Outside of that, there's a whole industry pumping out books on the man. Most of them are dull or misleading.
Ray Monk's biography "Wittgenstein, The Duty of Genius" is pretty good on the philosophy and gives a fascinating account of his very strange life.
A quick word of warning: Wittgenstein's philosophy is notoriously difficult for numerous reasons. For example, his writing style was cryptic to say the least (in The Philosophical Investigations he keeps asking questions and then not answering them; after a while you sort of wish you'd bought the teachers' edition with the answers in the back).
But the real problem is: if you're not troubled by philosophical problems then you'll most likely wonder what all the fuss is about. It's a bit like taking an asprin when you don't have a headache.
And if you are bothered by philosophical problems it's very hard to appreciate what he's saying because he attacks things at such a fundamental level.
Having said all that, there's nothing quite like reading the man himself. The Philosophical Investigations is (imho) one of the most startling, perplexing and beautifully written works of philosophy. Here's one of my fave passages:
In what sense are my sensations private? - Well, only I can know whether I am really in pain; another person can only surmise it. - In one way this is wrong, and in another nonsense. If we are using the word "to know" as it is normally used (and how else are we to use it?), then other people very often know when I am in pain. - Yes, but all the same not with the certainty with which I know it myself! - It can't be said of me at all (except perhaps as a joke) that I know I am in pain. What is it supposed to mean - except perhaps that I am in pain?Statistics: Posted by Captain Howdy — Mon May 15, 2006 5:29 pm
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