It was always interesting to read Russell, the surest of all writers I have ever read. Reading him, I used to feel that even emotional problems can be solved by studying respective statistical data! It took me various re-readings of Sartre and Camus to come out of his grip. But that aside, I think that to understand such epidemiological concepts as Idealism, Rationalism, the limits of knowledge et al, Russell's short book is a really helpful guide. I owe a beautiful leather-bind copy of this book. And it was precisely the binding, reminiscent of a time gone by, that made my reading of this book so fascinating - it reminded me of a time when it was believed that positivists have almost deciphered life for you! Or they thought so!?