Considered "the Voltaire of his time", Bertrand Russell was a fearless iconoclast who stood unbowed before political and religious leaders; his disdain for conventional thinking and accepted beliefs set him apart from his academic peers and at odds with the authorities throughout his long and storied life.
In his celebrated essay, In Praise of Idleness, Russell champions the seemingly incongruous notion that realising our full potential - and thus enjoying the greatest possible success and happiness - is not accomplished by working harder or smarter, but through harnessing the extraordinary power of idleness.