Acerbic, lucid, sometimes petty, often funny, and very clear-eyed about the costs of a life spent thinking in public.

This is the final volume of Bertrand Russell’s autobiography, covering the years 1944–1969: public controversies, private reckonings, political activism, old age, and an undimmed appetite for argument. 

What makes this copy unusual is the edition itself. This is a Taiwanese pirated hardback—produced outside official Western publishing channels at a time when international copyright enforcement was loose, especially in East Asia. These editions often used cheaper paper, improvised printing methods, and idiosyncratic design choices, resulting in books that feel half-legal, half-archival: philosophical samizdat objects that circulated ideas faster than permissions. Love that.

As a reading copy, it’s entirely functional. As an object, it’s a small historical artefact—evidence of how major 20th-century thinkers were disseminated globally, sometimes unofficially, often urgently.