BALLOON PRICKING

...Although, as he says mockingly of himself in his own "Obituary," "His energies were dissipated in writings advocating socialism, educational reform, and a less rigid code of morals as regards marriage," it may -well be that these popular writings, of which Unpopular Essays is a late example, will one day take equal rank with his earlier serious work in philosophy and mathematics Several of these esays expound Russell's empiricist liberalism, which he presents to the layman with a soft smile, as much as to say, "Here now, isn't this preferable to the kind of guff you've been swallowing for so long...

...Not that Russell overlooks this objection: "At the moment," he says, "the Liberal philosophy is felt by many to be too tame and middle-aged: the idealistic young look for something with more bite in it, something which has a definite answer to all their questions, which calls for missionary activity and gives hope of a millenium brought about by conquest...

...In short, we have been plunging into a renewed age of faith . . . Only through a revival of Liberal tentativeness and tolerance can our world survive...

...Partly because of our educational setup, the intellectual climate in the United States has not encouraged the development of free-ranging minds like Havelock Ellis, the Huxleys, Joad, and Bertrand Russell...

...The chapter headings give an idea of Russell's targets: "The Superior Virtue of the Oppressed," "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish," "Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind," and so on...

...I think it is high praise indeed to say that only fools will read this book without at some point becoming angered, annoyed, or simply embarrassed at the exposure of their own credulity...

...Reviewed by Harvey Swados WHEN we were children, we used to insist that every time you said, "There are no fairies," a fairy would die...

...Well, very likely it is, but it may possibly strike other laymen besides this reviewer as pretty thin nourishment, hardly enough to make life supportable in such grim times as these...

...but how many more myths have we unthinkingly accepted as adults without any stronger evidence to sustain them...

...For longer than most of us can remember, Bertrand Russell has delighted in pricking these favorite balloons of ours...

...We have had to take sustenance from too many humorless pundit-specialists, who narrowly regard ideas as commodities, to be hoarded or proferred to the public like precious jewels...

...Here is how he closes his essay "On Being Modern Minded": "We are suffering not from the decay of theological beliefs but from the loss of solitude...

...Eventually we outgrew the belief and the fear...

...At their pithiest, Russell's brilliant insights are profoundly and unquestionably true...

...But for the most part this little volume consists of sparkling jibes at our most cherished foolishness...

...Let us hope that Russell, as he approaches his ninth decade with apparently un-dimmed vivacity, will continue to give us the pleasure of watching his matchless intellect at play...