Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on newly unearthed documents, including a series of letters from Einstein to his sons, Neffe presents a rich psychological portrait of a man whose character has too often been lost in the bright glow of celebrity.
Trade Review[Einstein's] are some of the most powerful ideas in all of science... Neffe does an especially thorough job tracing their origins in Einstein's early obsessions, and he shows how completely the latest cosmic theories are constructed atop the general theory of relativity. New York Times Book Review You would never know you were reading a translation. Converted into evocative, idiomatic English by Shelley Frisch, the book abandons the traditional chronological framework to make oblique swipes across Einstein's timeline-like those bullets flying through a train. Los Angeles Times Coupling insights into Einstein's character with clear descriptions of the physicist's groundbreaking research, Neffe creates a fascinating portrait of... one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century. Publishers Weekly Neffe's biography reads more like an American novel. The language is fresh and lively-a nod to Neffe's English translator, Shelley Frisch. San Diego Union-Tribune A comprehensive, sympathetic, and very readable portrait of the man, the celebrity, the scientist, and the theories that transformed physics and the modern world... Stellar research and prose combine in a splendid biography of physics' most luminous supernova. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Table of ContentsTranslator's Preface
Prologue: The Immortal: Einstein's Secret
1. His Second Birth: The Fateful Year 1919
2. How Albert Became Einstein: The Psychological Makeup of a Genius
3. "A New Era!": From Industrialist's Son to Inventor
4. Of Dwarfs and Giants: A Brief History of Science, According to Einstein
5. The Burden of Inheritance: Einstein Detectives in Action
6. "Elsa or Ilse": The Physicist and the Women
7. The Miraculous Path to the Miraculous Year: Einstein's Angels
8. Squaring the Light: Why Einstein Had to Discover the Theory of Relativity
9. Why Is the Sky Blue? Einstein—A Career
10. "Dear Boys . . . Your Papa": The Drama of the Brilliant Father
11. Anatomy of a Discovery: How Einstein Found the General Theory of Relativity
12. Lambda Lives: Einstein, "Chief Engineer of the Universe"
13. Spacetime Quakes: The Theory of Relativity Put to the Test
14. His Best Foe: Einstein, Germany, and Politics
15. "I Am Not a Tiger": Einstein, the Human Side
16. A Jew Named Albert: His God Was a Principle
17. The End Justifies the Doubts: Einstein and Quantum Theory
18. Of the Magnitude of Failure: The Quest for the Unified Theory
19. From Barbaria to Dollaria: Einstein's America
20. "People Are a Bad Invention": Einstein, the Atomic Bomb, McCarthy, and the End
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
