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Einstein: His Life and Universe

by Walter Isaacson

4.02 · rating details · 6,288 ratings · 851 reviews

As a scientist, Albert Einstein is the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint. What we know of him as a husband, father & friend is fragmentary. With Einstein: His Life & Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling Benjamin Franklin & Kissinger) brings Einstein's experience of life, love & intell...moreAs a scientist, Albert Einstein is the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint. What we know of him as a husband, father & friend is fragmentary. With Einstein: His Life & Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling Benjamin Franklin & Kissinger) brings Einstein's experience of life, love & intellectual discovery into focus. The book is the 1st biography to tackle Einstein's enormous volume of personal correspondence that heretofore had been sealed from the public. It's hard to imagine another book that could do such a richly textured & complicated life as Einstein's the same thoughtful justice. Isaacson is a master of the form & this latest opus is at once arresting & revelatory.--Anne Bartholomew (edited)
Q: What kind of scientific education did you have to give yourself to be able to understand & explain Einstein's ideas? A: I've always loved science, & I had a group of great physicists--such as Brian Greene, Lawrence Krauss & Murray Gell-Mann--who tutored me, helped me learn the physics & 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 & others.
Q: 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?
A: 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 & 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. & 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.
Q: That time in the patent office makes him sound far more like a practical scientist & tinkerer than the usual image of the wild-haired professor, & more like your previous biographical subject, the multitalented but eminently earthly Benjamin Franklin. Did you see connections between them?
A: I like writing about creativity, & that's what Franklin & Einstein shared. They also had great curiosity & imagination. But Franklin was a more practical man who was not very theoretical, & Einstein was the opposite in that regard.
Q: Of the many legends that have accumulated around Einstein, what did you find to be least true? Most true?
AIsaacson: 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 & marvel at what it would be like to ride alongside a light wave, & he could look at Max Planck's equations about radiation & realize that Planck's constant meant that light was a particle as well as a wave. The most true legend is how rebellious & defiant of authority he was. You see it in his politics, his personal life & his science.
Q: At Time & CNN & the Aspen Institute, you've worked with many of the leading thinkers & 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?
A: 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 & ability to think differently that distinguished Einstein, & Bill Gates has the same intellectual intensity. I wish I knew politicians who had the creativity & human instincts of Einstein, or for that matter the wise feel for our common values of Benjamin Franklin.(less)

Paperback, 704 pages

Published April 10th 2007 by Simon & Schuster (first published 2007)

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Jun 15, 2009

Bonnie rated it

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My brother-in-law recommended this biography in 2007. It is one of the most incredible books I’ve read in a long time. There are eleven pages of sources alone! This book is meticulously researched, beautifully written, fascinating, inspiring, and wonderful on every level. It’s 551 pages long, and I so did not want this book to end!

Isaacson immerses us in a detailed, in depth probing of Einstein’s life – personal, intellectual, scientific, political, and cultural - against a backdrop ...more

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Oct 12, 2011

︹︺︷︶ Job︸︹︺︷ rated it

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العبقرية.. وقيود المجتمع

فهد عامر الاحمدي

* حين نصف شخصاً بانه مبدع فماذا نعني بذلك!؟

في الغالب نقصد انه خرج بشيء جديد وغريب لم يستطرق من قبل. وحين يخرج المرء بشيء جديد فانه في الغالب يخالف واقعاً معتاداً وطريقة اعترف بها الجميع.

والابداع ليس صعبا لدرجة ان اجيالا تولد وتموت ولم يظهر فيها مبدع واحد.. ولكن المشكلة ان معظمنا يخشى الخروج على عادات المجتمع ومخالفة المألوف والصراخ بأعلى صوته "أنا لدي طريقة جديدة"!!

لا يوجد شعب اذكى م...moreالعبقرية.. وقيود المجتمع

فهد عامر الاحمدي

* حين نصف شخصاً بانه مبدع فماذا نعني بذلك!؟

في الغالب نقصد انه خرج بشيء جديد وغريب لم يستطرق من قبل. وحين يخرج المرء بشيء جديد فانه في الغالب يخالف واقعاً معتاداً وطريقة اعترف بها الجميع.

والابداع ليس صعبا لدرجة ان اجيالا تولد وتموت ولم يظهر فيها مبدع واحد.. ولكن المشكلة ان معظمنا يخشى الخروج على عادات المجتمع ومخالفة المألوف والصراخ بأعلى صوته "أنا لدي طريقة جديدة"!!

لا يوجد شعب اذكى من شعب ولا أمة أفضل من أمة، ولكن تتفاوت المجتمعات في تشجيع او كبت الافكار الجديدة. في المجتمعات العربية يسيطر "المعتاد" و"المفروض" على 99.999من تصرفات الافراد، اما في الغرب فيمكن لاي شخص مخالفة الواقع والخروج عن المألوف بدون ان يثير حفيظة احد.

المجتمع بطبعه يتصرف بروح القطيع فيعارض غير المألوف ويثور ضد الافكار الجديدة.. اما ردود فعله فتنطلق من (وجدنا آباءنا كذلك يفعلون) بدون اي تحليل او تقييم منطقي للأفكار المطروحة. المجتمعات البشرية لا تعترف بالعبقرية والابداع بقدر ما تعترف بالسحر والجنون (ما اتى الذين من قبلهم من رسول الا قالوا ساحر او مجنون)!!

* ولكن رغم كل هذه القيود قد يبرز (مجنون ما) يخالف المألوف ويكسر المعتاد ولا يخشى المواجهة، شخص بهذه الصفات يكون مهيأ بنسبة 99% لبلوغ قمة العبقرية فما تبقى ليس اكثر من تشغيل جمجمة نملك مثلها!

وقد يتمرد المرء على قيود مجتمعه لاسباب كثيرة.. فقد يكون مضطهدا ، وقد يكون ضمن اقلية (وهو السر في تفوق الاقليات اليهودية ضمن المجتمعات الكبيرة) وقد تكون لتربيته دور في تمرده، وقد يكون غير سوي نفسيا، وقد يكون غيورا ومتألما لما يراه، وقد يكون ببساطة مريضا ويعاني باستمرار!.. فالمرض (كمثال) ظرف قهري يتطلب استحداث اساليب جديدة في العيش والتعامل والتفكير.. وحين يصاب المرء بمرض دائم يفكر بشكل اعمق ولا يعبأ كثيرا لما يفرضه المجتمع ويقوله الناس. المريض مهيأ اكثر لالتقاط الالهام في الخلوة وبلورة الابداع من المعاناة.. هنري ماتيس مثلا بدأ حياته كمحام متواضع في باريس. ولكنه اصيب بالتهاب دائم في الزائدة جعله طريح الفراش. وفي ظل معاناته ووحدته اكتشف موهبته في الرسم فأصبحت الفرشاة رفيق حياته.. الطريف ان الزائدة الدودية يمكن حاليا ازالتها بعملية لا تستغرق نصف ساعة. ولكنها لو اتيحت لماتيس لكسبنا محاميا وخسرنا مدرسة جديدة في الفن المعاصر!!

* قد يكون الخلط بين العبقرية والجنون له اساس من الصحة، فالمعاناة النفسية والجسدية تنقلب في الافراد العاديين الى دافع للتفوق واثبات الذات (وهو ما قالت عنه العرب: كل ذي عاهة جبار!!).

بيتهوفن مثلا، رغم انه اعظم موسيقي في التاريخ الا انه كان يعاني من الصمم، وشومان (اعظم عازف بيانو) كانت يده اليمنى مشلولة، والمعري كان اعمى، ومليير كان مصابا بالسل، واديسون بالصمم، ودستويفسكي بالصرع، وسيزان بالسكر.. اما هذه الايام فاعظم مثال هو عالم الفيزياء البريطاني ستيفن كنج الذي اصيب بانحلال تدريجي في العضلات حتى اصبح مجرد كتلة لحم رخوة.. ومع هذا يعد كنج حاليا اعظم عالم في الفيزياء والفلك وكتب بالصوت واحدا من اكثر الكتب مبيعا في التاريخ (موجز تاريخ الكون)!!

.. حين نتأمل الرابطة القوية بين المعاناة والعبقرية نقدم العذر للاصحاء والمحظوظين.. فالمحظوظ لا يتمرد على مجتمع أعطاه كل شيء، وصحيح الجسم لا يملك دافعاً للابداع او وقتا للتأمل(less)

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Aug 14, 2008

Laurel rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, biography, science

I decided to read this book primarily because of my fiance's interest in Einstein's life and his theories. I thought it might help me to actually have a somewhat intelligent reply on the rare occasion he starts talking physics (don't tell him I said so, but he is much smarter than I am). :)

I felt a bit daunted by the length of it at first (700 pages, or 22 hours on 18 CD's), but the book is engrossing from the start. The periodic and quite detailed descriptions of Einstein's theorie...more

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Aug 01, 2008

Jamie rated it

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

What I loved about Isaacon's book here is the way it delicately balances three aspects: the life of Einstein from a strictly bi...moreA while back I had tried to read Walter Isaacson's biography on Benjamin Franklin, but just couldn't get through it because the author mired everything down in pointless details. Despite that, I decided to give his more recent book about famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein a try. If it turned out to be boring, I'd just drop it. Turned out, I loved it.

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

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

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

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Nov 02, 2007

Alex Telander rated it

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EINSTEIN: HIS LIFE AND UNIVERSE BY WALTER ISAACSON: Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, takes biography writing to a whole new level with Einstein: His Life and Universe. This isn’t just the story of Albert Einstein from birth until death; Isaacson escorts the reader on a unique journey through the mind of Einstein, as well as through the eyes of his friends and family; along the way one becomes so close and understanding of the man of the twentieth century it is as...moreEINSTEIN: HIS LIFE AND UNIVERSE BY WALTER ISAACSON: Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, takes biography writing to a whole new level with Einstein: His Life and Universe. This isn’t just the story of Albert Einstein from birth until death; Isaacson escorts the reader on a unique journey through the mind of Einstein, as well as through the eyes of his friends and family; along the way one becomes so close and understanding of the man of the twentieth century it is as if he were still alive and conversing with you. This book shows you the man and human being behind the genius of physics and astronomy, the creator of the theory of relativity.

Do not be fooled by the sheer girth of this 700-page book, Isaacson has a writing style that immediately makes the reader feel calm and at home, sitting in a comfortable chair doing what they love to do. Coupled with this is the knowledge – since the book is so large – that you will experience every important moment in Einstein’s life and you will be able to put to rest the urban legends that have developed over the decades. And no, Einstein did not flunk math.

Isaacson has done an incredible job in researching the math and physics so that the theories and ideas are presented in their entirety and laid out plainly so that if the reader wishes to truly understand Einstein’s ideas behind relativity, magnetic fields, quantum mechanics, and his never ending search for the unified field theory, they can. But unlike most Einstein biographies, this is only part of the book; another part is the human being behind the incredible brain. While being a very kind man throughout his life, Einstein also had a thing for the ladies, divorcing his first wife, Maric, of many years due to his infidelity with his second wife and cousin, Elsa, who he would outlive. Nevertheless, throughout his life Einstein always loved and cared for his children, even his first daughter with Maric who was given up for adoption and remains an obscure detail to history. There was a time when he held little respect for Hans Albert, his son, who pursued a career in engineering; Einstein’s love belonged to the world of theory and contemplation and despised the more manual sciences. Later in life, Hans and Albert became close once again and his son was by his side when Einstein died.

While not in the table of contents, the book can be divided into two parts, two worlds essentially for Einstein’s life. The first is his growing up in Germany and then moving to Switzerland, Prague and Berlin. His genius was there from the beginning, as he mastered calculus at the age of 15, and while working at a patent office began his work on relativity. It took some years before Einstein was granted a professorship in Berlin among his colleagues. It is during this time that Einstein was at his height and achieved a celebrity status that was very uncommon for a scientist, and where Hitler began his steady rise to power. While Einstein adamantly declared himself without religion, he never considered himself an atheist but a scientist; however he always considered himself a member of the Jewish culture and with the changes taking place in Germany, he became a prominent spokesmen for the Zionist movement. Sadly it came to the point where it simply wasn’t safe for Einstein to live in Germany anymore, as well as being forced out of his professorship, he made the decision to immigrate to the United States. He had visited the country a number of times during his tours around the world as a proponent of relativity and to meet other scientists at conferences, and was a big supporter of the rights and freedoms inherent in the country.

This is where the second part of the book begins, pursuing Einstein’s life in the United States.

Read the rest of the review at www.alexctelander.com

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Nov 16, 2009

Steven Peterson rated it

This lengthy 550 page biography depicts Albert Einstein's life well. This is a nuanced volume, speaking to the subject's flaws as well as his triumphs. Isaacson is a functional writer rather than a compelling writer, but his skills still make this a good book to read.

Isaacson introduces the volume with a telling comment (page 2): ". . .it is possible to explore how the private side of Einstein--his conconformist personality, his instincts as a rebel, his curiosity, his passions...moreThis lengthy 550 page biography depicts Albert Einstein's life well. This is a nuanced volume, speaking to the subject's flaws as well as his triumphs. Isaacson is a functional writer rather than a compelling writer, but his skills still make this a good book to read.

Isaacson introduces the volume with a telling comment (page 2): ". . .it is possible to explore how the private side of Einstein--his conconformist personality, his instincts as a rebel, his curiosity, his passions and detachments--intertwined with his political side and his scientific side."

Several images stand out. First, he debunks myths such as the claim that Einstein flunked math early on.

Second, he notes that Einstein's rebelliousness, noted in the quotation above, probably helped make him such a revolutionary thinker in the early 20th century. He developed his theory of relativity (special and general); he was one who took part in the development of quantum theory, and so on. Many of these developments came about because he was not content to go along with established theories, authorities, and scientists. He questioned things; this questioning opened him to different ways of understanding the physical world. Sadly, later in life, Einstein came to defend what he had done and embraced the scientific status quo. He could never fully accept quantum theory (a perspective that he, in part, helped found). He went from a revolutionary to part of the establishment.

Third, his personal odyssey is interesting to follow. As a person, he could be fairly cold toward others--including those in his own family. He was not always faithful to his wives (he used the promise of what he anticipated as his winning the Nobel Prize and its financial award to get his first wife to agree to a divorce; simply, he promised to turn the financial award over to her when he won); he could be tough on his children. His movement out of Germany as the Nazis began to rise to power is well told. His eventual move to the United States is a part of his story.

Fourth, his sometimes courageous and sometimes lonely political stands are well described. He was a pacifist (normally); he wanted liberty to be available to all. His political activism was an important part of his life.

The story concludes with the curious tale of what happened to his brain after his death.

In short, this is a solidly written biography of one of the towering intellects of the 20th century. If one wishes to learn more about Einstein, this is a nice volume to use as a starting point.
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Sep 13, 2008

Doran Barton rated it

I finished reading Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.

As a biography, Isaacson's book was good, but could have been better. I feel I've been spoiled by reading David McCullough's book on John Adams because Issacson's book is considerably disjointed and littered with personal opinions assertions compared to McCullough's book. I also found reading Isaacson’s book was slow-going compared to other biographies I’d read.

Prior to reading this book, my knowledge o...moreI finished reading Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.

As a biography, Isaacson's book was good, but could have been better. I feel I've been spoiled by reading David McCullough's book on John Adams because Issacson's book is considerably disjointed and littered with personal opinions assertions compared to McCullough's book. I also found reading Isaacson’s book was slow-going compared to other biographies I’d read.

Prior to reading this book, my knowledge of Einstein was pretty limited. I had learned of his theories of relativity in school. I knew he lived in Germany and moved to the United States sometime during or before World War II. I knew he was a pacifist but was somewhat involved with the creation of the first nuclear weapons in the United States.

Now, having read Isaacson's biography, I have learned a lot of things I didn't know. I have a much better idea of what Einstein was like. I think I would have admired the man the public knew, but since the biography reveals many things the public did not know while he was alive, I have to say I still admire his intellect but am disappointed in his personality.

One thing that seemed to keep coming up as I read about Einstein's life was that he could not commit to almost anything.

For example, he married twice, but was unfaithful to both women. An example is one time that his first wife, Mileva Maric, confronted him about his infidelity and he defended himself with the flippant excuse that he had tried to protect her from ever knowing so she would not be hurt. This “truth only hurts those who know” attitude is indicative of the arrogance, apathy, and disrespect Einstein had for women in his life.

Einstein’s religious views (or lack thereof) are another example. He is quoted as saying, “I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of indivuals or would sit in judgement on creatures of his own creation.” Despite his firm disbelief in a traditional God, he was quick to respond to those who called him an atheist. “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything we can comprehend is my religion.”

Was this an attempt to avoid the questions or avoid having to personally account for his beliefs? I think it was probably at least somewhat along those lines.

Einstein is known for his pacifism, but, again, it’s not black or white. While still living in Germany before the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, he was outspoken about the need for world-government, protesting military service, and that Europe should not re-arm after the first World War.

However, once the Nazi party took control of Germany, Einstein’s pacifism gave away to a belief that countries should arm themselves and that military service was honorable if a country was to defend itself against the antagonism of a fighting force like Germany’s.

About the only thing I could tell Einstein firmly believed throughout his life was that there was a unified theory of the universe that originated in field theories. He doubted quantum physics held answers about the universe despite the fact his early published papers played a large role in spurring the creation of the new field of physics.(less)

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Jul 30, 2008

Christine rated it

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This book was very interesting at times but I just found myself bored too much of the time. The book could have been condensed in some parts in my opinion.

I really enjoyed learning more about Einstein's life and trying to get to the core of who he was. The stuff about his theories was boring to me. There was a lot devoted to it. Anyone who really cares about that is going to read a physics textbook, so I think the author should have put less of that in there.

The bo...more

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Mar 26, 2008

Amy rated it

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Einstein was a great read - I gained a new appreciation for Einstein as a person and his scientific world. In the beginning of the book, I didn't know quite what to think of Einstein. I couldn't tell if he possessed great confidence or if he crossed over to being arrogant, and I wasn't impressed with how he handled his personal relationships. However, as the book went on, I gained an appreciation for his thirst for knowledge, his independent thinking, confidence, determination, and even kindn...more

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Aug 29, 2007

Madmadam rated it

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Recommends it for: voyeurs

I read until the second chapter and briefly flipped through the book in its entirety when I decided I’m against biographies. I’ve always been an Einstein fan. I thought it would be interesting to read about his life. It was interesting, I suppose. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of intrusion when reading into his personal matters. Really, and this biography in particular is a perfect example, I’ve come to the conclusion that the biography when written by an author who does not sensitively treat...moreI read until the second chapter and briefly flipped through the book in its entirety when I decided I’m against biographies. I’ve always been an Einstein fan. I thought it would be interesting to read about his life. It was interesting, I suppose. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of intrusion when reading into his personal matters. Really, and this biography in particular is a perfect example, I’ve come to the conclusion that the biography when written by an author who does not sensitively treat information with regards to a person’s privacy, is no better than a tabloid. It’s glorified and scholarly, perhaps, yet it is still no better than those nasty magazines that build up celebrities only to tear them down triumphantly by pointing out their human flaws. They seem to fill a base psychological need to bring a hero down in order to boost the average ego’s confidence. Fans of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein probably read the book, scanning for failures to make them feel better. Perhaps they have common failures. Who wouldn’t feel a bit grander drawing parallels between one’s own life and the life Einstein whose name is synonymous today with intelligence? Or worse, perhaps they’re malicious, and look merely for the flaws. “Ah”, perhaps they think, “look at the “great” Einstein… Failed marriage, poor parenting… I may not be brilliant but at least I have people skills.” Maybe I’m too cynical. Another reader might applaud the book for the same reasons I put my thumbs down. Taking a giant, like Einstein, and showing him to be human like everyone else may encourage and elevate others to greatness, in the same way it’s encouraging (though to me it’s daunting) at the number of tries Edison had to go through before he lit his light bulb. I don’t know. It’s difficult for me to play devil’s advocate here.
Perhaps I’m old fashioned in the belief that the dead should be respected. Some of the papers the author used were only recently released. These papers were sacredly private to Albert during his lifetime and were carefully guarded by his family. It seems a pity to make a dead man’s secrets open for public speculation.
Perhaps my review is unfair. I didn’t finish the book. I merely read the first few chapters then skimmed briefly til the last few paragraphs, which kindly paid tribute to the man, Albert Einstein by celebrating his nonconformist attitude, humble awe of nature, and of course his brilliant thought. But I can’t help asking in my mind, would the subject be pleased? Or.. would he cringe?

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Aug 04, 2011

Marty Ross rated it

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Shelves: biography

I really enjoyed this biography, though generally, I'd say I'm not the biggest fan of the biography format. This was a bit of a twist in that it actually did go through many of Einstein's mental processes to arrive at a theory of relativity, special and general. What I found pretty impressive was that it delved not just into the implications of the theory, but the origins as well; the people who influenced his thinking, the people who came right up to the idea, but stopped short, unable to lea...more

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Aug 29, 2007

Charles Cavanaugh rated it

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I'm still reading this book, and it's endlessly fascinating how Einstein's personal life meshed with his scientific insights. What's intriguing for me is how certain events (schooling, patent office, childhood events, etc.)helped steer him towards the stature and genius he achieved.
Just as an example, as a young man he desperately wanted a job as a university professor, but no one would hire him. He got the civil service job in the patent office which allowed him to conduct his brilliant t...more

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Mar 02, 2008

Maggie rated it

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Shelves: 2008

I liked learning about the human being "Einstein" but wasn't as interested in his accomplishments...both are in the book and it's a nice narrative in the time line of his life, which I did think was nice. It did put his accomplishments in the context of what was happening in his personal life via letters and this was the part I was interested in the most. Also what was interesting was learning how his political and religious views changed and/or stayed the same as his life went on. Th...more

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Mar 10, 2009

Lee at All Ears rated it

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Shelves: science, biography, non-fiction

You'll know Albert like your own grandfather after reading this. This book covers the complete life of Albert Einstein, from his childhood (he never did fail a math test) and early attraction to science and math to his love life, his children, his education, his employment, his many great theories and discoveries, his relationship with all of his famous peers, his rise to public fame, his sincere beliefs in freedom from oppression, 2 world wars, his role with the bomb, and his life in the US. An...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Alyson Farmer rated it

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Shelves: audio-book

I got to disk 6 of 18 before I had to take it back to the library. Someone else had it on hold. I'd like to pick it up again at some point. I especially enjoyed learning about his life but found my thoughts wandering when his theories were being discussed (I'm ashamed to admit).

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Dec 27, 2008

Jeff rated it

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Shelves: favorites

This excellent biography of Einstein was my first in-depth exposure to a giant of science. Isaacson’s challenge was to document Einstein’s life in the context of his revolutionary contributions to science without completely losing the reader in descriptions of physics before and after. Since scientific knowledge builds incrementally on the discoveries, some rudimentary knowledge of Newtonian physics is a requirement for understanding this book. The author helps us understand how the famous t...more

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Feb 09, 2012

Suvi Lampila rated it

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A real page turner. Isaacson has taken the general relativity, and the man behind it, to tell a compelling story. Surprisingly, not even the calculations Einstein wrote down on his death bed leave you as baffled as does his personal life, particularly his relationship with his first wife and children. I am incapable of enjoying even a biography without a compulsion to interpret everything I read.

Lack of evidence appears to have made Isaacson cautious to openly support any theory on w...moreA real page turner. Isaacson has taken the general relativity, and the man behind it, to tell a compelling story. Surprisingly, not even the calculations Einstein wrote down on his death bed leave you as baffled as does his personal life, particularly his relationship with his first wife and children. I am incapable of enjoying even a biography without a compulsion to interpret everything I read.

Lack of evidence appears to have made Isaacson cautious to openly support any theory on what happened to Albert Einstein’s and Mileva Maric’s illegitimate daughter Lieserl. On the surface it looks like he dutifully lists the different theories, the most popular one being that Lieserl died of scarlet fever as a toddler. Another theory favored by Robert Schulmann of the Einstein Papers Project, according to Isaacson, is that Mileva’s close friend Helene Savic adopted Lieserl. Also according to Isaacson, Helene Savic brought up a girl named Zorka, who was blind, never married, was shielded by her nephew from interviews and died in the nineties. Isaacson is careful to state that Zorka’s nephew, Milan Popović, favors the theory that Einstein’s daughter died of scarlet fever, but then goes as far as to state that Zorka’s relatives have not provided any proof, such as a birth certificate, to prove Zorka was not Lieserl.

Conveniently, most of the correspondence between the women from this time period has been destroyed by Mileva herself and Zorka’s protective family. Only few letters between Einstein and Mileva remain that reveal Lieserl even existed. In one of them it was discussed that their daughter might have suffered some lasting effect due to scarlet fever, which Isaacson speculates could be blindness. Several chapters later Isaacson mentions in passing Mileva’s sister by name – Zorka. There is nothing like a princess that inspires people to name their daughter (I’ve done it myself twice) so Zorka was by no means uncommon name in Serbia at the time. Still something in me gravitates toward the tragic and poetic theory, which Isaacson appears to support in between the lines.

The adopted by a family friend theory would certainly explain several peculiarities in Mileva’s and Einstein’s life. While Mileva was pregnant, and immediately after giving birth, Einstein was thrilled, and nothing suggested that they would give up the baby. Almost nothing: two months before giving birth, Mileva wrote to Einstein about telling her friend: “I don’t think we should say anything about Lieserl yet.” and “We must now treat her very nicely. She’ll have to help us in something important, after all.” Isaacson speculates this could be a cryptic hint that Mileva and Einstein hoped their friend would take custody of their child.

After Lieserl was born something clearly changed. It could have been Einstein’s new position at the patent office, like Isaacson suggests, or that Lieserl was born with a birth defect, or something else that made Einstein and Mileva decide not to raise Lieserl themselves. At this point, I was no longer able to help myself; I let my imagination take over.

Suppose Mileva didn’t want to give her baby up for adoption, even under the circumstances, but didn’t want her family to raise her child either, as later on Lieserl would learn who her parents were, so she turned to her friend Helene Savic for help. The condition of the unofficial adoption would be that Mileva would be able to stay in contact with her daughter through Helene, but Lieserl, and no one else for that matter, would never learn who her true parents were. Hence their letters were deliberately destroyed. Suppose Helen renamed Lieserl, Zorka, possibly upon Mileva’s request. After all it was her sister’s name, the sister whom she confided in about the pregnancy. One thing is certain though, Lieserl was a family secret, and I have little doubt it consumed Mileva until the day she died.

Why would Mileva keep the letters written by Einstein that revealed they had a daughter? To remind herself that their daughter was loved once, however briefly, a romantic would say. As an insurance, something she could use to blackmail Einstein into marriage, and later for financial support, a cynic would say. All of the above, and to protect Zorka in the event it would come to light that Einstein and Mileva had a daughter they had given up for adoption. Nothing is as convincing as admitting to a secret in order to hide another one.

And nothing is more lucrative than to cherry-pick evidence to support your own theory. All is well except there was no blind girl named Zorka, unless Helene Savic had three daughters. She did, however, have a daughter named Zora who was born the same year Lieserl is supposed to have died. Zora eventually married and had children. If someone was blind, it is unlikely it was Zora, as in the family picture she is the one looking into the camera, but her sister, who was born the same year as Lieserl, stares slightly off camera. I could be mistaken that there was in fact Zorka at the Savic household, but she wasn’t listed in the family tree, and therefore Milan Popović, the author of In Albert’s shadow, is not her protective nephew.(less)

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Sep 13, 2011

Joseph Andersen rated it

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On substance, this book delivers what it promises. Isaacson artfully combines a thorough biography of Einstein with a high-level explanation of his special and general theories of relativity. This cross-over approach yields interesting insights into the scientific community from which Einstein emerged, the anti-semitism that he battled throughout his life, and the science establishment's reaction to his celebrity status.

The book succeeds in neither overly glorifying Einstein's acc...more

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Jul 28, 2011

José added it · review of another edition

Quite a page turner! Based primarily on the large number of letters written by Einstein, his friends, his colleagues, and his family (as well as the extensive public record on one of the 20th century most public figures), this biography (at 500+ pages) leaves no stone unturned. As he progresses through Einstein's life, Isaacson picks up on three major themes: his scientific discoveries, his personal relations, and his political activities. The deep dives into the physics remain at a fairly super...more

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Jul 23, 2011

Jacqui rated it

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Shelves: biography, science

Everyone knows Albert Einstein--smart man, came up with E+MC2, helped create the atomic bomb--but I didn't know much beyond the hype. That's why I picked up Walter Isaacson's award winning book Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon and Schuster 2007). I like to read about smart people. What's different about how they think than other people? Can they relate to ordinary people? Where do they get the amazing ideas they come up with?

As often as not, brilliant people become criminals as s...moreEveryone knows Albert Einstein--smart man, came up with E+MC2, helped create the atomic bomb--but I didn't know much beyond the hype. That's why I picked up Walter Isaacson's award winning book Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon and Schuster 2007). I like to read about smart people. What's different about how they think than other people? Can they relate to ordinary people? Where do they get the amazing ideas they come up with?

As often as not, brilliant people become criminals as successes like Einstein, which tells me we as a world culture don't respect intelligence as the end-all for our problems. Someone who is charismatic, friendly, likeable, with good-enough brains is more likely to succeed than an individual whose brain never shuts off.

Turns out, that was true for Albert Einstein. The childhood Isaacson shares with us doesn't sound like a boy revered for his thinking skills. He had the same problems as you and I, including that he struggled in many academic classes because his brain didn't fit into the teacher's pedagogic box. When he entered the work world, he couldn't find a job and happily took one toiling in the offices of the patent department. His brain continued to chug along, thinking through problems around him, but he was a theoretician. That meant he came up with ways to solve problems that were formulaic rather than drawn from the reality of the world around him. This made their acceptance more challenging in the academic world. After all, the senses couldn't see them happening.

But, Einstein couldn't turn his brain off and that tenacity is what won out in the end. Tenacity. That's a trait anyone can develop. You don't need to be a genius. How many parents rail on their kids to never give up, don't be a quitter, to the last man standing goes the spoils.

Isaacson gently shares the details of Einstein's later life, when he accomplished little and seemed confused over his direction in life, adamant about his beliefs, but not sure where to take them when he could find little support for his thinking.

Overall, Einstein's story is a lesson for all of us. He had a God-given talent to think better than anyone in his generation, but it was the very human traits of tenacity and perseverance that enabled his success and the inability to see the forest for the trees that mitigated it in the end. A worthy story for all, as much biography as lessons in how to live an extraordinary life. You'll have to engage your own tenacity as the book is a raucous 675 pages--not for the faint of heart.(less)

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Jun 06, 2010

Ruth rated it

551 pages.

Maticulously researched, beautifully written, fascinating, inspiring - 551 pages and I did not want it to end!

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 Frank...more

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May 25, 2010

Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com rated it

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I found this book fascinating and interesting, yet a bit more of a difficult read than Mr. Isaacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin. However, the author does a good job reconciling the physics genius with the rascally young ideologue and later with the icon we all think of when we hear the name "Einstein".

As in his other biographies, Isaacson brings forth wonderful little anecdotes through personal letters and stories which, I feel, let us separate the man from the myth a...more

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May 15, 2010

Charlotte rated it

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Is everyone who has read this book prepared to explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity? I am not! However, I did appreciate our author's explanation of Einstein's thought process.

This book may change how you feel about Einstein as a scientist. It may change how you feel about him as a person. If you are a woman, would you have been attracted to him as a boyfriend? Would you have enjoyed having lunch with him? As you read the book, do you feel sorry for his first wife,...more

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Mar 29, 2010

Blog on Books rated it

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With the 2006 release of the massive personal papers of Albert Einstein, the door was finally opened to the last remaining secrets of the life of the most renowned mathematician, scientist and quantum physicist of the 20th Century. By covering in great detail Einstein’s entire life from his 1879 German childbirth to his passing from a bursting aneurysm in 1955 at age 76, Issacson has created a much broader understanding of the man, his pursuits and the often turbulent times in which he lived. Fa...more

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Feb 14, 2010

Daniel rated it

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This ranks among the top biographies I have ever read. I could hardly put it down. Isaacson is a master storyteller and though the book is more than 500 pages it doe not get bogged down in minutia or trivia. He steers clear of obtuse scientific principles and when he does venture into the physics his explanations are elegant so that even a layman can understand and appreciate what Einstein was working on.
Isaacson also does not waste time with too much tangential stuff about who his grandpa...more

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Sep 16, 2009

Brian rated it

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Great book.

On the physics side, I think the author gave a nice take on the final few decades of his life as he took on Neils Bohr and quantum theory as few if any others have. Einstein is often looked at with pity over that time as a man out of touch and clinging to old ways. However, as revealed in many letters he wrote to his friends and peers, he felt that he was in the unique position to take on Bohr, since doing so would cast a lessser theorist (and even Einstein) as one of ...more

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Jan 12, 2009

Monica Perez rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 15, 2011

Nicholas rated it

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Fascinating and lovingly crafted. Isaacson approaches his subject with the utmost regard and a clear desire to explain what we might call ambiguous or controversial aspects of Einstein's life. The book certainly doesn't lack in detail. There are 550 pages of narrative biography and a massive list of sources and notes from correspondence between Einstein and colleagues as well as family and friends as well as his notes and personal papers and archival material that must have been painstakingly re...moreFascinating and lovingly crafted. Isaacson approaches his subject with the utmost regard and a clear desire to explain what we might call ambiguous or controversial aspects of Einstein's life. The book certainly doesn't lack in detail. There are 550 pages of narrative biography and a massive list of sources and notes from correspondence between Einstein and colleagues as well as family and friends as well as his notes and personal papers and archival material that must have been painstakingly researched indeed.

Isaacson takes a three-fold approach to Einstein's life that is clear from the way the chapters are separated, though he does attempt a somewhat chronological approach. Einstein's life is divided into three major themes: his scientific work, his personal life, and his political or public life. I have to admit I was much more comfortable with the first and third than the second. Reading his love letters or learning the personal details about how he kept his house seemed a bit too voyeuristic to me. One can debate philosophically whether or not that is the just consequence of so public a life, but it still feels wrong. Nevertheless, the other two elements are more than enough to joyfully push the narrative along at a fascinating clip.

Isaacson portrays Einstein as an iconoclast, a rebel that did most of his best scientific, political and even religious thinking standing in direct contradistinction to the prevailing currents. This is certainly true in his younger years within the realm of science and to a certain degree even with his political involvement between the World Wars. Relativity, both the special and general theories, certainly met with a lot of opposition among the scientific establishment at the time and faced a long uphill battle before gaining acceptance. In his older years, Einstein became more attached to the classical physical world that he grew up with and was very reluctant to accept advances in Quantum Mechanics that were producing eminently consistent results experimentally. He sums up the transition in his life with typical self-reflective good humor, "To punish me for my contempt of authority, fate made me an authority myself." Einstein is a solid work with a strong scientific background that explains fundamental concepts quite well. Having read a lot of popular physics stuff lately, I thought I'd find a lot of the descriptions of the laws and discoveries to be tedious. This was not the case. What Isaacson adds is the subjective elements of discovery, the historical context for such ideas that makes them fascinating in an altogether different light. The ideas aren't stated as maxims, they're proposed as radical departures from prevailing wisdom and debated, often in the voices of Einstein's contemporaries - Bohr, Born, Heisenberg, Planck, Poincaré and too many others to do them sufficient justice. Underlying the ideas that transformed science is a running philosophical theme that Isaacson also does a fantastic job at highlighting: the nature of reality and humanity's ability, or inability, to know it, capture it, and explain it. You get more than a biography of the legend, but a biography of the turn of the century with all its prejudices, excitement, fervor and imagination. Even the quaint seems historically momentous and precious to preserve.

Counterintuitively, I found the second half of the book recounting Einstein's "unproductive" years to be more interesting than the first. I liked the older Einstein and it was a joy to read about all the anecdotes that contributed to his quite real absent-minded professor image. In these years Einstein took to politics, philosophy and religion, proving that he was not only probably the greatest scientist that ever lived, but the greatest thinker and humanist as well. Isaacson notes several instances of intense debate over political issues that Einstein held passionately. It was nice to see, in spite of these passions, that he was magnanimous when proven wrong and was quick to abandon positions that became untenable or that he learned were incorrect like his modified views on pacifism, religion and his own Jewish cultural identity.

On a personal level, Isaacson is deeply and uncomfortably probing and probably more than a little too forgiving of Einstein for several rather large personal lapses in judgment, shrugging them off as personal quirks. Skirting the issues of his personal relations, I found sections of analysis on his celebrity and his reaction to celebrity rather interesting. It's hard to imagine, even in todays age where science has been popularized by other great minds like Sagan, that a scientist, especially one dealing in abstruse theoretical and in the case of general relativity and unified field theory almost purely mathematical concepts, could garner the fame that he did, almost without effort. Thousands would come to see him and it seemed from newspaper accounts that the public almost reveled in the fact that they had no idea what he was talking about. As Chaplin once said to him at a movie premier: "They cheer me because they all understand me, they cheer you because no one understands you." I think there's some truth to this and I think part of the reason we love Einstein so much is because he represents the idea that human beings can transcend the limits of life and push the boundaries of what we think real or practical. The fact the he's still the icon for such thinking in a world where science has moved on to the truly complex and mind-boggling is a testament to just how much he really revolutionized our understanding of the way the universe works.

It was also interesting to see how the lay public reacted to such mind and universe altering ideas. Particularly exasperating for Einstein was the conflation of relativity with a philosophy of moral relativism, which he lamented frequently. The press, then as now, with nothing better to do speculate and speculate and speculate until all they're left with is absurdities. "Does relativity mean there's no such thing as right and wrong?" Which is more of a question of semantics than the result of the research and findings of Einstein himself. These questions would haunt him the rest of his life in the public forum as Nazis and anti-Semites used it to cast a lurid glow over what "Jewish science" was doing to the moral fabric of Germany or American conservatives thought were clear indications of Soviet sympathies. Absurd, to be sure, but an interesting historical theme: the uneducated, yet vitriolic grasping on to key words and bending their meaning to their political advantage (like Socialism in the press today). Einstein himself was a proponent of socialism. I wonder how that would fly in the red states today? Would they act like conservatives in Germany and Europe and use it as a basis to reject not just the man's political ideology, but his science as well? I'd like to think not, but humanity still tends to have the rather unfortunate habit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's a disease in politics today as it was in Einstein's time.

Review-wise, Isaacson does a remarkable job with a lot of source material, and while some of it can be redundant, he tightly focuses his narrative around readily identifiable themes that give purpose and meaning to Einstein's place in history. His prose is unpretentious, dignified, and direct, features that Gleick's biography of Newton probably could have benefited from. With all the biographies of Einstein on the market, it's still hard to imagine any that could top this one. Very highly recommended.(less)

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Jul 08, 2010

Kim rated it

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I loved listening to the audio read, narrated by Edward Herrmann of Walter Isaacson's biography on Einstein: His Life and Universe. Einstein lived during some of the most complex decades of humankind. I greatly appreciate how in his brilliancy, he remained humble, humorous, passionate, concerned for social justice, sane, independent in his thinking, work and vision despite the upheavals throughout his life, including WWI and WWII. Although I have very little interest in theoretical physics, I d...more

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Jul 16, 2011

Rebecca rated it

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This book took me almost a year to read in its entirety. Not because of lack of interest or poor writing, as Einstein is one of the most profound figures to affect my imagination and Isaacson captures him brilliantly. My issue is with exactly that: Isaacson presents the reader with the real Einstein. We all know him to have been a genius without equal, a bit of an eccentric but beloved and revered all the same. Isaacson removes the veil, brandishing Einstein's mistreatment of his first wife...more

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About Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson lives in Washington, DC, where he is the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He is the author of acclaimed, best-selling biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Kissinger.

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