The first biography in more than three decades of the Austrian-born thinker Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century

"An engrossing biography [that] focuses on what is most essential and interesting in the philosopher's work and life. . . . It is rare to find a book that you can open at random and almost always find something that piques your interest."--Julian Baggini, Wall Street Journal

"Very clear and lively and interesting."--Nigel Warburton, Five Books, "Best Philosophy Books of 2025"

According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), philosophy is a "battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." This audacious idea changed the way many of its practitioners saw their subject. In the first biography of Wittgenstein in more than three decades, Anthony Gottlieb evaluates this revolutionary idea, explaining the evolution of Wittgenstein's thought and his place in the history of philosophy.

Wittgenstein was born into an immensely rich Viennese family but yearned to live a simple life, and he gave away his inheritance. After studying with Bertrand Russell in Cambridge, he wrote his famous Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus while serving in World War I. He then took several positions as a primary-school teacher in rural Austria before returning as a fellow to Cambridge, where a cultlike following developed around him. Wittgenstein worked not only as a philosopher and schoolteacher, but also as an aeronautical engineer in Manchester and as an architect in Vienna.

Gottlieb's meticulously researched book traces the itinerant and troubled life of Wittgenstein, the development of his influential ideas, and the Viennese intellectual milieu and family background that shaped him.