Audio only
Length5h 55m
About this audiobook
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
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.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.9 (193)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreBiography and Memoir, Philosophy
Length5 hrs 55 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateOct 21, 2025
LanguageEnglish
Series
More from Anthony Gottlieb
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$0.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Art of LivingThich Nhat Hanh5h 1m4.5 (14.2K)$24 · $0.00
Moral Letters to LuciliusLucius Annaeus Seneca24h 26m4.5 (71.7K)$0.99 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie Cady3h 50m4.5 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
Letters from a StoicSeneca6h 5m4.4 (80.4K)$6 · $0.00
The Discourses of EpictetusP. E. MATHESOM12h 47m4.4 (17.7K)$1.20 · $0.00
IlluminationsWalter Benjamin10h 12m4.4 (16.2K)$20 · $0.00
That Bird Has My WingsJarvis Jay Masters9h 49m4.4 (13.7K)$29 · $0.00
Tâo Teh KingLaozi2h 34m4.4 (230.9K)$2 · $0.00
SymposiumPlato3h 26m4.4 (97.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Buddhist Boot CampTimber Hawkeye2h 39m4.4 (8.4K)$18 · $0.00
Enchiridion & The Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated)Arrian Epictetus18h 9m4.4 (3.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius AntoninusEmperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius5h 41m4.4 (1.8M)$1 · $0.00
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky23h 11m4.4 (1.3M)$12 · $0.00
MeditationsMarcus Aurelius5h 52m4.4 (433.7K)$1 · $0.00
Everyday DharmaSuneel Gupta5h 2m4.5 (761)$20 · $0.00
The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza")Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche11h 37m4.4 (26.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Art of LivingEpictetus, Sharon Lebell3h 16m4.4 (50.1K)$18 · $0.00
MeditationsEmperor Of Rome Marcus Aurelius7h 23m4.3 (477.5K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Imitation of ChristThomas à Kempis6h 27m4.3 (84.6K)$21 · $0.00
Sadhana: the realisation of lifeRabindranath Tagore3h 49m4.4 (8.6K)$6 · $0.00
You may also like
Tete-a-TeteHazel Rowley14h 14m4.1 (2.9K)$33 · $0.00
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Annotated)Ruth Benedict11h 36m4.1 (8.8K)$2 · $0.00
BuddenbrooksThomas Mann24h 56m4.3 (128.1K)$0.99 · $0.00
ANNA KARENINA – Two Unabridged Translations in One Premium Edition (World Classics Series) (Annotated)Leo Tolstoy86h 35m4.2 (779.7K)$2 · $0.00
Screaming on the InsideJessica Grose6h 30m3.8 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Sensuous KnowledgeMinna Salami7h 16m4.3 (1.3K)$24 · $0.00
GratefulDiana Butler Bass7h 51m4.1 (1.8K)$26 · $0.00
Bad FeministRoxane Gay11h 47m4.0 (127.1K)$29 · $0.00
A Chill in the AirIris Origo4h 20m4.2 (1.2K)$20 · $0.00
The Subjection of WomenJohn Stuart Mill4h 44m4.2 (17.5K)$0.60 · $0.00
Essential Vonnegut InterviewsKurt Vonnegut1h 17m4.1 (269)$16 · $0.00
The Analects of ConfuciusAnonymous4h 2m4.0 (35K)$1 · $0.00
CoventryRachel Cusk7h 30m3.8 (4.5K)$17
RosemaryKate Clifford Larson7h 44m4.1 (32.8K)$20 · $0.00
Albert EinsteinKathleen Krull2h 35m4.1 (334)$15
Mating in CaptivityEsther Perel8h 12m4.2 (62.1K)$8 · $0.00
13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don't DoAmy Morin10h 10m4.2 (4.7K)$29 · $0.00
Get It TogetherJesse Watters11h 33m4.0 (1.2K)$29 · $0.00
Inverse CowgirlAlicia Roth Weigel6h 31m4.1 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Power of ConflictJon Taffer6h 6m3.9 (292)$24 · $0.00