Isaacson einstein biography epub

Einstein: His Life and Universe PDF

Summary

Einstein is the great icon of our age: the kindly refugee from oppression whose wild halo of hair, twinkling eyes, engaging humanity and extraordinary brilliance made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius. He was a rebel and nonconformist from boyhood days. His character, creativity and imagination were related, and they drove both his life and his science. In this marvelously clear and accessible narrative, Walter Isaacson explains how his mind worked and the mysteries of the universe that he discovered.

Einstein's success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a worldview based on respect for free spirits and free individuals. All of which helped make Einstein into a rebel but with a reverence for the harmony of nature, one with just the right blend of imagination and wisdom to transform our understanding of the universe. This new biography, the first since all of Einstein's papers have become available, is the fullest picture yet of one of the key figures of the twentieth century....

Chapter List (40 chapters):

Chapter 1: Cover
Chapter 2: Title Page
Chapter 3: Copyright Page
Chapter 4: Dedication
Chapter 5: Contents
Chapter 6: Acknowledgments
Chapter 7: Main Characters
Chapter 8: Chapter One: The Light-Beam Rider
Chapter 9: Chapter Two: Childhood, 1879-1896
Chapter 10: Chapter Three: The Zurich Polytechnic, 1896-1900
Chapter 11: Chapter Four: The Lovers, 1900-1904
Chapter 12: Chapter Five: The Miracle Year: Quanta and Molecules, 1905
Chapter 13: Chapter Six: Special Relativity, 1905
Chapter 14: Chapter Seven: The Happiest Thought, 1906-1909
Chapter 15: Chapter Eight: The Wandering Professor, 1909-1914
Chapter 16: Chapter Nine: General Relativity, 1911–1915
Chapter 17: Chapter Ten: Divorce, 1916–1919
Chapter 18: Chapter Eleven: Einstein’s Universe, 1916–1919
Chapter 19: Chapter Twelve: Fame, 1919
Chapter 20: Chapter Thirteen: The Wandering Zionist, 1920–1921
Chapter 21: Chapter Fourteen: Nobel Laureate, 1921–1927
Chapter 22: Chapter Fifteen: Unified Field Theories, 1923-1931
Chapter 23: Chapter Sixteen: Turning Fifty, 1929-1931
Chapter 24: Chapter Seventeen: Einstein’s God
Chapter 25: Chapter Eighteen: The Refugee, 1932-1933
Chapter 26: Chapter Ninteen: America, 1933-1939
Chapter 27: Chapter Twenty: Quantum Entanglement, 1935
Chapter 28: Chapter Twenty-One: The Bomb, 1939-1945
Chapter 29: Chapter Twenty-Two: One-Worlder, 1945-1948
Chapter 30: Chapter Twenty-Three: Landmark, 1948-1953
Chapter 31: Chapter Twenty-Four: Red Scare, 1951-1954
Chapter 32: Chapter Twenty-Five: The End, 1955
Chapter 33: Epilogue: Einstein’s Brain and Einstein’s Mind
Chapter 34: Sources
Chapter 35: Notes
Chapter 36: Index
Chapter 37: About the Author
Chapter 38: Illustration Credits
Chapter 39: Photographs
Chapter 40: Footnotes

Reviews

User reviews (45)

Here's a chance to become more intimately acquainted with an exceptional life that straddles both world wars, a biography that introduces the reader to the histories of England, Germany, Switzerland, England, Israel, Italy and Japan in relation to both conflicts . The pre & post war economies, businesses, and careers possible as described here seem a world away from today. Seeing them from the perspective of Einsteins life, his family's ups and downs , and the way they separate colleagues, couples, siblings, parents and children forces the reader to consider the wars as more than a VE Day vignette . More than a history of 20th century physics, here is also an in depth look at the personalities who shaped the way we look at today's universe and the concepts they entertained, pursued, and developed. This bio shows many of the false starts and might have beens as Einstein sought entrance at school, later tried and failed to gained teaching posts, and a gainful occupation. His romantic and family life were similarly a series of trial and error, pleasure and sorrow. But, perhaps most remarkably here too is a celebration of music, a life that intersects with politics and academia, with loves great and small for sailing, tobacco, the comforts of home. In the end it's images of small things like a knife in a lakeside cottage in Germany that I will remember about this remarkable man and his unusual life.

What a great book: so readable, even for a non-science, non-math person like me. I loved that the pathologist at Princeton Hospital, who performed the autopsy on him (after death and before cremation) stole his brain, embalmed it, made slices of it, and randomly gave pieces away until he was in his 80s. All without permission from anyone. Dr. Harvey was a Quaker!!Einstein had my sympathies throughout, for the most part. His relationship with women was nothing to be proud of, but his take on the new state of Israel showed sagacity. Without humane treatment if the Arabs who lived there, there would never be peace. Another book that needs a reread!