Einstein: His Life and Universe

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  A tremendously enjoyable and interesting book. I find it amazing that this hasn't already been said; Walter Isaacson has done such a fantastic job of weaving this tale, that one can become so engrossed in the story of Einstein, to the point of forgeting there was an author at all. Somehow the words seem to appear on the page as some mystical part of the "Good Doctor's" distained "Quantum Weirdness".

  The story itself begs a few, largely rhetorical questions of history... (show more)

  A tremendously enjoyable and interesting book. I find it amazing that this hasn't already been said; Walter Isaacson has done such a fantastic job of weaving this tale, that one can become so engrossed in the story of Einstein, to the point of forgeting there was an author at all. Somehow the words seem to appear on the page as some mystical part of the "Good Doctor's" distained "Quantum Weirdness".

  The story itself begs a few, largely rhetorical questions of history though.

  Why has history failed to record, or more accurately misrepresented, Dr. Eistein's role in both the start and the outcome of World War II?

  This is not to say that Eistein played any active or deliberate role in the rise of the Nazi party, but, and through no fault of his own, his Jewish lineage combined with his surprising fame served only to antagonise Hitler and added a large amount of fuel to the already deteriorating relations between German Jews and Arian Germans.

  His prosperity stood in stark contrast to the general failure of the German economy, and must have hightened the latent inadequacy of the Nazi ego.

  His convenient pacifism, turned globalism, turned military opportunism, returned globalism was selfserving and transparent, and must have seemed like a typical Jewish flip flop to the Nazi anti-semites.

  Combine all of this with his early involvement in the conception and developement of the atom bomb and I find it highly hypocritical that his name isn't forever connected to Hiter's in popular history.

  It is also baffing to me that his success in science garnered such fast growing and wide spread fame and celebrity. While his accomplishments certainly deserved notariety and acknowledgement, the speed at which he rose to such a high level of fame, at the hands of a people largely incapble of even a basic understanding of his science, seems more fantastic than any hollywood movie today.

  I in no way wish to diminish the respect that his immense intellect rightly deserves, and I both acknowledge and praise his generosity, kindsness and sense of social responsibility. I don't however abide by the notion that his accomplishments in science and politics warrant painting him in anything but his true colours.

  He was an ego driven overachever, who revelled in embarrassing and ridiculing his colleagues and challengers. He was a womaniser and emotionally cold to the people who loved him most, and he was, quite honestely, a horrible father.

  His historically documented positive traits, are not diminished by the negative ones, but even so, most people only get to see one side of his story.

  Bravo Mr. Isaacson, you've outdone yourself! (show less)

   

   

  by Marty Clemens on Feb 01, 2009 at 05:22PM

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  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 ... (show more)

  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 leap the final conceptual hurdle. Also impressive was a general glance at the philisophical milleu of the world as it changed so radically at the first half of the 20th century. I guess my problem with the biographical format is that you know how it will end. And after spending 450 pages getting to know a brilliant life, it just seems tragic that we are all destined to exit stage left. (show less)

   

   

  by Marty Ross on Oct 27, 2009 at 10:04PM

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