Einstein: His Life and Universe
 

Einstein: His Life and Universe

by Walter Isaacson

As a scientist, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Albert Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint, and what we know of him as a husband, father, and friend is fragmentary at best. With Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin and Kissinger) brings ... (read more)

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Member Reviews

  • jmadigan
    2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 4 stars

    A few years ago I had tried to read Walter Isaacson's biography on Benjamin Franklin, but just couldn't get through it because the author mired everything down in pointless details. Despite that, I decided to give his more recent book about famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein a try. If it turned out to be boring, I'd just drop it. Turned out, I loved it.

    What I loved about Isaacon's book here is the way it delicately balances three aspects: the life of Einstein from a strictly biographical angle, the examination of his scientific works like special and general relativity, and the discussion of how Einstein impacted and viewed the scientific zeitgeist of the early 20th century --particularly within the field of physics. I could see how someone setting out to write this book might want to focus on just one or two of these facets, but that would really be missing a huge opportunity. Each member of this trio of topics interacts with each other, and Isaacson finds ways to discuss two or more of them within the same passage. We get interesting little tidbits about Einstein's personal life and character, but we see how those things impacted the way he pursued his scientific work and thinking, and how that body of work turn defined (or, later, ran counter to) the entire field of physics. Seeing how all these pieces intersected and linked was fascinating.

    It's all pretty well written, too. We get neat little anecdotes about Einstein like how contrary to popular belief he never failed math, or how he married his cousin, had four citizenships, or how --SPOILER ALERT-- the coroner who performed his autopsy stole his fricking brain and kept it in a jar for years while periodically giving out pieces of it to friends. I'll admit that when Isaacson would go off on a lecture about special or general relativity my eyes would glaze over while trying to follow his discussion of say four-sided triangles in non-Euclidean space or whatever, but at least some of the time it was written at a level I could follow, at least conceptually. Enough to understand the impact it had on the field, at least until Einstein's own theories were supplanted by quantum theory. If I have any criticism of the book, it's that while Isaacson does an admirable job of placing Einstein's achievements within the context of scientific discoveries at that time, what he fails to do is give us much perspective on how much --if anything-- the modern science of today owes to Einstein and his theories. What did Einstein get wrong, and what parts of his theories have been crowded out by the inevitable march of scientific progress? Dunno. Didn't say.

    All in all, though, I found the book fascinating and would recommend it. I think I may go back and give the Ben Franklin book another shot.

    jmadigan wrote this review Tuesday, June 24 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • JimYung
    1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 4 stars

    An excellent biography of Albert Einstein. I'll admit that the parts that I enjoyed the most were the ones about his life and not his theories. Some of his theories, like relativity, I already knew, but I was in the dark about Quantum Mechanics and I didn't enjoy those as much. Isaacson was able to provide the backdrop about Einstein's work so it was accessible to many readers. Einstein was a superstar and treated as such. I'd be interested in seeing if a man/woman of science could be as internationally reknowed and famous as Einstein. Einstein's theories were groundbreaking but did they really mean much to the lives of the layman? I'm still in the dark about why he was so popular.

    JimYung wrote this review Wednesday, November 14 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • tungsten
    1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 4 stars

    This is, perhaps, the best biography of Einstein I've ever read. The focus on Einstein the man versus Einstein the scientist was refreshing. Despite the heft of the book it was an entertaining read the entire time.

    While Isaacson certainly spent a great deal of time talking about Einstein's discoveries he spent an equal amount of time probing the man behind them. The personal letters the biography was in part based upon offered an interesting look inside Einstein's mind. They were often quoted in the book so that we read what Einstein thought versus what the author inferred.

    It was interesting to see how life experiences shaped Einstein's scientific journey and, quite honestly, to see that behind the scientific icon was a regular guy who made plenty of mistakes - both professionally and personally.

    tungsten wrote this review Tuesday, September 25 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • saturn_reads
    1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 5 stars

    Five stars! At 550 pages I wasn't sure what to expect but this bio by Isaacson is an engaging, can't put it down read. The science is accessible (and detailed) but we also get an incredible portrait of Einstein as a man.

    saturn_reads wrote this review Wednesday, June 6 2007. ( reply | permalink )
  • HeIsSailing
    • Rated 2 stars

    Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson. Finished reading 29 Sep 2008. 2/5 stars.

    This was not a bad read if you are interested in the recently discovered details of Einstein's sometimes troubled family life, or his later philosophising on socialism and pacifism. However the science of Einstein is treated in this book on a level which is not useful for either the physicist or the novice.

    Einstein's immortal scientific legacy was secure by the time he was 40 years old, maybe even 25 years old. Yet the science is treated so superficially, that the chapter 'Einstein's Universe' which describes his astounding insights and experimental confirmation of general relativity, covers a mere 13 pages out of a 650 page book. Yet, in that short span, the science is described with jargon laced talking points that will only confuse the lay-reader.

    This book does a serviceable job of describing Einstein's life and times, but for a good read on his science, I rather recommend Abraham Pais' Subtle is the Lord. The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein.

    HeIsSailing wrote this review 4 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • patricia s.
    • Rated 3 stars

    Never finished this one, but I liked what I read, learning about Einstein a little more personally. Will probably pick it up again another time.

    patricia s. wrote this review Monday, September 1 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • scott d
    • Rated 4 stars

    Great Book...

    scott d wrote this review Saturday, August 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • John Dishon
    • Rated 5 stars

    A captivating tale of one of the world's greatest minds. The best part is how you see Einstein as a fallible, compassionate human being, in addition to a scientific genius. A great book.

    John Dishon wrote this review Wednesday, July 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Sudherson V
    • Rated 4 stars

    After I read this book I thought, "How a brain can contemplate so many complex things, sit in a chair and give solutions to problems that are exploding billions of light years away ?"

    Sudherson V wrote this review Thursday, July 17 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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