A wonderful biography of a unique, fascinating and enthralling person. The author brings freshness to this much-written subject by drawing on voluminous personal correspondence that remained sealed for 50 years following Einstein's death. The book is a remarkable achievement by being both highly readable and accessible, and providing scientifically sound explanations for the lay person of complex concepts of physics. As a history of science, of the early 20th century, and as a perspective on one of the most engaging and innovative personalities ever, this book is total education and refreshment. Especially moving is the fundamental thread of Einstein's personality as a lifelong quest for unifying principles, married to unsentimental devotion to reason, logic and a faith in the comprehensibility of the universe. (Good luck with that one.)

I had a mild interest in reading about Einstein, but frankly put off reading this biography for the simple reason that it seemed thicker than my interest. But what a wonderful read it is. Isaacson does a graceful job of keeping the pace moving, and an estimable job of explaining the science (to us non-scientists) without letting it bog down the story.
And, quite simply, Einstein is also a fascinating person to read about, especially his later life as an internationalist and world icon. Highly recommended.

Very interesting book. Easy to understand. A fascinating overview of WWI and WWII. Well-written, informative and enjoyable to read. Hard to put down.

Isaacson's biography comes in at 551 pages in the hardcover edition. Given the heft, if you want to hit a demographic of more general readers, you better offer more than just Einstein's contributions to science. Isaacson nails this higher standard by offering an Einstein who is an archetypical freethinker of Western Civilization in the twentieth century, providing the reader a personal glimpse into the technological, cultural, religious, and political movements that drove that century.

After quickly moving through Einstein's youth where Isaacson destroys many of the falsehoods regarding Einstein as a child supposedly not showing much promise; Isaacson then focuses much of the first part of the book on Einstein's development of the theory of general relativity and his development of relationships within the scientific community that allows him to work on a broad array of issues within theoretical physics, but also partnering with others on engineering projects as well. This part of the book will reward those primarily interested in better understanding the creation and progression of the theories in which Einstein contributed his expertise.

I would also recommend that readers monitor the online website sciencedailydotcom as they read this book. I was amazed at how many times news stories cropped up confirming some aspect of Einstein's arguments that Einstein was forced to infer or was weakly validated with evidence given the lack of modern day equipment. It's impressive to track what is mostly the validation of his arguments but also the occasional falsification with additional empirical evidence we are now collecting.

Isaacson explains the science so any high school student who passed physics can easily understand. For those that are not at that level, I still recommend reading the book since Isaacson serves it up in fairly small doses and concentrates much of it in the earlier part of the book, plus the explanations are simple enough anyone should understand some of the more major findings. This part of the book is a bit of dry read, but will serve the reader as a useful resource for future reference. I've probably got about 50 notations I marked on especially illuminating topics.

I found the last part of the book that focused on the non-scientific aspects of Einstein's life particularly interesting and well worth the investment in time given the size of the book. I'm not sure Isaacson consciously decided to make Einstein an archetypical freethinker of the twentieth century, but I've never read about a more worthy candidate to view the development of liberalism and its resultant benefits in the twentieth century with the possible exception of FDR. In fact, I would view FDR as the leader of the movement and Einstein as a perfect example legitimizing why we should strive for liberal democracies, especially given Einstein's fellow scientists' contributions to weaponry used against Germany, where most of these fellows resided prior to the rise of Nazism.

I was very impressed with how quickly Einstein was able to develop strong positions regarding his beliefs in politics, religion, and economics, starting in his early teens where he quickly realized the logical absurdities of organized religion. What has taken me decades to develop in regards to my core principles Einstein developed within a few short years as he takes on these topics. Besides being an especially prescient thinker about these issues, Isaacson's Einstein held positions that were often solidified well before such positions were popular. His positions were consistently predictive; where Einstein willingly discarded certain core beliefs if the evidence argued heavily against it - just like any good scientist does by constantly attempting to falsify their theories with the best opposing arguments.

A great example is how Einstein perceived the threat Nazism posed to Germany well before most people realized they were a threat to anyone, which caused Einstein to emigrate from Germany in the very early 1930's while many of his Jewish scientific colleagues stayed behind at that time, though many got out a few years after. By that time Einstein was a well-known pacifist, having been very outspoken about World War I, however when Germany started invading their neighbors and the war drums started pounding for a new world war, Einstein's fellow pacifists were shockingly disappointed that Einstein wisely discarded his pacifism and supported the free world using force against Germany, showing that Einstein was no blind ideologue even for his closely held beliefs.

Isaacson's freethinking Einstein doesn't just address the positive aspects employed by freethinking and secularism, but also the social risks that occur as traditional institutions like the sanctity of marriage and family if they are separated from the fear of ostracization by one's religious community - a non-factor for the secular Einstein. Isaacson's Einstein is an incredibly selfish husband and father to the point of effectively disowning a son though no fault of the son's.

Many of the sources used to report on Einstein's life were published for the first time in this book given the release of a huge cache of correspondence between Einstein and others that was owned by the family and never offered to previous biographers. Here we see a more humanized Einstein, even though his humanity always was evident during his life and subsequent biographies. There is also an almost comedic storyline regarding the ineptness of FBI surveillance against the perfectly harmless Einstein, with a kicker regarding Einstein's relationship with a spy that I won't elaborate on here since I view it as a spoiler. The spy story was never told in previous biographies given that a subject country just released its files on Einstein just prior to Isaacson starting this book.

Some of this new documentation also provides Isaacson the opportunity to effectively discredit a favorite meme going around in social conservative circles that Einstein was sympathetic to their beliefs in the existence of a creationist / intelligent designer providential God who fine-tuned the universe. Isaacson goes for the jugular and discredits any notion this falsehood is true. A certain creationist cretin named Ray Comfort, who is working with an ex-TV child actor, actually claims he is the next Einstein and this is getting a lot of traction with social conservatives. Given that social conservatives have been actively and massively involved in historical revisionism regarding Western Civilization and their role in it, Isaacson's focus on Einstein's religious beliefs was most welcomed by me to set the record straight to attempt to rebut this effort.

Isaacson dedicates a full chapter on Einstein's god after first explaining in another full chapter Einstein's perception of the Universe. Isaacson's reportage is nuanced and perfectly constructs and deconstructs many of Einstein's communications on these matters, some of which often appeared contradictory unless one understood how Einstein used certain terms and framed some of his perceptions regarding reality. For example, Einstein occasionally claimed to be religious, but his use of the term meant the challenge to obtain knowledge beyond what science knew regarding the underlying forces of the universe, and not blind faith in religious dogma that one could never know and therefore "God must of have done it".

As a summary, if one wants to better understand the twentieth century in terms of how we progressed from zero liberal democracies in 1900 to one hundred and twenty countries coupled with incredible progress in understanding the universe and leveraging that knowledge in technology leaps that is difficult to comprehend even looking backward; than Isaacson's Einstein provides the perfect archetype from which to view that progress at a more personal level. Einstein's approach to thinking and responding to societal issues will certainly now personally serve as a model for me on how to view civilization just like I was influenced by John Locke, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Crick & Watson, Gates, Jobs, Venter, and soon I hope, Obama. Therefore I am grateful this book was written and I invested the time to learn from it.

Isaacson's biography comes in at 551 pages in the hardcover edition. Given the heft, if you want to hit a demographic of more general readers, you better offer more than just Einstein's contributions to science. Isaacson nails this higher standard by offering an Einstein who is an archetypical freethinker of Western Civilization in the twentieth century, providing the reader a personal glimpse into the technological, cultural, religious, and political movements that drove that century.

After quickly moving through Einstein's youth where Isaacson destroys many of the falsehoods regarding Einstein as a child supposedly not showing much promise; Isaacson then focuses much of the first part of the book on Einstein's development of the theory of general relativity and his development of relationships within the scientific community that allows him to work on a broad array of issues within theoretical physics, but also partnering with others on engineering projects as well. This part of the book will reward those primarily interested in better understanding the creation and progression of the theories in which Einstein contributed his expertise.

I would also recommend that readers monitor the online website sciencedailydotcom as they read this book. I was amazed at how many times news stories cropped up confirming some aspect of Einstein's arguments that Einstein was forced to infer or was weakly validated with evidence given the lack of modern day equipment. It's impressive to track what is mostly the validation of his arguments but also the occasional falsification with additional empirical evidence we are now collecting.

Isaacson explains the science so any high school student who passed physics can easily understand. For those that are not at that level, I still recommend reading the book since Isaacson serves it up in fairly small doses and concentrates much of it in the earlier part of the book, plus the explanations are simple enough anyone should understand some of the more major findings. This part of the book is a bit of dry read, but will serve the reader as a useful resource for future reference. I've probably got about 50 notations I marked on especially illuminating topics.

I found the last part of the book that focused on the non-scientific aspects of Einstein's life particularly interesting and well worth the investment in time given the size of the book. I'm not sure Isaacson consciously decided to make Einstein an archetypical freethinker of the twentieth century, but I've never read about a more worthy candidate to view the development of liberalism and its resultant benefits in the twentieth century with the possible exception of FDR. In fact, I would view FDR as the leader of the movement and Einstein as a perfect example legitimizing why we should strive for liberal democracies, especially given Einstein's fellow scientists' contributions to weaponry used against the Germans, where most of these fellows resided prior to the rise of Nazism.

I was very impressed with how quickly Einstein was able to develop strong positions regarding his beliefs in politics, religion, and economics, starting in his early teens where he quickly realized the logical absurdities of organized religion. What has taken me decades to develop in regards to my core principles Einstein developed within a few short years as he takes on these topics. Besides being an especially prescient thinker about these issues, Isaacson's Einstein held positions that were often solidified well before such positions were popular. His positions were consistently predictive; where Einstein willingly discarded certain core beliefs if the evidence argued heavily against it - just like any good scientist does by constantly attempting to falsify their theories with the best opposing arguments.

A great example is how Einstein perceived the threat Nazism posed to Germany well before most people realized they were a threat to anyone, which caused Einstein to emigrate from Germany in the very early 1930's while many of his Jewish scientific colleagues stayed behind at that time, though many got out a few years after. By that time Einstein was a well-known pacifist, having been very outspoken about World War I, however when Germany started invading their neighbors and the war drums started pounding for a new world war, Einstein's fellow pacifists were shockingly disappointed that Einstein wisely discarded his pacifism and supported the free world using force against Germany, showing that Einstein was no blind ideologue even for his closely held beliefs.

Isaacson's freethinking Einstein doesn't just address the positive aspects employed by freethinking and secularism, but also the social risks that occur as traditional institutions like the sanctity of marriage and family if they are separated from the fear of ostracization by one's religious community - a non-factor for the secular Einstein. Isaacson's Einstein is an incredibly selfish husband and father to the point of effectively disowning a son though no fault of the son's.

Many of the sources used to report on Einstein's life were published for the first time in this book given the release of a huge cache of correspondence between Einstein and others that was owned by the family and never offered to previous biographers. Here we see a more humanized Einstein, even though his humanity always was evident during his life and subsequent biographies. There is also an almost comedic storyline regarding the ineptness of FBI surveillance against the perfectly harmless Einstein, with a kicker regarding Einstein's relationship with a spy that I won't elaborate on here since I view it as a spoiler. The spy story was never told in previous biographies given that a subject country just released its files on Einstein just prior to Isaacson starting this book.

Some of this new documentation also provides Isaacson the opportunity to effectively discredit a favorite meme going around in social conservative circles that Einstein was sympathetic to their beliefs in the existence of a creationist / intelligent designer providential God who fine-tuned the universe. Isaacson goes for the jugular and discredits any notion this falsehood is true. A certain creationist cretin named Ray Comfort, who is working with an ex-TV child actor, actually claims he is the next Einstein and this is getting a lot of traction with social conservatives. Given that social conservatives have been actively and massively involved in historical revisionism regarding Western Civilization and their role in it, Isaacson's focus on Einstein's religious beliefs was most welcomed by me to set the record straight to attempt to rebut this effort.

Isaacson dedicates a full chapter on Einstein's god after first explaining in another full chapter Einstein's perception of the Universe. Isaacson's reportage is nuanced and perfectly constructs and deconstructs many of Einstein's communications on these matters, some of which often appeared contradictory unless one understood how Einstein used certain terms and framed some of his perceptions regarding reality. For example, Einstein occasionally claimed to be religious, but his use of the term meant the challenge to obtain knowledge beyond what science knew regarding the underlying forces of the universe, and not blind faith in religious dogma that one could never know and therefore "God must of have done it".

As a summary, if one wants to better understand the twentieth century in terms of how we progressed from zero liberal democracies in 1900 to one hundred and twenty. Political progress that is coupled with incredible progress in understanding the universe and leveraging that knowledge in technology leaps that is difficult to comprehend even looking backward; than Isaacson's Einstein provides the perfect archetype from which to view that progress at a more personal level. Einstein's approach to thinking and responding to societal issues will certainly now serve as a model for me on how to view civilization just like I was influenced by John Locke, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Crick & Watson, Gates, Jobs, Venter, and soon I hope, Obama.

So much for so little! An enjoyable multifaceted look at one of the most brilliant minds of our time, Isaacson does a great job depicting the inner workings of Einstein's thought processes and his famous thought experiments. I frequently use thought experiments in my product development, so I really enjoyed that aspect. Given the numerous comprehensive reviews written, I will stick to the most important realizations or conclusions perhaps not touched upon.

Einstein, as a young bohemian was a free spirited and fearless free thinker with the knowledge that a comprehensive view was always best. Unfortunately, later in life he conformed to his own "conventional" wisdom, and as sophisticated as this wisdom may have been, this would prove to hinder his thought processes later in life. With Einstein's own thought process now "stuck" within a box he himself built, the rest of his life would prove to be an exercise in futility running countless equations, without the right tools, literally up until the day he died. The stubborn and rebellious nature of this great thinker, which led him to greatness in the first place, would now be the source of his torment, which he did seem to come to peace with at the end.

Einstein's reluctance to embrace quantum mechanics and his fear of accepting the "evil or spooky" quanta hindered any further ground breaking developments. I can't help believe that with the supremacy of Einstein's mind, had he only embraced quantum mechanics, he may have been able to understand the seemingly inconsistent continuity and realize there was no "conflict" between all of the theories; general relativity and the possibility of the unified theory included. Quanta could have bridged this in his mind, but his fear of nothing being left of his "castle of general relativity in the sky" was just too much for him to bare. At the same time, this proves Einstein more than sensed his own barrier, which turned out to literally be the cause of his failure. How sad indeed that the master of free thinking could egotistically conform to his own constraints, impede his own progress and turn into what he had fought against so passionately throughout his younger years! Einstein, Einstein, Einstein!

Well researched, entertaining and thought provoking, I give Einstein: His Life and Universe a huge thumbs up! Nichol J. Nelson

Isn't it amazing what a person can accomplish with quiet little "thought experiments" while looking out the window from a job that does not absorb all of the intellect and imagination? Isn't it also interesting that Einstein's best work was accomplished early in his career when he was struggling economically and involved in a tumultuous marriage? Perhaps it shows that a great intellect can function by detaching itself from the noise of daily life. Perhaps the subconscious mind is the source of the greatest thoughts.

Contrary our unfortunate tendency to consider Einstein only for his brain, Isaacson's book focuses on the humanity of the Professor, including his struggles, failures, odd quirks and ideas, and endless curiosity. In an age of mindless entertainment, how much we need people with minds that are vitally interested in peeling away the next layer of mystery enveloping the universe! If Einstein had one passion, it was just to understand how the entire mechanism of creation works from the sub-atomic to the inter-galactic. If Einstein had one unique talent, it was his irreverence for conventional thinking and a special ability to see and visualize from an entirely new viewpoint. His unconventionality ultimately made him successful AND endearing.

Isaacson's biography is well-worth reading and then sharing with a friend who also has a spark of curiosity about the man and his place in scientific and popular history. Einstein was a man of peace who loved sailing and music, yet in many chapters of his life peace eluded him due to events beyond his control. The reader can sympathize with Einstein when his last great quest for a unified field theory continued to elude him (despite newspaper headlines that he was on the verge of a breakthrough) and his health failed him while equations continued to flow from his pen. I hope his life story will encourage a new generation of thinkers to follow imaginations and never lose their curiosity. Debra Lawrence, Author of THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams

I enjoyed this immensely, but found myself wishing that I had gotten the unabridged version. The narrative would cut off before fully covering the topic at hand, and sometimes I would find myself deep into a subject that needed more introduction. I am sure the full version would have avoided these issues. Otherwise, it was an intriguing story -- so much so that I ordered the printed version to allow me to get the whole story.

If anyone out there is similar to me in trying to find ways to utilize the time spent commuting back and forth to work the 18 CD audio version of Einstein is just the ticket. I am neither an Einstein expert or neophyte but was in fact just interested in expanding on my core knowledge and world/american history. I can fervently admit I have achieved both having just completed the final CD. You will no doubt find a number of reviews contained herein debating the pros and cons of this body of work by Isaacson. This collection of CD's is a no-brainer. Wonderful information intelligently read aloud by Edward Herrmann covering the entire life of one of the world's most enlightened thinkers. Don't hesitate to purchase it - it is worth every dollar.

I read about 1/2 of the book, getting to the time of his life where he generated his historic theories about relativity. It was generally interesting, but I moved on to other books instead of finishing.

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

As the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda, never drove an automobile, and squandered the wise years of old age in beating up Mathematics for the sake of chilling Physics. While Einstein chose theoretical physics; a hen that lays few eggs, experimentalists such as Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie had laid many golden eggs that advanced modern science to highest level. Rutherford chased the mystery of the Neutron for two decades while Curie and her daughter unravelled the mystery of radioactivity -artificial and natural- and thus established a new era of nuclear physics, in the maintime when Einstein was chasing his own tail over mathematical abstraction.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconciles the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation. Furthermore, the writer did not shy away from the controversy of awarding Einstein the Nobel Prize for the work pioneered by Philipp Lenard, while the theory of relativity remained a philosophical puzzle. Even Einstein had poked holes in his own theory while attacking Quantum mechanics for spooky actions at distances. Niels Bohr's explanation that objects entangled in actions serve a defined quantum function explains how all objects in the universe serve specific quantum function by lieu of their entanglement in gravitational actions. An explanation that defeats the main argument about the relativistic nature of time postulated by Einstein.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; were in any way signs of his overall detachment both from science and life? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientists with extravagant privileges undermines their ability to excel in their field of search for knowledge?

Though Einstein lived long enough to enjoy the demise of Nazism and Fascism, the success of tapping into the nuclear energy, he died few years before the invasion of space became reality, the wide proliferation of the solid-state computers, laser applications, particle accelerators, discovery of the genetic codes, the end of McCarthyism and the triumph of the civil rights movement.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie.
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines of knowledge, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

As the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda, never drove an automobile, and squandered the wise years of old age in beating up Mathematics for the sake of chilling Physics. While Einstein chose theoretical physics; a hen that lays few eggs, experimentalists such as Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie had laid many golden eggs that advanced modern science to highest level. Rutherford chased the mystery of the Neutron for two decades while Curie and her daughter unravelled the mystery of radioactivity -artificial and natural- and thus established a new era of nuclear physics, in the maintime when Einstein was chasing his own tail over mathematical abstraction.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconciles the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation. Furthermore, the writer did not shy away from the controversy of awarding Einstein the Nobel Prize for the work pioneered by Philipp Lenard, while the theory of relativity remained a philosophical puzzle. Even Einstein had poked holes in his own theory while attacking Quantum mechanics for spooky actions at distances. Niels Bohr's explanation that objects entangled in actions serve a defined quantum function explains how all objects in the universe serve specific quantum function by lieu of their entanglement in gravitational actions. An explanation that defeats the main argument about the relativistic nature of time postulated by Einstein.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; were in any way signs of his overall detachment both from science and life? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientists with extravagant privileges undermines their ability to excel in their field of search for knowledge?

Though Einstein lived long enough to enjoy the demise of Nazism and Fascism, the success of tapping into the nuclear energy, he died few years before the invasion of space became reality, the wide proliferation of the solid-state computers, laser applications, particle accelerators, discovery of the genetic codes, the end of McCarthyism and the triumph of the civil rights movement.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie.
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines of knowledge, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of the Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

As the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda, never drove an automobile, and squandered the wise years of old age in beating up Mathematics for the sake of chilling Physics.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconciles the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation. Furthermore, the writer did not shy away from the controversy of awarding Einstein the Nobel Prize for the work pioneered by Philipp Lenard, while the theory of relativity remained a philosophical puzzle. Even Einstein had poked holes in his own theory while attacking Quantum mechanics for spooky actions at distances. Niels Bohr's explanation that objects entangled in actions serve a defined quantum function explains how all objects in the universe serve specific quantum function by lieu of their entanglement in gravitational actions. An explanation that defeats the main argument about the relativistic nature of time postulated by Einstein.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; were in any way signs of his overall detachment both from science and life? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientists with extravagant privileges undermines their ability to excel in their field of search for knowledge?

Though Einstein lived long enough to enjoy the demise of Nazism and Fascism, the success of tapping into the nuclear energy, he died few years before the invasion of space became reality, the wide proliferation of the solid-state computers, laser applications, particle accelerators, discovery of the genetic codes, the end of McCarthyism and the triumph of the civil rights movement.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie.
Author of
"Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training"

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength TrainingEssentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (Paperback)

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines of knowledge, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of the Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

As the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconciles the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation. Furthermore, the writer did not shy away from the controversy of awarding Einstein the Nobel Prize for the work pioneered by Philipp Lenard, while the theory of relativity remained a philosophical puzzle. Even Einstein had poked holes in his own theory while attacking Quantum mechanics for spooky actions at distances. Niels Bohr's explanation that objects entangled in actions serve a defined quantum function explains how all objects in the universe serve specific quantum function by lieu of their entanglement in gravitational actions. An explanation that defeats the main argument about the relativistic nature of time postulated by Einstein.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; were in any way signs of his overall detachment both from science and life? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientist with extravagant privileges undermine their ability to excel in their field of search for knowledge?

Though Einstein lived long enough enjoy the demise of Nazism and Fascism, the success of tapping into the nuclear energy, he died few years before the invasion of space became reality, the wide proliferation of the solid-state computers, laser applications, particle accelerators, discovery of the genetic codes, the end of McCarthyism and the triumph of the civil rights movement.

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength TrainingEssentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (Paperback)

One of the biggest problems with this biography is its length. I agree that 550 pages isn't excessive for the most iconic intellectual of the 20th century, but the book is plagued by the constant repetition of information that was already given, presumably for emphasis. This wouldn't be a problem if there were an enormous number of characters, or if the facts were of special interest, but often the information has already been clearly articulated and was of obvious importance when it was first mentioned. Thus a book about one of the most important men in 20th century science becomes about 75 pages too long at a paltry 550 pages. By comparison Martin Gilbert's biography of Winston Churchill is over 1000 pages long (the short version) and every page is captivating and relevant. Nevertheless, the book does provide a serviceable account of Einstein's life, despite a few flaws that only become onerous as one slogs towards the conclusion.

Another irritating habit of the author's is the repeated interludes where he ruminates on the qualities which contributed to Einstein's revolutionary achievements in theoretical physics, which serve mainly to disrupt the narrative flow and are for the most part uninteresting. Many of these could be summed up if the author just wrote 'Remember, he's a rebel!' every fifty pages or so. Isaacson also seems to glide through the second world war, only giving the most cursory attention to Einstein's opinions on the bloodiest conflict of the century and the near extermination of Einstein's European brethren. I don't think it's overly presumptuous to expect that Einstein's reaction to the most infamous atrocity in modern history might merit a few more pages.

I think I'll stop here before I make this book sound worse than it actually is. As mentioned before it is for the most part interesting, despite bloating. Three and a half stars, rounded down to 3 for spite.

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines of knowledge, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of the Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

Thus, as the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconciles the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; could in any way have hindered his ability to contribute to science? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientists with extravagant privileges undermines their ability to excel in their field of search for knowledge?

Though Einstein lived long enough enjoy the demise of Nazism and Fascism, the success of tapping into the nuclear energy, he died few years before the invasion of space became reality, the wide proliferation of the solid-state computers, laser applications, particle accelerators, discovery of the genetic codes, the end of McCarthyism and the triumph of the civil rights movement.

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength TrainingEssentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (Paperback)

Writing about Einstein's standing in the history of modern science requires wide and deep knowledge of diverse disciplines of knowledge, let alone the highly demanded writer's discretion in filtering out public propaganda from objective factual information. This author earns an "A" in his objective analysis of how Albert Einstein, the man, has demonstrated his genius in answering the pressing questions of the twentieth century's modern science.

The book describes in vivid details the timeframe when Einstein engaged in academic research. The genius of the Einstein was not born in vacuum. Einstein's generation was confronted with the new findings of subatomic particles, artificial radiation, and electromagnetism. Einstein's first defined mission was to tackle the puzzle of ether as a medium for propagating radiation. Einstein brilliantly capitalized on the experiment of the constancy of the speed of light, regardless of the Earth's rotation, and devised the theory of relativity with the conservative restraint that Newton's classical mechanics remains a valid subset of relativistic mechanics.

Adhering to Newton's doctrine, Einstein again reconciled Plank's quanta with Newton's postulate that light was both corpuscular and particulate. Thus, Einstein hit two birds with one stone: the quanta. Einstein defended the Maxwellian wave theory of electromagnetism as a time-averaged interpretation of Newtonian particulate nature of radiation. With both Plank's quanta, Kirchhoff's blackbody radiation, and Lernard's photoelectric effect, Einstein was able to seal his genius in the history of modern science as the discoverer of the law of quantization of radiation.

Thus, as the previous greater theoreticians; Newton and Maxwell had proven their genius by relying on the experimental works of Copernicus and Faraday, Einstein followed the same path by capitalizing on Kirchhoff's and Lenard's experimental findings of the nature of interaction of radiation and matter. The book demonstrates the atmosphere of sharing knowledge in Europe in the early 1900's that engaged Einstein to the earnest interactions of the greatest scientific minds of his time.

The First World War signaled the end of Einstein's greatest contribution to science. With the defeat of Germany, Einstein was on the run for safe haven. Though America offered Einstein such sanctuary, the American nuclear and atomic research was government-run and excluded the non-conformist scientists such as Einstein. Einstein's genius dried up by the indiscriminate governmental exclusion of his new homeland. Immigration to the new land, offered Einstein the financial security and the public fame minus the scientific prosperity. Einstein ran away from Nazism and Fascism yet to confront McCarthyism and racial tension in America.

The book sheds light of the personal limitations that hindered Albert Einstein in maintaining healthy family relation. Einstein's entanglements in international and local politics at the expense of catching up with modern advances in nuclear physics was paralleled by his alienation of his ex-wife and ill son and his stubborn adherence to unify gravitation and electromagnetism despite his lack of follow up of any new experimental breakthroughs. For twenty years after arriving in America, Einstein never traveled overseas except to get a visa from Bermuda.

The book clearly rebuts the aura that Einstein was the greatest mathematicians and explains how Einstein relied on his colleagues to devise the theory of General relativity. The book sheds light on Einstein's struggles with endless errors and miscalculation that squandered many decades of his old age in seeking a unified field theory that reconcile the particulate nature of radiation with gravitation.

Finally, the book leaves the objective reader with many questions: whether or not Einstein's neglect of his personal appearance, his content with marrying his cousin, refusing to see his own ill son Edwards and his estranged ex-wife, refraining from travel, shutting off his mind to new developments in science, indulging in smoking despites his doctor's advice, and sticking to his guns on relying solely on mathematics to solve physical puzzles; could in any way have hindered his ability to contribute to science? Whether or not the public reverence of Einstein falls within the realm of glorifying superstars, elevating them to superhuman status, and has contributed to Einstein's mental freezing? Whether of not spoiling scientist with extravagant privileges undermine their ability to contribute to society?

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength TrainingEssentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (Paperback)

This is hands down the best Einstein book available today. The author goes above and beyond any expectations i had. He some of the best research i have ever seen in a book. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

I have read several Einstein books and this is the absolute best. It covered everything i have read in the other books and went far beyond that.

The author (Isaacson) makes this book very easy to read and follow (although he does use a lot of scientific terms, which he has to). I really couldnt put the book down.

If you're looking for an excellent book about the life of Einstein from first-hand research this is your book. And the price can't be beat. I thought i would be spending 30+ but its less than 20 anywhere. ENJOY!

It seems that the other reviewers have exhausted all superlatives in describing this book. I feel that this volume far more than any other I have read is an extremely enjoyable read, fairly represents Einsteins world views and gives you a great perspective on the life and times of this great man.

Some of the science discussions in the book will leave you wanting but this is an biography and not a text book. All in all a very enjoyable read filled with new insights on one of the most creative mind in history.

What a superb job Issacson has done with this truely great man. Somehow the author has been able to give us a glimse at the Einstein sole and I loved what I saw. Every American should read this book especialy at this time in their history. Get a picture at what sort of society true intellegence can envisage before you let it slip further away.

Absolutely brilliant! Walter Issacson takes one to the heart of the great Einstein by making him accessible to the arm chair intellectual!
I even was able to understand the mathmetical offerings thanks to his great explanations!

I continue to be a devoted fan of Amazon!
Thank you

First I read Isaacson's "Benjamin Franklin." Then I attended a lecture and book signing in New Orleans where the author delivered a wonderful lecture on Einstein after which he autographed my book. After that, how could I not read it?

Walter Isaacson is a brilliant man and a superb biographer! He truly understands Einstein's science and presents it in a way that is understandable to us mortals (well, almost). Any failures to understand the science though were totally mine....not the author's, and I certainly gained a much improved understanding of relativity, general relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. from having read this book. (Actually, I was reminded why I changed my intended college major from physics to other arenas during my freshman year.) I also gained a new knowledge of and appreciation for the other scientific luminaries of the early twentieth century as well as for the politics of scientific academia.

Beyond the science, Isaacson thoroughly explains Einstein the man. It is interesting to see how Einstein's early struggles to enter academia actually allowed him to think unconventionally and to develop the groundbreaking theories that made him famous. The book explores how his deep feelings for mankind could coexist in a personality that struggled with close personal relationships as well as how such an amazing scientific mind could sometimes be simplistic and naive in geo-political matters. Einstein's transition from pacifist to reluctant advocate of armament was also instructive. The perspectives of twentieth century history, Einstein's "rock star" status, his role in advocating the nuclear bomb, his religious views, his sense of being Jewish, his relationships with his family and peers and many other aspects of his life and personality are all covered well and entertainingly.

Who would think a biography of a scientist could be so interesting? While the actual science is sometimes a bit ponderous, it is necessary for the story, and Isaacson presents it well. The rest reads like a novel and, at several points near the end, is actually laugh out loud funny. I cannot recommend this book enough!!!

This biography's attempt to turn the theories of the greatest mind of the twentieth century into a function of personality is pathetically pedestrian and inane. A pity.

Informative book on the life and mind of Einstein. A bit over my head at times but still loved it.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Transcending the Speed of Light: Consciousness, Quantum Physics, and the Fifth Dimension

Any criticism leveled against Isaacson's book has to be counterbalanced by a recognition of the tremendous effort and importance of the work, such as his ability to recaptured Einstein's life through the many letters by and to him and by an ability to explain many of his most important ideas in a deep and superb way.
The missing star in my rating is because of what the book does not do. Occasionally critical of Albert Einstein, ultimately the book is a hagiography. As with the rest of the mainstream, Isaacson is really blind to Einstein's shortcomings. His theory of relativity, on the whole, is a true mish-mash, that, in the last analysis, makes little sense. Several problems with his theory have to do with (1) the arbitrary decision to do away with the ether, and (2) place the subjective view on a pedestal while at the same time eliminate the very consciousness of the viewer as a force in and of itself, or a space (e.g., a 5th dimension of hyperspace for mind). For instance, Isaacson points out that if a lady is on a plane looking down on the Earth, she can't tell if the plane is moving over the Earth or the Earth is moving under a stationary plane. This is a bedrock of Einstein's relativity theory, a highly subjective observation that ignores the elephant in the room, the movement of the Earth around the Sun, the absolute measure Einstein keeps trying to eliminate.
The Michelson-Morley experiment didn't do away with the ether. Nor did Einstein. Both simply suggested that the ether could not be detected. So even though Einstein lectures on the ether and states to Lorentz that an ether must exist, he also realized that if indeed it did exist, then his theory of relativity would be wrong. The idea that space can be curved, as Tesla pointed out in the newspapers, is absurd. Since Einstein has ascribed properties to space, it cannot be empty. It is, in fact, the ether, and the reason why light bends around or towards stars is potentially twofold, (a) photons may have mass, and (2) as with all matter, stars are constantly absorbing ether in order to keep their elementary particles spinning.
Ether theory explains gravity and its link to acceleration because what we call gravity most likely the absorption of ether by the mass of the planet (or star). According to this theory, we are held to the planet because we are in the way of this constant influx of energy. Had Einstein truly resurrected the ether, (he partly does, as Isaacson notes, once de Broglie's wave theory becomes more prevalent) Einstein may have solved his grand unification theory, but it would have been at the expense of his baby, the theory of relativity.
Another problem with his theory is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. However, as Gamow points out in Thirty Years That Shook Physics, and I point out in my book Transcending the Speed of Light, electrons spin at speeds in excess of the speed of light! Following in the steps of Minkowski who used the imaginary number the square root of negative one to make the one dimension of time equivalent to 3D space, Paul Dirac essentially did the same thing to account for the spinning electron that violated relativity with his Nobel Prize winning equations that tied relativity to quantum mechanics. Isaacson's book completely miscasts Minkowski, doesn't even mention the idea of imaginary numbers (which can only exist in the mind, yet are used to explain the physical world), and thereby helps relegate Minkowski to virtual non-person status. This is a super book, but flawed because of the rose colored glasses that are always used to portray a great thinker with a fl