and pre-empting a world holocaust. Russell believed that the end of all warfare was the only guarantee for the survival of the human race. For this, he would make allowances in his pacifism. Russell said in his Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare thus:

Bertrand Russell suffered mainly from solitude that gnawed at his being. The love and companionship of human beings, even those he loved best, were insufficient for him. It was too unreliable as people one loved could abandon one or die. Love had to be eternal for Russell. Unfortunately, it was only during his old age that he found peace through the satisfying love he found in his relationship with Edith Finch.

The sense of solitude that haunted Russell throughout his life had much to do with his attitude to religion. Though he theorised about religion in general and Christianity in particular, he had a religious temperament. Alan Ryan writes:

The other influence that worked on Russell was that of his women friends. Though there were many women he cared for some who played an important role in his life are Mrs. Evelyn Whitehead, Lady Ottoline Morrell and Lady Constance Malleson. About their influence on him Russell writes:

The final picture that emerges from his autobiography is that of an intellectual giant who reigned the intellectual world around him for almost a century. Today when international organisations like the NATO are engaged in warfare, not to end war but to rape humanity brutally, Russell’s ideas become ever more relevant.

_____________