Einstein in His Own Words

by Anne Rooney

Book Overview

Einstein In His Own Wordscollects wisdom and insight straight from the mind of the most famous genius of the 20th century. Read Einstein's thoughts and writings on a variety of subjects, including... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517228475
• ISBN13: 9780517228470
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Gramercy Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An excellent primer on the beliefs and philosophy of Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was the first and so far only scientist that was a major celebrity. The media and public followed his every move and today his name is a synonym for genius. His theories of relativity were such a radical break from accepted science that very few people understood them; it took a generation before there was general acceptance within the scientific community. Einstein was also a social and political activist; his outspoken criticism of the tense political situation after World War II led to his being criticized as an undesirable. This book is a collection of photos and brief quotes, most of which were by Einstein. From them, you can see the depth of Einstein's interests; he was also a committed humanist and deep thinker about many things. In one of the greatest of all ironies, he was a committed pacifist yet signed a letter urging President Franklin Roosevelt to develop the atomic bomb. Although he regretted his action for the rest of his life, it was the correct thing to do; the potential horror of a nuclear-armed Nazi Germany is unthinkable. While there is no depth to the presentation, this material about Albert Einstein is an excellent primer on his beliefs and philosophy of life.

A tasteful selection

Einstein wrote well on a surprisingly varied number of subjects. The heart of his writing will of course always be in his scientific work. And the true expression of that in mathematical language which most of us laymen cannot possibly comprehend. But he wrote well about scientific subjects in ordinary, understandable language. He also wrote with wit and wisdom about political subjects, about matters of morality. He once said' Common sense is that layer of prejudice deposited in the mind before eighteen years'. Yet Einstein himself had no small amount of common sense as well as the extraordinary uncommon sense( Which led him to ask questions no one before had thought to frame in the way he did.) This selection of his writing is small and yet tastefully done. What also adds to the impressiveness of the volume is the outstandingly clear and striking illustrations and pictures which fill up a good share of the pages. If one wants a simple good short summary book on Einstein, this could be it.