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Einstein: His Life and Universe

by Walter Isaacson

Einstein: His Life and Universe Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"Isaacson has admirably succeeded in weaving together the complex threads of Einstein's personal and scientific life to paint a superb portrait."-- Arthur I. Miller, author of Einstein, Picasso

Review:

"Once again Walter Isaacson has produced a most valuable biography of a great man about whom much has already been written. It helps that he has had access to important new material. He met the challenge of dealing with his subject as a human being and describing profound ideas in physics. His biography is a pleasure to read and makes the great physicist come alive."-- Murray Gell-Mann, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics and author of The Quark and the Jaguar

Review:

"Isaacson's treatment of Einstein's scientific work is excellent: accurate, complete, and just the right level of detail for the general reader. Taking advantage of the wealth of recently uncovered historical material, he has produced the most readable biography of Einstein yet."-- A. Douglas Stone, Professor of Physics at Yale

Review:

"I found so much to admire; there are many places where I just had to cheer what Isaacson had written."-- Dudley Herschbach, Professor of Science at Harvard

Review:

"This book does an amazing job getting the science right and the man revealed." — Sylvester James Gates, Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland

Review:

"This is a brilliant intellectual tapestry — and a great read. Skillfully weaving Einstein's revolutionary scientific achievements, his prolific political initiatives, his complex personal life, and his fascinating personality, Isaacson has transformed the transformer of the twentieth century into a beacon for the twenty-first century."-- Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor of American Prometheus:The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography

About the Author

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and of Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments"""

Main Characters"""

CHAPTER ONE

The Light-Beam Rider""

CHAPTER TWO

Childhood, 1879-1896"""

CHAPTER THREE

The Zurich Polytechnic, 1896-1900""

CHAPTER FOUR

The Lovers,"1900-1904""

CHAPTER FIVE

The Miracle Year: Quanta and Molecules, 1905"""

CHAPTER SIX

Special Relativity, 1905"""

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Happiest Thought, 1906-1909"""

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Wandering Professor, 1909-1914"""

CHAPTER NINE

General Relativity, 1911-1915"""

CHAPTER TEN

Divorce, 1916-1919"""

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Einstein's Universe, 1916-1919"""

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fame, 1919"""

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Wandering Zionist, 1920-1921"""

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Nobel Laureate, 1921-1927"""

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Unified Field Theories, 1923-1931"""

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Turning Fifty, 1929-1931"""

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Einstein's God"""

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Refugee, 1932-1933"""

CHAPTER NINETEEN

America, 1933-1939"""

CHAPTER TWENTY

Quantum Entanglement, 1935"""

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Bomb, 1939-1945""

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

One-Worlder, 1945-1948"""

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Landmark, 1948-1953"""

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Red Scare, 1951-1954"""

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The End, 1955"""

EPILOGUE

Einstein's Brain and Einstein's Mind"""

Sources """

Notes"""

Index""

Product Details

ISBN:
9780743264747
Subtitle:
His Life and Universe
Author:
Isaacson, Walter
Author:
Isaacson, Walter
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster
Subject:
Scientists - General
Subject:
History
Subject:
Relativity
Subject:
General Biography
Subject:
Physicists
Subject:
Relativity (physics)
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
May 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
675
Dimensions:
9.25 x 6.125 in

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