Einstein : In His Own Words [Paperback] by Rooney, Anne

by Anne Rooney

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书名:大师馆-爱因斯坦自述
作者:【英】安妮·鲁尼(Anne Rooney)著 王浪 译
出版社:黑龙江教育出版社
出版日期:2016年11月
装订:平装-胶订
分类:图书-人物传记-科学家_综合

Genres: Science, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Physics, Philosophy

Paperback

Published January 1, 2006

About the author

Anne Rooney gained a degree and then a PhD in medieval literature from Trinity College, Cambridge. After a period of teaching medieval English and French literature at the universities of Cambridge and York, she left to pursue a career as a freelance writer. She has written many books for adults and children on a variety of subjects, including literature and history. She lives in Cambridge and is Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Essex.

Reviews

[September · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly, I wish I knew what Rooney was attempting to accomplish & who she thought her audience was.

Imagine she's skipped a stone across a lake. Each time it hits the water, we get a peek into something related to Einstein but no complete thoughts or pictures.

An overly simplistic example: We're told his wife studied a subject not suitable for women, that she's older than Einstein, and that she was disabled. If one doesn't know Mileva or what she was specifically studying, you'd have to look it up. (It could have been anything STEM related.) Her age, we can possibly pass over. But how she was considered "disabled" at the time may be considered differently, today. Was it her mental health or physical? To then include his family's comments that she was "ruining" his future & "no decent family would want her" without complete context is sloppy. I want to know, so I can understand Einstein!

And that's nothing to say of the more significant skips across the lake. Without complete or greater context throughout the book, how are we to get a better idea of who Einstein was? I mean it's entitled, "...in his own words."

Speaking of. Although most of the quotes seem to be attributed to Einstein, there are plenty who were said by others. Sometimes, we can infer who said them, sometimes a name was included just below, and sometimes the reader is left wondering.

This book left me with more questions than having gained anything of value. Like an image with many chunks cut out of it. What do you do with a holey image?? Who was this man, really?

So disappointing.

[Zhijing Jin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the effort of compiling the book. The book is in the form of "a quote" + "background introduction". The quotes are put into seven main sections: Introduction, Science, Religion, War, Politics, Philosophy, Who's who.

(Objective 1) If you want to get a quick grasp of Einstein's thinking realm, then the book is good. It is all age-friendly, and a quick read.

(Objective 2) However, for people who want to gain a rational picture of Einstein, extracting only one or two sentences from each of Einstein's essays/speech/letters might not be a good idea. When an opinion leaves its context, it causes misunderstanding, especially for the highly-quoted Einstein.

I would recommend reading
- his complete essays discussing philosophy, humanitarianism, etc.
- his original papers if you are interested in physics (as he said "everybody admires without understanding me")
- a good fact-based introduction of major event in his life
- his letters if you want to see more informal discussions of his opinions, or his words to his son

[Sandy Sopko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating quotations on many topics, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it his book on my shelf.

[Albert Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Einstein is one of the most misquoted people of all time.
Anyone with a point to prove will find a snippet of an Einstein quote, take it out of context, and use it to prove their point.
Here, in this book we have so many quotes of his, arranged by topic, so that one can get a more complete picture of his views on a certain subject, than by merely reading a single quote.
For some of the quotes, the author sets up the circumstances surrounding the quote, so that there is some further background on the state of his mind as he made the quote.

Recommended reading for insight into the mind of this 20th Century giant.
His views on a great many topics will give you cause to reexamine your own views, in a new light. Amazingly, Einstein's thought is still valid, more than a century after his greatest accomplishments.

This book is an absolutely necessary addition to the bookshelf of anyone who is in the habit of debating science and philosophy, and needs quick ammunition to debunk opposing arguments. Go beyond the "appeal to authority" defense, and give your opponent the opportunity to reevaluate their opinion of what Einstein actually thought.

[Menglong Youk · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Einstein In His own Words" is a short biography of the 20th century genius physicist, mostly using Einstein's quotes ranging from Science, Religion, War, Politics and Philosophy, attached with rare photos which I never saw before. Although I read his big-ass biography book by Walter Isaacson last year, I still found this book informative, and mind you, I cried over an old guy who was dead 60 years ago. His words are still valuable today compared to all promises and lies told by politicians through out the decades. The world would be a better place if his speeches and wisdom were practiced. I recommended this book to those who might want to take a glimpse of who Einstein was and why he was considered as one of the most influential scientists of all time.

[Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book does inform the reader some of the viewpoints and sentiments of the great scientist, it is little more than a collection of his quotations. It can hardly be called a biography. The illustrations are largely irrelevant and unnecessary. Anyone could have written this book - all they need is to google "Einstein" and "quotations", and they would have more than enough information in the first page alone. The only good thing about this book: it is quite cheap for a fully coloured hardcover book, costing only HKD$85 (~USD$11).

[Mel Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because the book really emphasized about Einstein and how he came to be regarded as one of the great thinkers of all time and that he was also an activist and a charmer. He was also a humanitarian and condemned the use of the atom bomb. We see Einstein in a different light in which lets us know of who he really is aside from the brilliant scientist that he is known as.

[David Meyer]

This book was written at a somewhat low level, but contained a lot of fascinating information. It helped the reader delve more deeply into the personal life of Einstein. I was particularly interested in and inspired by his feelings on religion.

[Cayter Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book