Albert Einstein: A Biography [Paperback]

Albrecht Folsing (Author), Ewald Osers (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Folsing uses previously unknown sources and letters to put Einstein's work in the context of the state of research at the turn of the century. Einstein's surroundings are revealed and his genius is portrayed within his everyday environment. First published by VIKING in 1997.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This translation of a work published in Germany in 1993 provides a balanced and comprehensive treatment of Einstein's life from early childhood through his final years at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. It gives equal detail to his technical accomplishments and personal life, including his role as an international spokesman for Zionism and pacifism. It also includes a more honest picture of his relationships with women than earlier works, such as those by Roger Highfield and Paul Carter (The Private Lives of Albert Einstein, LJ 6/1/94) or Michael White and John Gribbin (Einstein: A Life in Science, LJ 3/1/94). Although extremely detailed and heavily documented, this is a very readable book, perhaps owing to the author's background in the radio/television presentation of science information. His explanations are generally clear and complete. Folsing has done a commendable job of bringing all of these aspects of Einstein's life together and providing a well-balanced picture. Recommended.?Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

His name connotes incomparable genius even for those who cannot fathom his famed theory. Yet the man who unveiled the deepest secrets of the universe has himself long remained an enigma to his admirers. But now, in an exhaustively researched narrative, Folsing unravels the enigma as he depicts the surprising variety of figures who all fit within Einstein's life story: the hot-tempered little boy who threw a chair at his tutor; the talented violinist who thrilled Saturday-afternoon gatherings with his interpretations of Beethoven; the brokenhearted husband who wept at the Berlin train station as his marriage crumbled; the neophyte psychologist who dined with Jung and corresponded with Freud; the ardent pacifist who willingly performed tasks for the German war machine; the skeptic who rejected his ancestral religion yet risked his station and even his life by affirming his Jewishness; the aging revolutionary who fought against the young turks creating quantum physics. Folsing deserves high praise for allowing the nonspecialist to share the singular mental odyssey that culminated in Einstein's remarkable discoveries, especially the theory of relativity. But he deserves even higher praise for exposing the vulnerabilities and inadequacies that made Einstein, for all his genius, one of us--an oft-perplexed and frustrated human being. As long as readers care about Einstein's character as well as his formulas, this book will attract and deserve attention. Bryce Christensen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 928 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140237194
• ISBN-13: 978-0140237191
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Einstein, Albert

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking Imagination, July 24, 2001

By 

Thomas J. Burns (Apopka, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Albert Einstein: A Biography (Paperback)

At the height of Einstein's career it was joked that only about a dozen people in the entire world actually understood the master's theory of relativity, which leads to the question of whether we mere mortals should even attempt this 882-page tome. The answer is a resounding yes. Albrecht Holsing never forgets that he is writing a biography, not a physics text. The result is a colorful biography of a learning disabled civil servant with perhaps the most fertile imagination in the history of science. Holsing's Einstein is a man without a country, an unabashed lover, an avowed pacifist, a born-again Zionist, bon vivant and alleged subversive. And yes, smart and eccentric as hell.

Between 1905 and 1920 Einstein, a patent claims inspector, produced a series of papers on the subject of physics so outlandish that the world collectively gasped. Put simply, Einstein postulated connections between dimensions that had been considered unbridgeable until his day. He was not a scientist in the way we traditionally think of the discipline. He was in reality a science fiction writer who challenged the white coats to prove he was wrong. Most of the time they could not, to their own amazement. And when they did, he seemed to delight even more. God, he remarked, may be mysterious, but never malevolent. For Einstein the universe was a playground.

Einstein enjoyed wonderful timing. By 1900 the telescope and the microscope had been perfected to the point that the bigness and the smallness of the natural world began crashing into the complacency of Newtonian physics and Euclidean geometry. Einstein, whose own spacial-temporal development was delayed until early adulthood, began to play with possibilities. Is the universe so big that the traditional absolute theorems of geometry might be disproved? Consider the classic geometric postulate that two parallel lines will stretch into infinity without ever touching. Einstein dared to question such a basic law in several ways: if the universe itself is not linear but perhaps curved, the lines would eventually meet. And second, what influence would gravitation play upon these two lines? It was these daring interplays of factors that set Einstein apart and led to his famous speculations about relationships between mass, time, and energy.

It is a credit to Holsing that he is able to describe Einstein's mental journeys as lucidly as he does. This is not to say there is no hard work required. Einstein had a hand in nearly all branches of physics, including optics, electricity, and radiation, and he was in constant dialogue with other noted thinkers of his age, including Niels Bohr and Max Planck. For an older reader unfamiliar with quantum physics, the scientific debates over the nature of light may as well be written in Vulcan. Be that as it may, the faithful reader will probably take away enough science to be dazzled and deeply impressed when Einstein's most audacious speculation-that light is bent by gravitational pull-is dramatically proven during a total eclipse of the sun in 1918.

For all practical purposes, Einstein's creative career ended around 1920, the same time he began to attract respectable university and lecture fees. The years between 1920 and 1955 are remarkable in their own way: Einstein became one of the world's most recognized celebrities in an era of renewed interest in popular science. Like many celebrities he grumbled about the distractions but rarely missed a good dinner. Universities that hired the grand thinker after 1920 did so at their own risk: Einstein traveled widely and allowed his life to be governed by the Muse of creativity. He spent three decades working unsuccessfully to eliminate mathematical kinks from his general theory of relativity. [Ironically, since 1995 astronomical discoveries of the magnitude of dust and gas in the universe have tended to smooth out the rough edges of the relativity theory.]

Although he lived and worked in Germany for many years, Einstein carried a deep-seated suspicion of German militarism. He was disillusioned with the conduct of most of his scientific colleagues during World War I, and he was early to see the direction of Nazi policy. Relocating to Princeton, New Jersey, he lived the final two decades of his life in the United States. As Folsing tells it, the United States government kept Einstein at arm's length, perhaps due to a 1930 speech in which he remarked that if as few as 2% of a nation's draftees refused to serve, its military force would crumble. The speech made Einstein an icon among pacifists, and "2%" buttons became popular leftist items throughout the 1930's. Given Einstein's political leanings, it is one of history's better fortunes that Franklin Roosevelt took seriously Einstein's warnings about German development of a fission bomb. However, Einstein was considered too much of a security risk to be considered for the Manhattan Project and was systematically excluded from any information about the project.

Folsing chronicles the struggles of Einstein's two marriages and the somewhat flagrant adulteries of his middle years. Contrary to popular belief, Einstein was in fact a handsome and captivating younger man. It was only in later years that hygiene and fashion tended to deteriorate, perhaps as a statement of sorts to his prim Princeton neighbors. Folsing captures Einstein's wit: once, when the mayor of his town apologized for sewerage fumes from a treatment plant wafting toward the Einstein residence, the good scientist confessed that on occasion he had "returned the compliment."

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful biography of a twentieth century giant.., January 17, 2001

By 

Kersi Von Zerububbel "Kersi" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Albert Einstein: A Biography (Paperback)

This is the BEST biography of Einstein that I have read. The writing style is 'European' in that all dimensions of Einstein are explored and referenced. A strong point of this biography is the extensive research and documentation that backs up the text. Einstein's life in science AND out of it are explored thoroughly. My only quibble is that the quality of pictures in the text is shoddy. I have the Penguin edition. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. If you want a quick superficial biography try Banesh Hoffman's Einstein (still in print?). If you want a fairly good biography I recommend Denis Brian's Einstein. If you want a very precise and detail biography get this one and enjoy!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only interessant, May 18, 1998

By 

Tomislav Zule ([e-mail]) "Tommy" (Pula, Croatia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Albert Einstein: A Biography (Hardcover)

It's one of the most interessant books I have ever read. A walk into Einstein's genius from his childhood till the late years. Well written.