Rating: 
Summary: Must reading for a better sense of the man
Review: I had been familiar with the Kenny book "Wittgenstein" and "Wittgenstein's Vienna" but after having read Monk's vol 1 on Russell knew this would be an excellent read. Oddly enough it left me with the question, "Are geniuses born or made?" Much of what Monk did for us with this book was give us a solid feel for the life of the person within which the philosophy could make sense. Why did Wittgenstein write the way he did? Answered. What issues drove him? Answered. I would say this book is must reading for a better sense of the man.
Rating:
Summary: I think Monk performs his humble biographer's duty.
Review: I read this book to understand the enigmatic man that is Wittgenstein, with little intention to get to grips with his philosophy; but Monk seems to bind the man and his philosophy so well that I realized I could not understand the man without getting to grips with some of the broad fundamentals of his philosophy - and all of this ended up making for a very satisfying read, such is Monk's loving frankness in dealing with his subject.
Monk provided so many quotes from Wittgenstein and his friends that I quickly settled into trusting him as a scholarly biographer, which is essential for putting the reader at ease in this genre. But Monk also provided his own interpretations, which did not make for a confused text, unlike some oher biographies, e.g., Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington's "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer". The result of Monk's work was that, on the one hand, there were enough quotations to allow one to form one's own judgement, to weigh up the pros and cons against Monk's own interpretations, but, on the other hand, plenty of Monk's views to help the reader flesh things out, while keeping a clear view of the facts.
I reserve one small complaint for Monk's style: he has sufficient vocabulary and plenty of ways of forming his sentences, but he's not very literary - quite a laborious prose writer, I think; he completely lacks brilliance in style. Still, he is utterly competent, and the reason it is a small complaint, and doesn't affect my rating, is because the content of the book is so interesting, and style means nothing if the biography doesn't render a reasonably believable truth.
Rating:
Summary: Enthusiastic by accident
Review: I'm not a philosopher, but a person I know, who was talking with others about this theme, put me on their e-mail distribution list by accident. So I got to know about Ludwig Wittgenstein somehow by accident and ended up reading 5 books about his life and work. Among those 5, neither of them is bad, but I really fell for this one by Ray Monk.Wittgenstein is an unbelievably versatile and contradictory man and scientist, and Monk does not miss any detail of W.'s public and private life, may it be admirable (like his wide skills and modest lifestyle) or disgusting (like his esteem for Otto Weininger's trashy writings or his style of punishing school kids). While other authors (esp. G.H. von Wright) beat around the bush mysteriously with some "groundless legends" without any further explanation, Monk comes right to the point and divides truth from rumours. And he does it in a way that is, firstly, always based on exact sources, mostly quoted from contemporary diaries and letters, secondly, whatever he says about W.'s good or ugly sides, in summary it will be suited to let the reader understand and take a fancy to this philosophical genius, thirdly, Monk tells about this man in a manner full of suspense, that would not let you stop reading this pretty thick book until the very last page. And finally, Monk has embedded everything in a meaningful picture of European history of the first half of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: Wittgenstein: cleaning the room
Review: Monk opens with light and skillfull gestures the ascetic rooms of Wittgenstein - as well moral and intellectual as material and personal ones - revealing to a reader the stunning integrity and piety that characterized and encompassed all the aspects and areas of Wittgenstein's "miraclous life"; all the rooms became eventually one - with a beautiful and moving view inward to one remarkable life and "its acutely felt world". Philosophy and life coincided and defined each other in Monk's tour de force. I recommend Monk's work to anyone intellectually honest, (yet!) morally sensitive person striving for the meaning in and beyond the ("stream" of) every day world and life of modern man.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding, vivid, compassionate biography
Review: Monk's book is the most enjoyable and interesting biography I have read. Clearly he starts with one of the most striking publically-known lives of the twentieth century, but he surpasses McGuinness' account in supple movement from person to context, in clarity, and in brevity. The book was very helpful in illuminating Wittgenstein's philosophy and, in places, extremely moving. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Biographies I have read
Review: Not only is Ludwig Wittgenstein one of the most fascinating and influential philosophers of the 20th century, but he is also one of the most interesting persons too. Ray Monk does an incredible job of probing into Wittgenstein's psyche, and the result is an extremely intimate, gripping tale of a man possessed with a unique mind and similarly original attitude towards life. Wittgenstein reminds me of what a 7th century monk might have been like. Monk handles Wittgenstein's complex philosophy well sithout over simplifying it. Moreover, he never tries to separate W's philosophy from his personality. Since they are so closely linked, it would be a big mistake to do so, and Monk deftly avoids doing so. Finally, I particularly liked the dozens and dozens of personal letters we have from W. and how Monk interpret's W's often bizarre behavior (he had a penchant for American detective stories...). Just a great book about a great mind which will no doubt leave its mark.
Rating: 
Summary: A botch.
Review: One certainly couldn't fault Mr. Monk for being clever! Monk is the kind of biographer LW would've wanted. He approaches LW's life with the god-awful seriousness LW himself did. I can take it from LW, but who the hell is Monk. Better try Bartley's _Wittgenstein_ or even Toulmin's _Witts. Vienna._
Rating:
Summary: A great biography
Review: Ray Monk has written an excellent book about Wittgenstein. I can say without doubt that this is one of the best books I have ever read. Ray Monk is professor of philosophy at the University of Southampton in England. He studied Wittgenstein at Oxford University, and has also written an extensive biography about Russell. In an interview I did with Monk for a Norwegian newspaper, Monk emphasized that he admired Wittgenstein's intensity, and that he sees two important traits in Wittgenstein's personality: (1) his demand for intellectual clarity, (2) his demand for ethical perfection. The book gives you insight into the person and philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. One learns that Wittgenstein's life and philosophy are intimately connected, and one may wonder whether it is possible to understand Wittgenstein's work without knowing something about his life. Monk describes how the young Wittgenstein came into philosophy from engineering and mathematics. Wittgenstein showed an intense interest in philosophical problems, as Betrand Russell said "he had to understand or die". Wittgenstein studied in Cambridge, lived as a hermit in Norway, was a soldier under the first world war, a school teacher in Austria and professor in Cambridge. Monk describes Wittgenstein's life, and one may see how his life and philosophy are connected - for instance how the last part of Tractatus may be understood in light of the fact that Wittgenstein devloped a religious attitude to life and read Tolstoy intensively during the first world war. Wittgenstein was a true philosopher. He gave himself to the problems, and he truly struggled with them. The book may be very inspiring for serious scholars in many fields, as well as writers, poets, philosophy students and many others. Philosophy is more than a game of the name. Although Wittgenstein is very important to analytic philoophy, he must be understood as a thinker with a deep existential motivation. Althoug Wittgenstein was must be seen in relation to Frege and Russell, there are many other important writer that are important in relation to Wittgenstein, for instance Kant, Schopenhauer, Weininger, Kierkegaard and St. Augustine and others. Monk's biography helps to see Wittgenstein's approach to both life and philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: With this book, you may find a friend in Wittgenstein
Review: Ray Monk's biography of Wittgenstein has correctly been called 'definitive'. In the introduction he states as his goal the writing of a biography which neglects neither the humanity of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, nor his philosophical views, complicated though they may be. He succeeds brilliantly. The result is that the reader is treated to two books at once: one on 'the man', and one on his thought. Monk's is a tough job. If you know anything about Wittgenstein, you know he is enigmatic - both in terms of his personality and lifestyle, and also his perplexing, yet genius, philosophical views. Yet Monk presents both in as transparent a manner as is perhaps possible, given the nature of his subject. The book is eminently readable, which makes it length a ~positive~ feature. For example, I read the book a chapter at a time, to savour it. The readability comes in large part through Monk's extensive quotations from Wittgenstein's own diary and letters, and the letters of those who corresponded with him. This means that one is transported back to Wittgenstein's world, instead of reading just the dry prose of a biographer (Monk's own writing, of course, is anything but dry). Most importantly, though, Monk presents Wittgenstein in such a way that many people will be able to befriend this incredible and mysterious man. Wittgenstein was driven by passions - his need to express his thought in a way intelligible and meaningful to others drove him close to suicide on several occasions. He was a man deeply in need of feeling that he was 'understood' - both philosophically and humanly - which were the same for him. (Thus his mentor for a time Bertrand Russell failed on both accounts, as Monk finely illustrates). He loved his friends and detested all things which he considered base. He was a logician who broke down logic, a philosopher who wanted to put an end to much of philosophy, a hermit, a mystic. There is a mystique about Wittgenstein, and rightfully so. Those who read this book will either find him an eccentric, or they will in a way fall in love with this man. Either way, you will walk away with insight into one of the most startling, influential and powerful minds of our time.
Rating:
Summary: The denial of the necessity of reasons for religious beliefs
Review: Ray Monk's biography of Wittgenstein is both very detailed and very revealing.
He shows us perfectly Wittgenstein's apparent evolution from the logical-philosophical themes of the Tractatus over language-games to the philosophy of psychology.
At first sight, the later Wittgenstein denied completely his Tractatus work and cursed 'the wretched effect that the worship of science and the scientific method had upon our whole culture'.
But that is only apparently so, because the famous last sentence of the Tractatus - 'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent' - means that nothing can be said about the realm that was more important for him than logical theory: ethics.
The Tractatus is only a theory to preserve the purity of language.
Wittgenstein didn't sink into the morass of language. He was immediately drowned in it.
At the end of his life, Freud's work became his obsession and his comments on that work constituted an attempt to say something about what cannot be said.
The members of the 'Wiener Kreis' were completely astonished to discover that Wittgenstein was in no way a positivist like themselves.
Ray Monk gives us also a clear picture of Wittgenstein's complex and difficult character: his egotism, extreme possessiveness of his friends, fear of becoming loveless, difficulty to communicate, irascibility, mental instability ('see the madman in yourself'), his ambivalence about sexuality (a continuous battle between shame, sex and love) and his culpability. He was continuously seeking redemption for his sins, especially his pride and vanity.
This monumental biography is a very deep digging and extremely clear portrait of a controversial philosopher.
I also recommend Derek Jarman's feature film 'Wittgenstein'.
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