Customer Reviews

The Bible According to Einstein: A Scientific Complement to the Holy Bible for the Third Millennium

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought this book about a year ago and it has taken me much of the year to read. This is by far the most interesting science book that I have ever seen. For a non-scientist like myself, it is an extremely interesting approach to explaining physics, chemistry, biology, geology, evolution and astronomy. The interesting thing is that one is, most of the time, reading a story about the universe or the history of earth or life and that one doesn't even realize that one is learning science. The Bible According to Einstein is a great book.

There are only two books that I enjoyed more than this one: The Elegant Universe and A Brief History of Time. It is perhaps unfair to make these comparisons because The Bible According to Einstein is so different. It borders on a work of art. It is highly original and extremely clever. If you want science delivered on a tasty platter, read this book.

I learned so much from The Bible According to Einstein. It is the best science book that I have ever read. Stars, planets, earth, dinosaurs, molecules, cells are all so clearly explained. I discovered many fascinating things. For example, did you know that sun as viewed from Mercury sometimes undoes zig-zag movements? That's right. The sun as it inches across the sky moves forward, then back and then forward again. It is also wonderful to experience the birth of life of earth that occured 3.5 billion years ago. When I read the book, I can almost hear winged trumpets celebrating this event.

I suppose that by writing a book about science in the style of the Bible, the anonymous authors hope to reach readers who would not ordinarily pick up a book about science. However, they end up presenting science as revealed truth which it most certainly is not. The authors even go so far as to claim that "like religon, science has its 'priests'". While there are many famous scientists that are considered to be authorities, even Nobel laureates like Linus Pauling have to continue to earn their credibility. While this book presents a great deal of scientific facts, it fails to present the essential features of science that make science successful. These features are not easily described in this Biblical form.

It would be nice if the publishers would reveal who the authors actually are.

I can understand why a few readers below did not like the book: it is likely to offend the extremely religious. The scientifically conservative also may not like it. I, however, found it delightful. It was I believe the most enlightening book I have ever read.

I especially liked the mini biographies of Newton, Einstein, Darwin, Moses, Muhammad and Buddha. The book of subnuclear physics on quarks, QCD and color forces was too difficult for me. The rest of the book was quite readable and fun.

I am a big fan of this book. It is my "science bible." Each day I read a few pages. I am learning so much about nature, chemistry, living creatures, geology, dinosaurs, earth, planets, stars, physics, evolution, biology, cosmology, etc.. I feel much more knowledgeable than before I began reading this book. It has had a great impact on me, even changing the way I view many things. Everybody should have this type of knowledge. Unfortunately, most science courses in school do not provide it.

I like the way that the Bible According to Einstein is organized into biblical-like books. Each one is like a book in itself. This makes it one of the best book buys. Each "biblical book" is intensely packed with information. I learned more by reading 20 pages on a topic than I have by reading entire books on the same topic. For example, there is a "book of Darwin." It is a wonderful narrated biography of his life. I was surprised to discover that Darwin was quite religious. He initially went to Cambridge University to study to be a minister! When Darwin realized that nature behaved in ways not portrayed in the Bible, he became intensely sick. Darwin was ill much of his life and this can be attributed to the conflict between his religious beliefs and his scientific observations. Darwin was even afraid to tell his wife about his theory of evolution. He might not have published "The Origin of Species" had not Wallace published an abstract with the same thesis. Darwin, who had been hesitating to publish his work for 14 years, felt compelled to do so due to Wallace. The voyage of the ship the Beagle is wonderfully narrated in The Bible According to Einstein. One really gets the feeling that scientific discovery is an enlightening experience -- much like a religious revelation. There is a delightful atmosphere in the narration too. Here's a line I like: "And a wind with purpose blew the sails of the Beagle, and down the east coast of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina did the Beagle go." Much of the book reads like poetry. It's a great book. Everyone should buy it.

This is a great work! This book constuction celebrates in a unique way the sciences as a search for truth that is very spirtual. There are places that ramble a bit, but one is so entrenched in the discoveries being revealed that you can't wait to get to the next section and the rambling is soon forgiven. It is hard on the history of some faiths, and one gets the feeling that the author has little use for the ways humans have been used/abused by several religious movements. This comes out in the text and perhaps could have been covered as just mentioning in some detail the "quest for understanding of primitives and how as primitives we used that quest to control and take power over others". I hope the author updates the text periodically as science evolves. I would stand in a long line to get such an update. Keep up the good work.

On the positive side, I agree with those reviewers who laud this book as a stunning achievement for those who like popular science. The coverage of the natural and physical sciences is brilliant. The Nobel Laurates who wrote the nice little quotes for the book cover were not kidding. No matter how smart you are, you will be much smarter after any 20 pages of this book. I too found some of the "hard science" material left me almost speechless. You have to be really arrogant not to
be impressed by the coverage of cosmology, partical physics etc. You can sugar coat quantum mechanics for me anytime and feed it to me in bite size chapters.

There are however major weakness in the book. The pseudo biblical style works well in some places and not at all in others. The author(s) know their science much better than they know their bible. They are also weak in the social sciences. Come on fellas, ever hear of psychology? Do you really think Moses wrote the entire Pentatuch? Bible scholars don't.

No authors are listed and the publisher has a PO Box near Columbia University. But this cannot be the work of a single author or even a single editor.Nor is this a prank by University Students.

So why the anonymity? Read the chapters on Moses,Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed.

I think the intelligentia within both the Judeo/Christian, as well as the agnostic/atheist tradition will adore this book. It makes my list of the top 5 books I read and re-read along with the "other" Bible and the TAO. I have 3 copies none of them loaners. I never want to be without access to a copy of this book. (I have multiple copies of some translations of the TAO for the same reason.)

Special Note: Muslims and Christian fundamentalists with strong beliefs should not buy this book. I am no Muslim, nevertheless I found the treatment of Mohammed and the Koran especially nasty. I know the comparative religions literature reasonably well and the anti-muslim bias here made me wonder whether some of the authors may also hate quorks or the element bromine. Jesus gets better treatment. Moses of course was the first Jewish doctor, lawyer,secretary of state and winner of three Nobel prizes. (See above "Why the anonomity")