The Einstein Almanac [Hardcover]

Alice Calaprice (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801880211 | ISBN-13: 978-0801880216 | Publication Date: December 1, 2004 | Edition: 1ST

Albert Einstein was an exceptional human being. Perhaps nothing reflects the breadth and scope of his brilliance, his interests, and his influence better than his publications -- more than six hundred scientific papers, books, essays, reviews, and opinion pieces. Einstein began publishing in March 1901 with a scientific work that appeared in the German journal Annalen der Physik when he was twenty-two; the last publication was an editorial in the journal Common Cause which appeared a few months before his death in 1955. In the fifty-four-year interval, his published work ranged widely over relativity theory and quantum physics, nationalism, Judaism, war, peace, and education. Indeed, Einstein's literary output was so abundant that even many of his most informed admirers are not familiar with all of it.

The Einstein Almanac takes a look at Einstein's year-by-year output, explaining his three-hundred most important publications and setting them into the context of his life, science, and world history. Concentrating primarily on Einstein's scientific and humanitarian writings, Alice Calaprice summarizes most of the papers and describes meaningful events surrounding their publication, including Einstein's personal life, his travels, the work of other scientists, social and cultural developments at the time, and national and international events. Enjoyable and informative, The Einstein Almanac provides a unique perspective on Einstein's genius -- and his humanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

In a complete, concise guide, the author (who was in-house editor of the Princeton University Press series The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein) sets brief descriptions of 300 of Einstein's publications into the context of concurrent events in his personal life, the world in general, and the realm of physical science.

Editors of Scientific American

Review

"A surprisingly complete summary of [Einstein's] publications, all framed by interesting sidelights on the other scientific and world events of the times." -- Tony Rothman, American Scholar

"Calaprice provides context as it relates to Einstein, science, and world history." -- Science News

"An important contribution to the literature about Einstein." -- Choice

"It is a virtual treasure of biographical and historical facts... The author sure knows her stuff." -- Gerald F. Kreyche, USA Today

"In a complete, concise guide, the author... sets brief descriptions of 300 of Einstein's publications into the context of concurrent events in his personal life, the world in general, and the realm of physical science." -- Scientific American

"A really fun book -- the type that can be opened at any page and read enjoyably." -- Jonathan Bagger, The Johns Hopkins University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1ST edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801880211
• ISBN-13: 978-0801880216
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Calaprice was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1941 to a German father and an Armenian mother. She immigrated to San Francisco with her mother and sister in 1951, and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. After moving to Princeton, NJ, in 1970 with her physicist husband and young children, she went to work at the Einstein Archive in 1978 at the Institute for Advanced Study. She later moved to the Princeton University Press offices as an editor and oversaw the production of the first nine volumes of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein and copyedited all twelve currently published volumes and the accompanying English-translation volumes. In the process she wrote and published a number of Einstein books herself. While Senior Editor and administrator of the Einstein Translation Project at PUP, she received a National Science Foundation grant from the History of Science division as well as the Literary Market Place's award for individual editorial achievement in scholarly publishing for 1995. An avid eco-traveler to the remote corners of the world, she recently moved back to California to be close to her children and grandchildren. She continues to write about Einstein and to edit academic manuscripts, mostly in the sciences.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Einstein's writings, May 22, 2005

By 

Bibliophile - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Einstein Almanac (Hardcover)

This fine book is essentially a chronological bibliography of Einstein's writings. While not exhaustive (Calaprice uses the word "selected"), this book provides a good real glimpse into what Einstein actually thought and researched and wrote as a scientist, philosopher and humanist from 1901-1955. Serious fans of Einstein (like myself) who don't have the multi-volume Collected Papers of Albert Einstein at arm's length will find this little book quite useful. Here you find the titles of articles, papers, essays, and even interviews accompanied by the originals in German (where appropriate). Descriptive or explanatory comments follow most of them. Did you know that Einstein studied the meandering of rivers? He wrote some illuminating papers on this geological question. Or that he and Leo Szilard patented home refrigeration by the "Einstein-Szilard pump"? Most standard biographies wouldn't mention these. But an Einstein almanac might. This one does. (The important scientific papers are of course not neglected.)

To place Einstein's life in context, Calaprice includes many historical and scientific events - some of which bear only a remote relevance to Einstein. I personally think these can be replaced by more biographical info. For example, what James Watson and Murray Gell-Mann did, while interesting and important, hardly merit entry into an Einstein Almanac. What Otto Hahn did is more relevant and may be included. There are other books on the history of science in the twentieth century and even more on the history of historical events. My idea of an Einstein almanac would exclude anything not directly related or relevant to Einstein. If it were up to me, any event not directly involving Einstein I would ruthlesssly exclude.

This is my main humble criticism (and my own opinion). One other shortcoming is that few personal letters are included. But this is quite understandable because letters don't usually carry titles. Also, Einstein wrote so many letters in his lifetime that to list them all and summarize them with comments would be a herculean task. For letters, interested students should refer to the CPAE. But I think a separate chapter on the most important letters Einstein wrote might be a good idea for the next edition (if any). Some of Einstein's most incisive thoughts are found in his letters (such as those to Max Born) and a brief overview of these may be useful.

One more suggestion for improvement (bear with me) might be a detailed timeline of Einstein's life. Timelines differ in details. Very extensive and all-inclusive timelines provide a virtually day-by-day chronology. One outstanding example of these would be University of Delaware professor Leo Lemay's Documentary History of Benjamin Franklin, which is an on-going project available on the Web. It gives impressive details of what Franklin was doing and where he was doing it on numerous specific dates. Calaprice's other books about Einstein already have brief timelines. An Einstein Almanac could use a very detailed one. (This book also has a brief timeline of Einstein's early years - but then again not all the details seem to me relevant. A lot of things happened in 1895 for Einstein, but I see no point in mentioning the invention of the Gillette razor, for instance, because this has nothing to do with Einstein, whether or not he used one.) Just listing all of Einstein's personal and scientific activities, rather than non-Einstein events, can be a worthwhile if lengthy task. But an almanac is designed to be full of dates.

Leave out the fat of irrelevant non-Einstein stuff, and build more muscle of Einstein-exclusive matters, and this book could be even better and more useful than it already is. If this book is also an on-going project, then there is room for growth on what is in my view an excellent basis.