a veritable and admirable work to get to the truth of the logic of all things. ludwig wittgenstein's attempt at understanding the world is clearly elucidated here, if in rather spare poetry that would force one to read twice or thrice. ultimately, he himself would showcase the much of the conclusions he reaches here are wrong, but the divide between 'early' and 'late' wittgenstein is not as wide as one might think, and one could already see the germs of his later, more seminal work. nonetheless, this book is still groundbreaking as it is—and who could claim that they changed philosophy only to later renounce that change? utterly amazing. what a mad lad.

it's a quick read, maybe about a hundred fifty pages or so, if even that; but it is very challenging. however, it's rewarding at the same time. the middle sections are the most difficult to get through but the later sections could literally change your life while reading them. that being said, even if this had been required reading for my major, i still find myself coming back to it again and again—which i guess says a lot, doesn't it?

it's funny, really, because if i looked at my freshman notes, i could distinctly remember hating this guy's logic. i was like "philosophy of language? that's the most boring shit ever, what the hell?' since i was more inclined towards, as all freshmen almost always are, towards the existentialists. and yet, here i am, aspiring to be a professor in the very same field, and i'm telling you now it's because of this man and this book.

that's all that needs to be said, really.

postscript: i wrote my thesis about ludwig's philosophy here so i may be biased—but i think that the latter's already been evident all throughout my review.