Einstein for Beginners

by Michael McGuinness, Joseph Schwartz, Schwartz. Joseph.

Book Overview

Amusing, irreverent, sophisticated and highly accessible, Einstein for Beginners is the perfect introduction to Einstein's life and thought. Reaching back as far as Babylon (for the origins of mathematics) and the Etruscans (who thought they could handle lightning), this book takes us through the revolutions in electrical communications and technology that made the theory of relativity possible. In the process, we meet scientific luminaries and personalities...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375714596
• ISBN13: 9780375714597
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Introduction with Deep Details!

This book is about the Theory of Relativity and a bit about how it was developed. The author done a wonderful job in teaching it in a very easy way and also showing the details of the theory (not being only superficial), like equations etc. You see, the deduction of the equations he done in a great way that everyone can easily understand (it's not like the appendix in the Einstein's book about relativity which I never understood). Of course this "deduction" is not formal, but it helps a lot to understand how it works and how they got to the theory.

A Simplified Approach to a Complicated Subject

Einstein for Beginners acts more as a visual representation of Einsteins work. An easy to read format for anyone interested in knowing Einsteins theories without the mind-boggling formulas. I would suggest this as a place to begin. A nice read, although the theories one still needs to comprehend. The author, Joseph Schwartz puts it in a perspective that both challenges and educates. Highly reccomended!

Einstein was a living breathing human? What a concept!

Hey! Guess what? Albert had a life. A pretty goofy one at that. And still he manages to come out on the top of so many lists they saved his brain for study! I'm glad I found this reprinted - I have bought and loaned so many copies of this I was sure I'd never see it again. Yes, it's a cartoon book. That's probably its best feature. There are plenty of books that can take you through Einstein's work, equation by equation, scholarly treatments, rigorous in their dicussion of the minute details of unseen physics. This is not one of them, thank heaven. But if you want to know WHO Einstein was, you want to see him as a child and what incident started him on a world-changing life of inquiry, want to know who helped him and why, who threw obstacles in his path and why, whom he loved, and what place he takes in the rivers of history, this is the book. As a scientist, I know where to go to look up and learn the math of Einstein's work. I can read his original papers, I can review the problems he solved. But that's not who he was, it's not enough info to solve Albert himself. All the equations in the world won't tell you why he married his cousin. And if this book is broad enough to cure most folks of two myths: (a) he invented the atom bomb (FALSE) and (b) he got the Nobel Prize for Relativity (FALSE) then it's worth the eight bucks. Read it anyway, but especially if you think you know how science evolved in the 20th century.

Time is not a constant...what a concept !!

I first read Einstein for Beginners in 1984 before heading off to college to get a Physics degree. What I loved then about the book was the elegant way it describes Einstein's thought process. 14 years later I rebought the book, and could still remember much of what was in it!! The book gives a wonderful account of how a freethinking (yet brilliant) mind can change the way everyone thinks. Truly inspirational.

it's all relative

Goes through Einstein's though processes, the math (algebraically) and having to cope with the dizzying concept of trying to cope with 2 frames of reference at once. Does so in a lighthearted manner. Makes relativity approachable and maybe even comprehensible.