If you want to get a good sense of what modern philosophy (mainly English speaking) philosophy is all about, then you should work through Scruton's "Modern philosophy". For the most part it's a superb introduction - Scruton is profoundly conservative, but his book is extremely useful as a primer. The strength of this book is that it's organized thematically rather than in terms of the "great thinkers" (although Descartes, Kant, and especially Frege - if I recall correctly - come out as the great heroes)
If you're interested in taking a historical perspective, Anthony Kenny's new history of philosophy books (in 4 parts) are fantastic, and a much better overview than you'll get from Russell - for all it's idiosyncratic worth.
From there you'll be in a position to appreciate both the original texts and other introductions (much of philosophy is getting back to basics, so you'll never be rid of introductions ...)
If you're interested in taking a historical perspective, Anthony Kenny's new history of philosophy books (in 4 parts) are fantastic, and a much better overview than you'll get from Russell - for all it's idiosyncratic worth.
From there you'll be in a position to appreciate both the original texts and other introductions (much of philosophy is getting back to basics, so you'll never be rid of introductions ...)