Insightful and wonderfully written: a page-turner

books:


	• Einstein: His Life and Universe Walter Isaacson Simon & Schuster, 2008 - 704 pages average customer review:based on 189 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Commute Time

This is a very interesting read / listen. It is well worth the money and takes you all around the world while you are sitting in traffic.

layers of knowledge about a interesting man

The book is better understood by the picture near the front of the book of Einstein on his bike with the caption "Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance your must keep on moving". His life was one of change and balance on almost every front. His politics, faith, reputation and his influence in the world as well as his science changed and seemed to build on all parts of the whole.

This book was one that I found hard to put down. Perhaps the biggest surprise it contained was a clearer picture of Einstein's superstar status. Even more surprising was the ways that his fame allowed him to be of influence with world leaders and all of those around him.

His scientific work was presented with some real skill and it sort of unfolded as a part of his life and added a great deal of understanding even to the non-science parts of his life. It made his faith and his non-conformist ways more clear against the backdrop of his science. The presentation of his science was well done especially because of the way it was tied to the events in his life. The facts and knowledge presented may not have been deep enough if one was reading mainly to learn about his science but then it was indeed enough to make one want to learn more.

An important and very interesting way of understanding him came from the changes that were talking place in his world during his life and his view of events both as a scientist and as a Jew.

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Forever a rebel

The virtue of Walter Isaacson's _Einstein_ is that Isaacson had access to all of Einstein's surviving correspondence, much of which has only become available recently.

Readers who are interested in the intimate details of Einstein's far-from-perfect personal life will find a few new tidbits to fill out their sense of Einstein as a flesh-and-blood man rather than an icon.

But I was much more rewarded by the very evident care, detail and balance Isaacson showed in conveying the span and depth of Einstein's life and work.

In particular, I was left with a greater understanding of the extent to which Einstein's lifelong rebelliousness shaped his life and scientific career. From his early rejection of the rigidly authoritarian educational system he encountered as a child in Germany, through his ability to shrug off the fundamental assumptions of Newton's cosmos, to his quixotic rejection of quantum indeterminacy, Einstein lived and died a rebel.

He showed the same characteristic he eulogized in Ernst Mach, "incomparable skeptical independence."

A motto that he repeated many times was, "A foolish faith in orthodoxy is the worst enemy of truth."

At a time when "true believers" in religious and political orthodoxies claim to have a hammerlock on the truth, Einstein's life, not just his science, stands as a beacon to the world.

It's a light that Isaacson saw, understood, and revealed clearly.

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Insightful and wonderfully written: a page-turner

Walter Isaacson writes history so that it reads like an excellent, exciting novel. This biography is a page-turner.

Moreover, the author writes with subtle humor and great insight.

Isaacson's research is accurate and extensive, which makes it even more amazing that the book does not have the format of a history textbook.

This biography of Albert Einstein is filled with stories of a love affair, dear friendship, a failed marriage, his first wife's ruined career, his childhood insights, how the job at the patent office provided inspiration, his marriage to a first cousin who was also a second cousin, his family, his homes, his political and religious views, and his need for help with the mathematics related to his theoretical physics. We feel as if we know Albert Einstein personally as we read Isaacson's words.

Science is blended effortlessly with these tales of his personal life. Moreover, we learn so much along the way, painlessly and joyfully.

Every word is carefully selected; nothing needs to be cut.

Isaacson's grammar is perfect, which is extremely refreshing. Many modern authors cause me to believe that I should have a red pen to correct grammatical errors while reading their works.

Walter Isaacson's book on Benjamin Franklin is also absolutely wonderful, with similar qualities. (Hence my review of that book is similar to this review.)

Recently, some psychologists have labeled Einstein posthumously as autistic, suffering from Asperger's syndrome. Others strongly disagree with this diagnosis, and Isaacson recognizes Einstein as a genius who enjoyed the company of other people and reveled in his fame.

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a terrific read

This is the only biography of Einstein I have ever read. However, I have also read a number of non-biographical works including one written by Einstein himself. This book was by far, the best I've read on the present subject. Whatever its flaws, the book was assiduously researched and presents both theories of relativity (special and general) in clear, non-technical language. After reading it I now have a fairly good understanding of what relativity means. This is a testament to the author's painstaking efforts to render comprehensible, inherently difficult (at least to me) subject matter.

It is my understanding that Isaacson invested five years researching and writing this text. It shows!

I learned a lot from this book. It flowed extremely well, never dragged and was thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

Need I say more?

Five stars, all the way!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

By the author of the acclaimed bestseller Benjamin Franklin, this is the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available.

How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson's biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.

Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk -- a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate -- became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals.

These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.

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