Einstein: His Life and Universe

As the title of this review indicates I am ashamed to admit I am a scientific illiterate. I barely got through high school Chemistry and Trigonometry. As such I was reluctant to try this book. But I loved Isaacson's work on Franklin, and as such decided to give this a try. I could not put this book down. The greatest attribute I can pay to this book is that while parts of it were unfathomable to me, I persevered through them with the knowledge that soon I would again be enjoying Isaacson's incredible narrative. This book is not simply a biography. Nor is it, as I wrongly anticipated, an incomprehensible analysis of advanced scientific thought. Rather it is a look at the burning issues of the 20th Century (Nationalism, Socialism and Communism, Appeasement and the rise of Nazism, Hiroshima, McCarthyism...) through the life of its greatest thinker.

If, like me, you are among the unenlightened regarding Physics and high level Math, do not be intimidated by this book. You too will wade through relativity, electromagnetism, and the search for a unified field theory, knowing that soon you will be back to a more understandable summary of a wonderful life.

The book is absolutely magnificent. For those of us who have read Dawkin's account of Einstein's beliefs (in the God Delusion), which contradicts the account of this book as far as what, if any, kind of deity Einstein believed in, it would be nice if someone would resolve the issue.

Previous reviews have called this book a real page turner. That is very true... and you will have to turn a lot of pages to get to the end. I found myself looking forward to the end. I was exhausted. However, the portrait is well drawn and with a loving hand.

The book climaxed about half way through with the birth of the relativity theory (as did Einstein's life). After the great breakthroughs Einstein settled into a role of cultural icon without much additional scientific output. And the book likewise moves on to Einstein the activist celebrity.

I was fascinated to learn how Einstein epitomized and perhaps helped shape what is the modern humanist style celebrity. The usual stuff... lover of mankind but a jackass to his own family. But, you'll find yourself still liking the guy! He was the original.

And therein lies the saving grace of this huge book. You'll probably learn as much about the inner life of Einstein as you ever will... from a book. The author attemps to describe the multiple threads of circumstance and thought that went into Einstein's theories -- scientific, philosophic and personal. I think he is fairly successful at it.

If you wnat to learn more about Einstein the man and take a romp through the tumultuous fist half of the twentieth century try this book on for size. It's large but comfy.

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.

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.