Einstein

his life and universe

675 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 2007 by Simon & Schuster.

ISBN:
978-0-7394-8903-1
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OCLC Number:
893608664

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4 stars (8 reviews)

The first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. Biographer Isaacson 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 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.--From publisher description.

29 editions

His brilliance and, yes, his flaws

5 stars

Everything that has fascinated me about Einstein is here. Above all it's the wonder of his two breakthroughs on relativity. Stephen Hawking set me up nicely to enjoy Walter Isaacson's elegant summaries for the lay person. Relativity is for everyone!

Next, the philosophy and science issue. Isaacson doesn't pass definitive judgement, but he lays it out. Einstein's rejection of aspects of quantum theory was a flaw. It seemed to stem from his belief in "Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists". That's OK, but when confronted with the evidence supporting quantum theory, Einstein's strict adherence to this pantheist position became like a dogma. It takes a strong, clear argument to make a convincing critique of Albert fucking Einstein, but Isaacson does it.

I only take off half a star because early on Isaacson declares that Einstein "believed in god". You can't say it so baldly, …

Review of 'Einstein His Life and Universe' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I finished reading one of the best biographies I've read in the recent past. Walter Isaacson has done a wonderful job composing this biography. This book changed my view about Einstein completely. He he is something much more than a brilliant physicist. Einstein is a man with a good sense of humor, never got tired of making romance till his last breath and a humanist by heart. Just like a good scientist would do, he changed his opinion about war and conflicts based on the circumstances and always pushed for the betterment of the human race.
The first sentence of the speech he was drafting in his deathbed to be delivered later if he lived to do it indicates his unshaken spirit which took him for a 76 year long journey.
"I speak to you today not as an American citizen and not as a Jew, but as a human …

Review of 'Einstein' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is an incredibly well researched, detailed account of all aspects of Einstein's life, personal, scientific and political that I can highly recommend to anybody interested. I learned heaps I didn't know and had the record set straight on a number of points, mainly regarding Einstein's political views, how they changed over time and his level of support for setting up the Manhattan Project.

I read the book with a specific research agenda, which was to independently form an opinion as to whether Einstein was autistic, an idea not first suggested by me and not on the author's mind either. Conclusion: Yep, autisticker than an autistic person with autism.

Towards the end there is an account of how Einstein was affected by and responded to McCarthyism. He was opposed, seeing in it the oppression of free speech and free thought characteristic of both Fascism and Communism. The author takes the …

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Subjects

  • Physicists
  • Biography
  • Friends and associates
  • Relativity (Physics)
  • Unified field theories
  • Friendship