Amazon.com
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 Einstein's experience of life, love, and intellectual discovery into brilliant focus. The book is the first biography to tackle Einstein's enormous volume of personal correspondence that heretofore had been sealed from the public, and it's hard to imagine another book that could do such a richly textured and complicated life as Einstein's the same thoughtful justice. Isaacson is a master of the form and this latest opus is at once arresting and wonderfully revelatory. --Anne Bartholomew
Read "The Light-Beam Rider," the first chapter of Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.
Five Questions for Walter Isaacson
Amazon.com: What kind of scientific education did you have to give yourself to be able to understand and explain Einstein's ideas?
Isaacson: I've always loved science, and I had a group of great physicists--such as Brian Greene, Lawrence Krauss, and Murray Gell-Mann--who tutored me, helped me learn the physics, and checked various versions of my book. I also learned the tensor calculus underlying general relativity, but tried to avoid spending too much time on it in the book. I wanted to capture the imaginative beauty of Einstein's scientific leaps, but I hope folks who want to delve more deeply into the science will read Einstein books by such scientists as Abraham Pais, Jeremy Bernstein, Brian Greene, and others.
Amazon.com: That Einstein was a clerk in the Swiss Patent Office when he revolutionized our understanding of the physical world has often been treated as ironic or even absurd. But you argue that in many ways his time there fostered his discoveries. Could you explain?
Isaacson: I think he was lucky to be at the patent office rather than serving as an acolyte in the academy trying to please senior professors and teach the conventional wisdom. As a patent examiner, he got to visualize the physical realities underlying scientific concepts. He had a boss who told him to question every premise and assumption. And as Peter Galison shows in Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps, many of the patent applications involved synchronizing clocks using signals that traveled at the speed of light. So with his office-mate Michele Besso as a sounding board, he was primed to make the leap to special relativity.
Amazon.com: That time in the patent office makes him sound far more like a practical scientist and tinkerer than the usual image of the wild-haired professor, and more like your previous biographical subject, the multitalented but eminently earthly Benjamin Franklin. Did you see connections between them?
Isaacson: I like writing about creativity, and that's what Franklin and Einstein shared. They also had great curiosity and imagination. But Franklin was a more practical man who was not very theoretical, and Einstein was the opposite in that regard.
Amazon.com: Of the many legends that have accumulated around Einstein, what did you find to be least true? Most true?
Isaacson: The least true legend is that he failed math as a schoolboy. He was actually great in math, because he could visualize equations. He knew they were nature's brushstrokes for painting her wonders. For example, he could look at Maxwell's equations and marvel at what it would be like to ride alongside a light wave, and he could look at Max Planck's equations about radiation and realize that Planck's constant meant that light was a particle as well as a wave. The most true legend is how rebellious and defiant of authority he was. You see it in his politics, his personal life, and his science.
Amazon.com: At Time and CNN and the Aspen Institute, you've worked with many of the leading thinkers and leaders of the day. Now that you've had the chance to get to know Einstein so well, did he remind you of anyone from our day who shares at least some of his remarkable qualities?
Isaacson: There are many creative scientists, most notably Stephen Hawking, who wrote the essay on Einstein as "Person of the Century" when I was editor of Time. In the world of technology, Steve Jobs has the same creative imagination and ability to think differently that distinguished Einstein, and Bill Gates has the same intellectual intensity. I wish I knew politicians who had the creativity and human instincts of Einstein, or for that matter the wise feel for our common values of Benjamin Franklin.
More to Explore
Book Description
By the author of the acclaimed bestseller Benjamin Franklin, this is the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available.
How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson's biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.
Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk -- a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate -- became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals.
These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing.......2007-10-10
The book combines insights into Einstein's family sphere, scientific endeavors , and internal life that end up providing an entertaining an insightful view o his life that turns out to be more than the sum of its parts. A great view into the life of the greatest man of the twentieth century.
A well orchestrated mix of personal history and revolutionary scientific discovery.......2007-10-09
A story of amazing power of reason in Einstein's early years but in the later years a sad story of his reason being foiled by of all things, scientific observations ("spooky" ones to be sure). When he died Einstein was still struggling with the idea that..."The reasonable thing just doesn't work.".
Excellent!.......2007-10-09
Excellently written and researched book. Very fascinating and engaging.
Even the scientific discussions were easy to understand.
I highly recommend this book.
A Must Read.......2007-10-07
A wonderful book which gives full and equal weight to both the man and the ideas which made him great, as well as the lasting place of those ideas in the history of scientific thought, if not of human thought itself. And on that latter point, the reader's debt to Isaacson is undoubtedly primarily for his continuing emphasis on Einstein's modus operandi: thought experiments, by which through the exercise merely of pure thought and a perspective unhampered by received wisdoms, a man was able to change millennia-old views of how we viewed the universe, and by extension, changed the universe itself. Whose thinking could remain uninfluenced by such a display of the power of thought?
Absolutely Fantastic.......2007-10-03
This biography reads like a story, creating suspense and other emotions that you experince while reading fiction. Einstein provides great insight into Einstein's mind and life. Highly recommended.
Book Description
"The Einstein Factor liberates mental abilities you didn’t know you had. I tried the techniques in the book and they paid off instantly. It’s almost scary."—Duncan Maxwell Anderson, senior editor, Success.
New research suggests that the superior achievements of famous thinkers may have been more the result of mental conditioning than genetic superiority. Now you can learn to condition your mind in the same way and improve your performance in virtually all aspects of mental ability, including memory, quickness, IQ, and learning capacity.
Intelligence pioneer Dr. Win Wenger has identified the tools you need to reach greater levels of sharpness, insight, and overall intelligence. Using Wenger’s Image Streaming technique, you learn to bypass inhibitions and access the hypernormal capabilities hidden in your own subconscious. Discover how you can:
·Improve your memory
·Read faster and learn more quickly
·Solve problems like a genius
·Score higher on tests
·Build self-esteem
·Induce a state of total creative absorption
·Access powerful subconscious insights through visualization
·Increase your intelligence
The Einstein Factor is your key to living an extraordinarily effective and creative life!
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Slew of Unfair Reviews.......2007-10-03
I feel obligated to come and, shall we say, balance the scales.
First of all, I do not work for and am in no way affiliated with anyone who wrote this book. I'm a college student interested in psychology - particularly learning and memory.
In my opinion, the book offers a number of interesting strategies for becoming more creative. Win loves to explain everything in a crisp, clear manner. His lucid writing style will enable you to understand how things work - and also makes the book a very intersting read in general.
Some of the things discussed in the book:
1. Dream Recall - Actually remember your dreams each and every night.
2. Using the First Law of Behavioral Psychology Advantageously - You get more of what you reinforce. Reinforce your own creativity so that you become more creative.
3. Image Streaming - Use visual imagery and rich description to boost brain power.
4. Photoreading - Absorb entire books and unlock the details you need.
5. Freenoting - Remember everything you read or hear in a lecture with startling clarity.
6. Achieving Flow - Strive to create a learning experience which puts you in a state of pleasantly absorbed concentration.
This is not everything in the book - far from it. The book is chocked full of other little tidbits, stories, and ideas pertaining to accelerated learning which makes the book a great overall read.
I do not agree with everything Mr. Wenger says. Photoreading, for example, seems to be a mixed-bag AT BEST. Cognitive Structural Enhancement also seems to be a shady, unlikely-to-produce results adventure. Borrowed Genius is plausible - it mainly just tries to get you to shift your perception, which will always be short-lived without conscious effort.
The majority of what Mr. Wenger teaches I agree with. Image Streaming has great potential and I feel it does indeed aid my mental prowess. However, Mr. Wenger claims it is "proven" and makes outrageous claims about its power. Bottomline: It probably depends on the person. Give it a fair trial - it might be the most useful exercise you have ever done.
Freenoting is probably my favorite technique in the book. Freenoting is a simple way to remember practically everything you read in a book or hear during a lecture. It operates on psychological principles and I have used it enough to know it works wonders. Try it - you will not be disappointed.
Mr. Wenger makes great use of the First Law of Behavioral Psychology. He has lots of little applications for this one little principle - and they all work. You can use it to remember your dreams and become more creative - guaranteed. These techniques work and are also easy.
Achieving flow is difficult to purposefully create - it seems to be one of those things that just happens naturally. I have yet to actually sit down and try to create a learning experience based on flow - but if I could, I am certain it would be the greatest learning experience of my life. I will look into that.
The rest of the book describes various tidbits to try, such as image streaming in a way to increase blood flow to the brain, swimming underwater more often, etc. These are interesting theories and deserve a fair trial. An interesting story Mr. Wenger uses to talk about the power of the subconcious mind involves a japanese mathematics teacher and a unique teaching method. He has his students essentially complete math worksheets as fast as they can - racing against the clock essentially. A perfect score must be obtained before moving onto the next worksheet. This technique would be fun and practical - and you may want to try it yourself.
All in all, the book is a great read. The theories are interesting and Mr. Wenger has a very lucid and engaging writing style to hold your attention. Some of the things in the book are very questionable; use your own judgement. Don't believe that image streaming will make you a genius overnight - that would be ridiculous. Will it increase your mental awareness and overall power? Maybe - and you should give it a fair trial in my opinion. Just because something is not proven does not mean it is not true, or even more important - that it cannot be proven to be true. The Theory of Evolution is not a proven theory - yet most scientists believe in it. Take everything with a grain of salt and use your own judgement.
Prove it.......2007-07-18
I want to know what this guy has to show for all of his ground breaking techniques. If he has been image streaming (etc) as much as this book implies, shouldn't he have some ungodly IQ and at least have a couple amazing intellectual accomplishments to show for it? There seems to be an intuitive feel to a lot of what he is saying, though. I don't see how doing something as mentally jogging as image streaming could do nothing for one's mind. Conventional IQ tests are not necessarily a good measure of a person's actual intelligence anyway. I would not be the least bit surprised if image streaming supplemented the ability to write and speak creatively, and perhaps solve problems.
Another thing about the book--the very reading of something with so much emphasis on intelligence will make someone far more aware of their own intelligence. This can make people feel more intelligent, or even free them to ways of thinking they hadn't thought possible.
Finally, placebo effect, anyone? What if people read an equally motivating and intriguing book about a method that just plain did not work? Doubtless, some of them would try the method and convince themselves that it worked, largely due to the principle in the above paragraph.
Developing Intuition.......2007-06-24
This book motivated me to start a discipline where I combined meditation and Image Streaming every day and I started using more of my mind right away. After two weeks of daily practicing I saw how my intuition developed in ways that I didn't even expected like having dreams of things that were going to happen the next day, dreams of people that I haven't talked to in a long time that called me next day, etc. It also added a sense of trust and happiness to my life. I compare it to going to the gym... when you practice with discipline you develop the muscle you want and some exercises are better for some people than for others. Something important here is to BELIEVE that it works in order for it to work. We have been hypnotized by our current society to believe that using more of our brain is paranormal and it is just natural... Win Wenger presents so many examples that helped my believing process and I would say that is why it worked... I also enjoyed having some lucid dreams where I could fly, change colors of objects etc...
It doesnt work , at least for me and friends.......2007-03-21
I practiced this technique during 6 months /1 hour day. after 8 months i took standar iq tests. I did everything step by step, all that puts in the books. I practiced it with more friends.
Neither of us have experimented a really increase of iq .
I have done about 200 hours of ISing and not results in iq. perhaps yes, i have improved a bit my imagination . I thought it was going to work and i feel cheated. perhaps, its a meditation and it work for feel better, but there are a lot of better techniques to do meditation.
I can't recomend this title for practice, don't waste your time,. This book can be amazing to read ... and you can improve a bit your imagination (as other meditation technique ).
I thought if some people say that it works could be real, so many positive reviews ... but if it was real... think .. it will be spread around the world fast and retarded people became gifted.
if 80 min -> 1 iq point was real .. my iq would be 150 points higher and it's the same !!!
Nobody is going to bring back all the time spend on that...
My friends has been practising it and the same results ...
Somebody has marked before it is Pseudoscience is any body of knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that claims to be scientific but does not follow the scientific method .Pseudosciences may appear scientific, but they do not adhere to the testability requirement of the scientific method and are often in conflict with current scientific consensus.
Failure to provide adequate information for other researchers to reproduce the claimed results.
The Einstein Factor and Orgasm.......2007-03-16
I have been fascinated by a description of a process called STREAMING for connecting the unconscious mind to the conscious brain in the book The Einstein Factor, and noticed how it corresponded to descriptions of what happens to a person when they go into what scientists in Europe call orgasm.
Specifically they both talk about turning off the frontal cortex in the brain to connect with something deeper underneath the stream of normal consciousness. Dr. Charles Reinart did research indicating that peoples IQs went up 0.4 points per hour when they practiced this technique. I have been wondering what it does to the Orgasmic Quotient.
The authors note that as you begin these exercises your sensation stream may be weak because you have been ignoring and repressing it. As you begin practicing the sensations will become stronger and more vivid. A form of resistance, they call the squelcher block us from achieving our full mental capacity. At the root of the activation process is your daily practice of Sensual Streaming. Once you have opened you mind to the subtle messages of the right brain and limbic system, the other components of the Genius Meme will fall into place naturally. Your own perception will guide you on the way showing you at every step what to do next.
The Squelcher is the mechanism in the brain that tends to shut down ingenious thought. It is mainly a left-brain function. Its natural mode of expression is logic, language, and analysis. It squelches insight with questions like Does this idea make sense? or Is there any precedent for this? To bypass the left-brain, we must learn to squelch the squelcher. Allow ideas to flow in freely, deferring critical judgment for a later time. A speedy input of data can short-circuit the right brain. When Streaming, we talk, listen and generate imagery at a normal pace, yet we experience an overload as great as if we were trying to understand a fast talking auctioneer. As our perceptions collide in a feedback loop of rapid flowing perception, left-brain thinking is broken up, and the violence of that collision gives rise to standing waves of insight in startling elegant new forms. The more complexity we bring into our thought process, the more room we create for dramatic state changes.
Sensations enter the brain at a distinct port of entry. Then it is processed, tagged, and shunted around the brain for further processing. To get an aha effect you need to get as many different parts of the brain as possible working on that stimulus simultaneously. You want the sequence by which the different brain regions fall into phase with one another to be times so closely that any given stimulus is discharged across the brain before close out instructions can be attached
How To Sense Stream
1. Describe the sensations aloud either to another person or a tape recorder. Describing them silently will defeat the purpose.
2. Use all 5 senses and conceptual thought in the descriptions. Describe taste, texture, smell, colors, and sounds.
3. Phrase all of the descriptions in the present tense.
The Principle of Description
1. When you describe any object, real or imaginary at the same time you are observing it, the very act of description focuses your attention in such a way that you perceive more and more detail about the object being described.
2. Describing an object aloud to an external focus, such as a live listener or voice recorder is the strongest way we know of to build this additional discovery effect.
3. The more sensory your description and the less abstract and explanatory, the more powerful the effects, especially when you are describing abstract or complex situations (as distinct from concrete ones).
The feedback principle: The more you describe something the more you get. Fudging or making up experiences is a legitimate imaginative process that feeds back to the unconscious mind and triggers more spontaneous imagery.
The goal is to achieve a completely spontaneous flow of uncensored uninhibited imagery. At a certain point you will not have to struggle to get an image. You will be surprised by the abundance of images, their startling clarity and their bizarre and unexpected subject matter. When this has happened you have begun to Sensation Stream.
INTEGRATING STREAMING AND OMING
In my Orgasmic Meditation practice, I have been leading the stroked with the phrase, Describe a sensation. Repeated calmly and persistently when she stops talking.
The results have been phenomenal. In women whom I have rarely noticed a cascade of contractions before, a stream of contractions seems to engulf their genitals.
The OMs have also seemed more focused on the genitals. Behaviours like loud moaning and random movements, have seemed to give way to a very strong, focused connection between my finger and their genitals.
[...]
Book Description
Babies and toddlers will enjoy following the adventures of a young tadpole as he travels around his pond. As he explores the pond, he meets and learns about a variety of animals---fish, beavers, ducks, and more. Delightfully illustrated, and printed on durable vinyl, Who Lives in the Pond? is sure to help make bath time even more fun.
Customer Reviews:
Bath Books.......2007-07-07
My son loves to listen to me read to him while he is in the bath(also likes to chew on it)
Baby Einstein.......2007-01-12
My daughter is a big fan of the DVDs (well most of them) right now at 16 months her favorite is Old McDonald.
This book is cute but not as fun as What Floats which rhymes. It is not as cute because it does not rhyme and flow like What Floats but it is good that it is a bath and pool book.
Fun for Baby, Help for mom.......2006-11-01
We bought this book along with the "Water, water, everywhere" 8mos ago, when our baby was 10mos.
She was always trying to stand up and get out of the bathtub.
Now she sits in the tub "reading" her book. Then the problem was that she never wanted to get out of the tub, so now we keep the other book in the bench where we dry and dress her.
I don't feel the edge is sharp, as other reviewer said, and I do like that the story is very simple. My baby like to point out everything she sees on the pages, and now she "reads" the story by herself (in her own mysterious language).
With this books, bath time is now very fun for both of us.
Our Favorite bath book!.......2006-08-10
I started reading to my daughter while she was bathing at six months and now she ABSOLUTELY LOVES books! I think that is a very healthy and wonderful thing!! I attribute this love of books to the four baby einstein books we have read at bathtime for the past year every single night (we also have water water everywhere, mimi's toes & what floats). My daughter never gets sick of the stories and now that she is 16 mos. she loves to point out the animals on the last page; I ask her where is the duck? Where is the turtle? And she points to it, etc. It has been a wonderful teaching tool for me, and I wholeheartedly recommend all four baby einstein books for bathtime. Mine don't have sharp edges. Especially when they are warm from the bathwater. They're exceptionally well made, too. Used every night for a year and still they look like new! Read to your kids at bathtime - they can't run away or lose intrest - you've got a captive audience! Take advantage of it!
SHARP EDGES!!.......2006-04-27
This is a cute book, but it's useless. I won't let my 7 month old use it because I'm afraid the sharp edges of the book will cut his mouth (or hands, or legs).
Average customer rating:
- One of the great biographies of all time
- The very symbol of human genius
- A Great Man Deserves A Great Book.
- Where is Mileva?
- a great analysis
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Einstein:: The Life and Times
Ronald W. Clark
Manufacturer: Avon
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Einstein: His Life and Universe
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Einstein: A Biography
ASIN: 038001159X
Release Date: 1999-11-09 |
Book Description
Ronald W. Clark's definitive biography of Einstein, the Promethean figure of our age, goes behind the phenomenal intellect to reveal the human side of the legendary absent-minded professor who confidently claimed that space and time were not what they seemed.
Here is the classic portrait of the scientist and the man: the boy growing up in the Swiss Alps, the young man caught in an unhappy first marriage, the passionate pacifist who agonized over making The Bomb, the indifferent Zionist asked to head the Israeli state, the physicist who believed in God.
Customer Reviews:
One of the great biographies of all time.......2005-09-24
Whenever they compile the list of the best biographies of the 20th Century, this book will definitely be on the short list. It's a masterpiece. Clark presents a thorough, erudite, and accessible account of Einstein's life and work. He begins by relating Einstein's early struggles and his years at the Swiss Patent Office, where he read and analyzed technical reports. Then came the great relativity theory and the subsequent success and reknown. The flight from Nazi Germany to Princeton, the building of the atomic bomb during WW II (he regretted this association the most in his life), and the myths that developed around his life with the public (he hated the public adulation; when he died he didn't want his house on Mercer Street in Princeton to become a shrine) also get their fair and judicious treatment. Einstein was a great scientist who had developed some of the most complicated theories in physics, and Clark is excellent in trying to explain them for the general reader. But he is best when capturing Einstein the man. Clark writes with the confidence of a master, even majestically. It's a long book and not a fast read, but the time spent with Clark and his magnificent subject is time very well spent. One even wishes for more at the end. A brilliant work.
The very symbol of human genius .......2005-06-26
This is a well- written account of the life of Einstein. It also provides explanations for the general reader of Einstein's great and revolutionary contributions to mankind's understanding of the physical world.
It gives the picture of how one person from relatively humble origins rose to become the very symbol of human genius, and a cultural hero of mankind.
It presents a picture of a more complicated human being by far than is contained by the popular image. It is the picture of a person of enormous dedication, of a startling power to devise in his own mind ' thought- experiments' that would lead to changing completely mankind's conceptions not only of the world but of its own powers.
It is the the story of Einstein's reluctant political involvements, his devotion to peace, his great humanism, his Zionism and contribution to the building of Hebrew University, his opposition to Fascism, his famous letter to President Roosevelt that pushed the Chicago project for building the Atom bomb, his torments of conscience over his discoveries having been used in war.
Most importantly it traces the scientific career of Einstein including the legendary moment of great triumph in 1919 when his general theory of Relativity was experimentally confirmed, and Einstein transformed overnight into a world- famous figure.
It also tells the story of Einstein's struggle for over thirty- five years throughout the whole latter part of his life to devise a unified field theory . This is the story of a great man's frustration, and too his isolation from the great majority of his colleagues in regard to his position on quantum theory, (The famous," God does not play dice with the world")
Clark describes Einstein's fundamental attitude toward Nature and God, his closeness to Spinoza in seeing in an impersonal eternal order of nature the source of Beauty and objective scientific truth.
This is a wonderful book about one of mankind's greatest creative giants.
A Great Man Deserves A Great Book........2005-04-01
Albert Einstein found his place among philosophies and equations in mathematical and scientific areas he had grown up around. He hated his strict school at the gymnasium when he was young and the army when he was older. These two deep dislikes caused him to be freer in his work and mind set, and to never be brought down by structure or criticism. His imagination and pure genius made him one of the world's most impressive thinkers, ever. Einstein was the fore-runner of his new, "illogical" physics and took much of the heat, as did Galileo when he first discovered his laws. He traveled all over the world and experienced much of the times. He finally settled in America and helped the government create a bomb to stop the fighting of World War II, the atomic bomb. As a friend, Phillip Frank knew the man personally and wrote his story because of his mysterious genius and major accomplishments. Einstein's as important as Galileo, Newton, or Kepler, and his story might even be more interesting. This book was a good read and definitely a good reference for anything to do with the genius and his discoveries.
Where is Mileva?.......2004-01-01
This is a good biography of Einstein as far as it goes, but it is a bit dated and incomplete as far as his first wife Mileva Maric and their three children are concerned. Clark refers to her only a few times, and he introduces her as the daughter of a Serbian peasant. She was brilliant in her own right, and there is strong evidence that she was instrumental in developing his theories of relativity. Anybody who doubts this should consult the love letters Einstein wrote to her between about 1900-1905. He refers to "our work on relativity," and some of the letters actually contain formulas and equations!
I have never understood why Einstein has the reputation as the greatest genius etc. He had a lot of help with the theory of relativity (e.g., Poincare and many others), and to the end of his life he refused to believe in the reality of quantum theory, what is thought to be the most precise theory in the history of science. Wouldn't a genius see the truth of this theory?
a great analysis.......2002-04-02
This is an exceptionally well written biography of perhaps the greatest scientific genius in human history.Clark superbly conveys the story of Einstein`s journey through physics,the world wars & Zionism.Be warned,though:the book`s encyclopedic nature & voluminous content ensures that reading it till the end is pie in the sky for people who are not used to heavy reading & deep contemplation on the topics discussed.
Book Description
This book chronicles the story of a group of individuals caught at a crossroads and targeted in the cross fires of history. In 1933 events in their native Germanic lands presented them with a "Hobson's choice"-leave if you can or die! Their lives were saved because Turkey was discarding the society and culture inherited from the Ottomans' derelict and shattered empire while recognizing and addressing the need to modernize its society, culture, way of living, and system of higher education. Using a collection of third-party archival documents, cotemporaneous family and collegial correspondence, memoirs, oral histories, photos, and other surviving evidence Arnold Reisman documents the fears, the courage, the heartaches, and the determination of these brilliant people as well as their contributions to shifting established paradigms in several fields of knowledge. He also speculates about Turkey's inabilities to fully capitalize on these emigres' legacy. The book is intended for lay readers interested in history of the 20th Century, history of science, history of Turkey, the Holocaust, and in a case study of post-Islamic national development. "This book adds to our knowledge of an important aspect of the Holocaust, and of the behavior of Nation States in the modern world of woe and grief." - Sir Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill's official biographer and a leading historian of the modern world. He is the author of The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. "This book should be on the 'must-read' list of books about World War II and the years preceding it." - Dr. Israel Hanukoglu, Former Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel. Currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology, College of Judea and Samaria, Ariel, Israel. "This book involves five major topics: science, history, politics, economics, and the arts. It is the earliest comprehensive essay in the English language, on the German émigrés who, while taking refuge in Turkey after 1933, contributed to the modernization of its higher education, and to the implementation of research activities and social reforms." - Prof. Dr. Feza Günergun, Chair for History of Science, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, Beyazit-Istanbul, Turkey.
Customer Reviews:
In depth information about a little known topic.......2007-02-02
This book is about the story of the German-Jewish professors that were displaced by the [..]and were invited to come to Turkey by Ataturk's government. About 150 of them came in the 1933-1938 time frame. Some stayed for a few years, many stayed for 10 years or more. Some have stayed until retirement.The book, about 470 pages long and illustrated with many photographs and other material, is a really well-researched investigation into * the world circumstances that made this episode possible* the individuals who arranged the mechanics of this immigration* the personal life stories of these very capable scholars* how they adapted to life in Turkey* how they impacted Turkey's university education and modernization* the nature of the support and non-support they received from the government and the people This was a subject I had fleeting knowledge about. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which greatly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the subject. It also provided yet another illustration of the vision and genius of Ataturk in making deft use of every opportunity to improve his nation. It triggered in my mind the thought that Turkey probably had a second similar opportunity at the time of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, when top tier scientists in select fields could have easily been induced to come to Turkey. Unfortunately, political cadres in charge at the time had nowhere near Ataturk's vision. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is very readable and has many details that our generation can relate to. An interesting trivia is that Einstein was one month away himself from coming to Turkey within these group of scholars, when he received an offer from Princeton.
WOWW.......2007-01-01
A fascinating read.
I am very involved with genealogy, so I really enjoyed the memoirs.
The structure of the book was different and refreshing.
Highly recommended especially for college library, international studies and Turkish history shelves........2006-12-10
Written by Arnold Reisman Ph.D., who has served as Visiting Scholar in Turkey at both Sabanci University and the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey's Modernization: Refugees from Nazism and Ataturk's Vision is enlightening true story of how the Turkish Government of Mustafa Kernal Atatuk and Ismet Inonu accepted German and Austrian Jews, and took advantage of these victims of racial prejudice and persecution to aid the Turkish Republic's progress in academic, scientific, and medical undertakings. Tracing the lasting impacts of builders, preservers, creators, social reformers, healers, and scientists, as well as the problems they encountered, the turbulence caused by World War II and their attempts to emigrate to the U.S., Turkey's Modernization is a fascinating parable of how Turkey capitalized upon the best and the brightest - as well as of its stumbling blocks, such as its cultural predispositions for encouraging talented scientists to be content as hired hands rather than strike out and forge new businesses. Highly recommended especially for college library, international studies and Turkish history shelves.
Compelling!.......2006-09-26
Arnold Reisman's book, Turkey's Modernization, was a history lesson of the best kind. I have read a number of books on the Nazi takeover of various countries. Yet, I had never experienced the joy of learning how Turkey welcomed those expelled from Germany.
In 1933, when Hitler came to power, he decided to dismiss all Jewish professors from German colleges and universities. Geniuses of technology, physics and the arts fled into Turkey's waiting arms and began its well-deserved modernization.
The "emigres" (renowned scientists, architects and artists) are responsible for some of the most magnificent structures in Turkey still standing today. These brave professors taught Turkish students and were revered by most in the country. Of course, they had to deal with jealousy from Turkish professors for a number of reasons. Some of the emigres were paid a higher salary and enjoyed various perks, yet this was all deserved. It certainly couldn't heal a people
who were devastated at having to leave their homes and families to chart an unknown territory. Yet, thank God they did! Hitler's lost was absolutely Turkey's gain!
These professors were too many to be named in this review. You must read this book in order to understand and celebrate the contributions of these refugees from Nazism. They were saviors to Turkey and the students they benefited.
Turkey's Modernization was a book I couldn't put down. It should be required reading for all who are history majors and any who can enjoy a story of lemons turned into lemonade.
Armchair Interviews says: Another unique view of history most do not know.
Refuge and its reward .......2006-09-25
The convergence of two historical developments are at the center of this book. First , is the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany. Second, is the creation of modern Turkey, and its effort to develop a first- rate set of academic institutions. This convergence meant that a number of leading German and Austrian academics were invited in the years 1933-1939 to teach and help establish their disciplines in Turkey. Among these are some figures of world - reputation including Erich Auerbach, the author of one of the greatest of all works of Literary Criticism, 'Mimesis' the leading figures of the 'Berlin Group' the philosopher Hans Reichenbach, the mathemitician aerodynamist and positivist philosopher Richard von Mises, the positivist philosopher Carl Hempl, the composer Paul Hindemith, the theatrical producer Carl Ebert,and the astrophysicist Findlay Freundlich. One of the first scientists and a major figure in expediting the whole process was the pathologist Philip Schwarz. All in all close to three - hundred distinguished academics and their family members made their way to Turkey during this time. The effect of their efforts amounted to nothing less than a total transformation of the higher education system in Turkey, in the sciences, humanities, and arts, but also in public health, library, legal, engineering and administrative practices.
Reisman provides a thorough documentation and often moving narrative of this process, including his telling of many of the individual stories of the academicians involved. In the background he provides an overall history of modern Turkey and brings this up - to- date even providing an explanation of the current situation of the academic world in Turkey and why the original reforms carried out by these academicians have not always had the results desired.
This is a large book impressively researched and very clearly and movingly written.
I could not recommend it more highly.
Average customer rating:
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Prophets Without Honour: Freud, Kafka, Einstein, and Their World (Kodansha Globe Series)
Frederic V. Grunfeld
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
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ASIN: 1568361076 |
Book Description
Subtle is the Lord is widely recognized as the definitive scientific biography of Albert Einstein. The late Abraham Pais was a distinguished physicist turned historian who knew Einstein both professionally and personally in the last years of his life. His biography combines a profound understanding of Einstein's work with personal recollections from their years of acquaintance, illuminating the man through the development of his scientific thought. Pais examines the formulation of Einstein's theories of relativity, his work on Brownian motion, and his response to quantum theory with authority and precision. The profound transformation Einstein's ideas effected on the physics of the turn of the century is here laid out for the serious reader. Pais also fills many gaps in what we know of Einstein's life - his interest in philosophy, his concern with Jewish destiny, and his opinions of great figures from Newton to Freud. This remarkable volume, written by a physicist who mingled in Einstein's scientific circle, forms a timeless and classic biography of the towering figure of twentieth-century science.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant.......2006-07-03
The science...the physics is there for those who really want to know. There are no shortcuts or dumming it down. But the heart and the soul is also there of this truly brilliant mind. Over the years I've read this book several times, in fact, have had to order it three times, because every time I loan it to someone, it is never returned to me (I guess they liked it too.)
A scientific biography for physicists.......2006-04-17
I have really enjoyed reading A. Pais' biography of Einstein. The book is a very detailed scientific biography. And I would like to stress this point: if you are looking for anecdotes or gossips this is not your book. The main goal of the author is to expose the ideas and scientific achievements of Einstein, explaining in detail his theories. This is a taugh book for someone without a physics background, because Pais has written a book on the physics of the last century, with a detailed account of the origin and development of relativity and quantum theories. And it uses all the mathematical concepts physicists are familiar with.
Otherwise, this is the best biography of Einstein I have read.
A beautiful and challenging book !.......2005-08-29
This is a beautifully written book. I have been intrigued by the personality of Albert Einstein since my childhood (when I saw a postage stamp with his portrait and the famous equation "E=mc^2"), and I always wanted to know what exactly has made him so famous. During my school years I loved to read books about physics, and always enjoyed lessons of physics in school. By that time I thought that I have really good grasp of physics, but still it seemed strange to me why, when the special theory of relativity was explained well enough in many accessible books, the general theory was only mentioned as "the greatest achievement of human mind", but it was never explained in detail, only some of its consequences, like the precession of Mercury's orbit or starlight bending by the Sun, were described, but nobody explained from where these 43" or 1,75" came from ! When in 1989 I bought this book, I enjoyed reading about the details of Einstein's biography, but I was quite shocked that most of the equations in the part about the general relativity were completely beyond my understanding. This fact had been irritating me for a number of years, until in 2002 I have decided to take the plunge and try to learn the general relativity properly. This has been a tough going and took almost two years, but by the end I could really understand what the terms, like the metric tensor, Christoffel symbols or R^i_jkl do really mean, or why R_ij-(1/2)*g_ij*R=k*T_ij, and I was also absolutely stunned by the beauty of this theory. This prompted me not only to read lots of other books about the relativity (MTW, Weinberg, Wald, Hawking & Ellis and many others), but also to learn the classical electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, and now I'm trying to learn the quantum field theory - all this thanks to this excellent book !
Excellent book for scientists, slightly less for others........2001-12-24
This book is a very good *scientific* biography of Einstein. This is both its strength and weakness. It is a strength because the author is clearly very knowledgeable about the subject, and therefore I couldn't think of a better book than this one. However, to appreciate the ins and outs of the scientific work of Einstein, you need to be a scientist yourself, or at least be very interested in the subject, because Pais does not avoid technical discussions. Not at all.
Therefore, for people without knowledge on this level, the book is not so accessible (I think), which may lead to disappointments. However, for this group of readers there is also good news: the author has organized the book into two interwoven 'sections': a part that is purely biographical and contains no technical discussions, and a technical part. The two parts are easily recognizable in the table of contents. This makes the book interesting and useful for a broad public.
Summarizing: this high quality book makes no light reading, but it is worth the effort, and the money.
Subtle is the Lord...but malicious He is not.........2001-07-29
that is what Einstein had to say, when in 1921 he was confronted with rumours that a non-zero aether drift had been discovered by Dayton Miller, a one-time junior of Albert Michaelson. When asked what he meant by this, he remarked "Nature hides her secrets because of her essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse". He is also said to have opined that he had "not for a moment taken [Miller's results] seriously". That was the kind of faith that Albert Einstein had in the laws of Nature that he discovered...a deep faith not capable of rational foundation..
Albert Einstein...the man...the philosopher...the scientist...the physicist...the humanist...the legend...so much has already been written about this one extraordinary human being, that you can be forgiven for grimacing when you see this book and thinking, 'oh, no ! not another one in this never-ending craze'...but think again...this is THE definitive scientific biography of Herr Professor Einstein, coming as it is from a physicist who was close to this great man towards the end of his life. Abraham Pais does a superb job of presenting the state of physics before Einstein, how he changed that and how it has evolved since his times. Science was Einstein's life, his devotion, his refuge, and his source of detachment...Science was his religion...In order to understand the man, then, it is necessary to follow his scientific ways of thinking and doing...and that is what the book precisely does...
One more thing...this is not a layman's book...if you have only a little idea of physics, and are averse to mathematical details, then look elsewhere...this is not for you...but if you have that 'holy curiosity' and 'wonderment of the spectacle that is science', with loads of perseverance, this book does an excellent job of satisfying that quest...it can inspire you to seek greater heights of understanding...(there are tons of references to other more detailed texts)...in the end, you will have had but just a glimpse of Einstein's oeuvre. Thank you.
Average customer rating:
- the human einstein
- Enormously boring
- Happy Birthday, Albert Einstein
- Not too bad... however not what I was looking for.
- Einstein
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Einstein: A Life
Denis Brian
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Albert Einstein: Out of My Later Years Through His Own Words
ASIN: 0471193623 |
Book Description
Blends the brilliance of the scientific genius with the compassion, playfulness, and wit of the private figure
"A fascinating read with more interesting material about Einstein as a human being than I have ever seen before."--Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and bestselling author
"A thoughtful and captivating account of one whom I had the joy of knowing and loving."--George Wald, Nobel Prize Laureate
His face is one of the most recognized on the planet. His very name is synonymous with genius. Yet, for all the attention and countless biographies, our images of Albert Einstein rarely go beyond the eccentric and larger-than-life scientist unraveling one cosmic mystery after another.
In this engaging popular biography, Denis Brian draws on a wealth of new information recently opened to the public to bring us a broader, more authentic portrait of Einstein than previously available. The first full-scale Einstein life published in 20 years, it is also the first to integrate Einstein's genius with his private and public life to give us a complete impression of the real person.
We meet an Einstein with a gift for friendship, a romantic with a roving eye for women. We confront a man whose countless scientific triumphs were tempered by tragic ironies in his personal life. We encounter Einstein the humanist who showed compassion for the children of others yet neglected his own sons. We learn from his former assistants how they revered Einstein, how he worked at his science, and of his warm relationships with other physicists.
Based on information drawn from new access to the Einstein archives as well as exclusive interviews with colleagues and friends, Einstein: A Life reveals an endearing and sensititve man, but one slightly detached from even those closest to him, as if he inhabited his own world of lofty thoughts and cosmic dreams.
DENIS BRIAN (West Palm Beach, Florida) is the author of The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him and Genius Talk: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries.
Customer Reviews:
the human einstein.......2007-03-05
Brian's biography is much less about Einstein the scientist, although elements of that are certainly present, and much more about Einstein as a friend, colleague, father, husband, and eccentric. The biography is intensely personal and often feels like a long quiet conversation about a remarkable acquaintance. Brian likes Einstein but brings in elements of Einstein's personal life, especially the stormy relationship with his first wife, Mileva and the secrets and anquish that ensued from that marriage. Einstein comes across as a man who passionately loved physics, music, and the company of good friends. Brian also paints the portrait of a genuis whose egalitarian personality is astonishing. The biographer's superbly documented anecdotes show how Einstein made his way through the maelstrom of the first half of the 20th century while authoring tectonic changes in humanity's view of energy, gravity, and the universe itself. This book allows the reader to be in a room with Einstein while he wears slippers and puffs on his pipe and chats with neighbors. It is a gift.
Enormously boring.......2006-04-15
I don't think biographies do well by simply presenting lives as accretions of detail; that's the fundamental flaw of this book. It may be interesting to some readers that Einstein took time to take care of his cat, or to be reminded over and over again that he wrote letters to ordinary people, but that's probably not the best way to understand him. It's like a bad blog that somehow leaves out sufficient emphasis on the most miraculous year in 20th Century science, the year when Einstein created the theories that would define him. Brian elides over these enormous issues, and give Einstein a very long leash when questioning his abandonment of his first wife, his two sons, and possibly a daughter. I guess first-rate scientists don't have to adhere to pretty basic social mores, from this author's point of view. This book has been characterized as being about the life of the man, rather than of his scientific discoveries. But those discoveries are what defined him. Otherwise Einstein's life is as mundane as anyone's. Leaves school, gets married, can't find a job, finds a job, leaves his wife and kids, gets another job, moves a couple of times, dresses shabbily, likes to go sailing, writes letters to inquiring admirers, gets hounded by the press...blah blah blah. Despite the tonnage of everyday minutia, it's all superficial reportage.
Happy Birthday, Albert Einstein.......2006-03-14
People who know nothing about Einstein's ideas, nonetheless have ideas about Einstein -- his life, habits, subjects he flunked, and so on. The principal benefit of Mr. Brian's text is its ability to convey a dispassionate objective rendering of Einstein, organized almost as a yearly diary, with each chapter covering a set number of years in the life of this great scientist. It is, as other revewers have noted, a remarkably readable book. One doesn't look here, however, for the scientific contribution -- this is, as the title says, A Life. Einstein's life, though, for all his tendency and capacity for concentrating like a laser on whatever problem he worked, was very much a social life. He made friends quickly, surrounded himself with students quite often, had more than his share of challenges with the many women in his life, and was deeply affected by the wave of anti-semitism that characterized so much of his most productive years. Portrayed in these pages, in other words, is a profoundly human Einstein. In many respects, quite the ordinary man with extrordinary intellectual capacities. Nominated 8 times in 11 years for the Nobel Prize, he was denied the prize, partly because of the anti-semitism of one of the Committee's members, and partly because, well, the Committee was not sure they understood what he was saying. That itself, is an indication of his vision. So, March 14, the year his birth -- Happy Birthday Albert!
Not too bad... however not what I was looking for........2004-04-21
I am pretty much in agreement with the fellow amazon reviewer - herrdirektor's impression of this book. It is a very well researched biography. However, the book looms away from Einstein, the man and focuses more into his works. Brian writes of his scientific researches in great detail and in a manner which may not be too convenient for any reader unrelated to the scientific field. I was particularly looking for a book which gave me a glimpse inside the mind of the philosopher/scientist. With its prime focus on his career, this book fails the philosopher that Einstein was. I feel that those philosophies played a very important role and maintaining his mass popularity even after decades of his death. This missing element may disappoint some of the readers.
Einstein.......2003-05-19
Any reader who thinks it might be profitable to spend
some quality time with Albert Einstein - arguably the
greatest scientist of all time - should read this book. The
author, Denis Brian, knows how to write a biography
and, in his `Alfred Einstein, A Life", he offers a
wonderful subject.
This reader - whose science background is close to
nil - approached this book with considerable trepidation
- needlessly. While the author deals properly and
necessarily with Einstein's scientific pursuits and
achievements - which means he sometimes employs
some `heavy' jargon - like relativity theory, unified
field theory, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism,
superstring theory with 4 dimensions plus 6, photon
theory, neutrons, protons, atoms, particles - negative
and positive, etc. - he does so in a merciful fashion
that places few demands on the reader. NOT to
understand what Einstein was working on at any
given moment was always pretty much the norm,
anyhow, for even his peers and other world-class
scientists.
On the other hand, there is plenty in Einstein's life
that nearly any reader can understand and probably
relate to- much of which is highly fascinating and
illuminating. Here is a list of some of the subjects
and issues that Einstein chose or was compelled to
deal with - apart from his science: women and
romances and marriage, religion and the hereafter,
career decisions, anti-Semitism and racism, parenting
and a mentally ill son, celebrity-status and death
threats, Israel and Zionism, Russia and Communism,
Hitler and Fascism, Gandhi and pacifism vs. defense
needs, capitalism, atomic energy and weapons,
disarmament, Cold War politics, friends and relatives,
Germany and Germans, Americans and their culture,
world-wide lecture tours, mind vs. matter, Freud
and psychoanalysis, J.B. Shaw and literary criticism
and socialism, Upton Sinclair and social reform, and
the Rosenburg spy case. In short, while Einstein was always focused primarily on science and the mysteries
of the universe, he also found some time to do some
serious thinking, talking and writing about other serious,
mundane issues, as well.
The author does a marvelous job of researching and
organizing the materials in this book. I liked his decision
to introduce each chapter with a title, the years covered
therein, and Einstein's age during those years. I also liked
his thoroughness in including first-hand accounts, letters,
notes, and experiences of people of every possible age,
class, and status. The traits and qualities they describe
show clearly the essence of Albert Einstein: mental genius modest, shy, well-informed, explosive and lusty laugh,
absent minded, casual, unkempt, outspoken, impulsive, punster, impudent, kind, enthusiastic, energetic,
well-traveled, versatile, frugal, ebullient, stubborn, moody,
lucid, liberal, unpretentious, warm-hearted, informal, passionate, workaholic, direct, absentminded, prematurely
aged, pro-world government, tobacco addicted, endearing,
self-assured, handsome and noble face, sweet smile, radiant
and penetrating eyes, high brow, egalitarian, mischievous,
sparse eater, `soft touch', metaphor lover, quick-witted,
non-swimmer boater, non-driver, walking and hiking
enthusiast.
David Ben-Gurion, Israeli Prime Minister at the time,
said this about Alfred Einstein: "He has the greatest mind of any living man...He's a scientist who needs no laboratory, no equipment, no tools of any kind.
He just sits in an empty room with a pencil, a piece
of paper, and his brain, thinking!"
"Thinking" was Einstein's favorite sport.
This book gets all the stars and `thumbs up' I can give it.
Book Description
There are innumerable teachable moments around us at all times — an object as simple as a flower, a mitten, or a cardboard box can fill a tiny child with pleasure and awe. With dynamic ideas for turning everyday activities into enriching learning experiences, Great Minds Start Little takes these everyday moments and turns them into hundreds of playful ways for parents to nurture their baby’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth. From one-on-one physical games and special ways to bond with your baby, to creative projects that give infants esteem-building ways to experience language and delight in the arts and sciences, this book combines expert teaching practices with tried-and-true tips and valuable anecdotes from parents who are looking for unique opportunities to educate while entertaining their children. There is no combination more wonderful than a curious baby, a loving parent, and an engaging teaching tool.
Book Description
For Albert Einstein, 1905 was a remarkable year. It was also a miraculous year for the history and future of science. In six short months, from March through September of that year, Einstein published five papers that would transform our understanding of nature. This unparalleled period is the subject of John Rigden's book, which deftly explains what distinguishes 1905 from all other years in the annals of science, and elevates Einstein above all other scientists of the twentieth century.
Rigden chronicles the momentous theories that Einstein put forth beginning in March 1905: his particle theory of light, rejected for decades but now a staple of physics; his overlooked dissertation on molecular dimensions; his theory of Brownian motion; his theory of special relativity; and the work in which his famous equation, E = mc
2, first appeared. Through his lucid exposition of these ideas, the context in which they were presented, and the impact they had--and still have--on society, Rigden makes the circumstances of Einstein's greatness thoroughly and captivatingly clear. To help readers understand how these ideas continued to develop, he briefly describes Einstein's post-1905 contributions, including the general theory of relativity.
One hundred years after Einstein's prodigious accomplishment, this book invites us to learn about ideas that have influenced our lives in almost inconceivable ways, and to appreciate their author's status as the standard of greatness in twentieth-century science.
Customer Reviews:
Anno Mirabilis.......2005-06-17
This year is the hundredth anniversary of "Einstein's Miracle Year" of 1905. In 1905, Albert Einstein published five scientific papers, all of which were important and three of which are still considered groundbreaking. Many scientists would consider themselves lucky to publish five important papers in a lifetime, which is one of the many reasons why Einstein's achievement is considered such a triumph. And yet, it is rare, even among the well-educated, to find people who really know what Einstein did. Words like "relativity" and "E = mc squared" are tossed around without any real comprehension of their meaning. That is why it is good and not at all surprising to find a book like Mr. Rigden's on the shelf now.
In Einstein 1905, Mr. Rigden takes us through each of Einstein's papers of 1905--the quantum paper of March (often referred to as the "photoelectric effect" paper), the molecular dimensions paper of April, the "Brownian motion" paper of May, the relativity paper of June and the energy-mass paper (with that famous equation) in September. He does his best to explain exactly what it is that each paper said and, simultaneously, what Einstein was trying to achieve. (Not always the same thing.) He is even better at explaining the impact each paper had on the development of physics often far into the future and in ways Einstein both did and did not see. He also describes how many people still misunderstand what the impact of these papers is.
This is by no means a book for the faint of heart. Mr. Rigden throws physics terminology around a little to easily for that. However, it is also not a book that requires a serious education in math and physics. It is very readable with hardly an equation in sight. A reader with a good general education and a desire to understand the impact that Einstein had on the world will get a lot from this book because, in the final analysis, the physics is only the means to an end here.
Ultimately, Mr. Rigden is trying to get a handle on the nature of genius in his analysis of some of Einstein's greatest triumphs. Apart from Newton's flurry of brilliance in the early 1660's, there is probably not another period of time in history where so much has been achieved over such a brief period. Einstein's name has become synonymous with genius and everyone would like to know what it was that made Einstein who he was.
Still, in the end, the nature of genius remains elusive. Mr. Rigden has written a great history here but is basically remains on the surface as it must in an investigation like this. One can describe how Einstein was confidently stubborn and how he worked from contradictions to "generalize it and then be guided by its implications until a resolution was found, frequently in the form of profound new insights." True as this may be (and I found his recurring discussion of the continuity/discontinuity problem in physics to be one of the most insightful things I've read recently), this doesn't always lead to genius--as can be seen from Einstein's own later years.
The fact remains that Einstein's work was an achievement almost without equal and that Mr. Rigden has written an excellent account of it. Einstein's work should be better understood beyond being able to mouth a single equation and the term "relativity." Here, in a slim volume, we have a respect for the totality of Einstein's triumphs of 1905 and should be read by anyone who claims to be educated.
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