Customer Reviews

Einstein for Beginners

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hey! Guess what? Albert had a life. A pretty goofy one at that. And still he manages to come out on the top of so many lists they saved his brain for study! I'm glad I found this reprinted - I have bought and loaned so many copies of this I was sure I'd never see it again. Yes, it's a cartoon book. That's probably its best feature. There are plenty of books that can take you through Einstein's work, equation by equation, scholarly treatments, rigorous in their dicussion of the minute details of unseen physics. This is not one of them, thank heaven. But if you want to know WHO Einstein was, you want to see him as a child and what incident started him on a world-changing life of inquiry, want to know who helped him and why, who threw obstacles in his path and why, whom he loved, and what place he takes in the rivers of history, this is the book. As a scientist, I know where to go to look up and learn the math of Einstein's work. I can read his original papers, I can review the problems he solved. But that's not who he was, it's not enough info to solve Albert himself. All the equations in the world won't tell you why he married his cousin. And if this book is broad enough to cure most folks of two myths: (a) he invented the atom bomb (FALSE) and (b) he got the Nobel Prize for Relativity (FALSE) then it's worth the eight bucks. Read it anyway, but especially if you think you know how science evolved in the 20th century.

Einstein for Beginners acts more as a visual representation of Einsteins work. An easy to read format for anyone interested in knowing Einsteins theories without the mind-boggling formulas. I would suggest this as a place to begin. A nice read, although the theories one still needs to comprehend. The author, Joseph Schwartz puts it in a perspective that both challenges and educates. Highly reccomended!

Goes through Einstein's though processes, the math (algebraically) and having to cope with the dizzying concept of trying to cope with 2 frames of reference at once. Does so in a lighthearted manner. Makes relativity approachable and maybe even comprehensible.

Einstein for beginners (aka Introducing Einstein), is a brief history of the early life of Albert Einstein incorporated into a history of electrodynamics but is focused on Einstein's discovery of special relativity (SR) which is explained with a thoroughly detailed mathematical walkthrough in this book.

Introducing Einstein is not a complete biography of the life and times of Albert Einstein. If you want a complete biography of Einstein, go elsewhere. If you want a graphical explanation of Einstein's special relativity or a brief history of electrodynamics then this book does just that. Introducing Einstein does not cover general relativity.

In terms of actually being able to sit down and go through the calculations, Introducing Einstein will help anyone get through the stages of each proof for special relativity. After 100 pages of the history of electrodynamics the reader gets 70 pages of SR. This means that unless you are willing to sit down and actually work through 70 pages of mathematics (really the pages are filled with illustrations and commentary so we can condense it down to about 10-20 pages of solid mathematics) you are only going to get the benefit of 100 pages of the history of electrodynamics and a short burst on the history of mathematics. These 100 pages are actually quite good and fit in well with other science books from the Introduction series, such as Introducing Newton and classical physics, Introducing Quantum Physics but especially Introducing Relativity. Introducing Relativity explains special relativity and general relativity but not in the detail that Introducing Einstein does for SR. There does not appear to be any Introducing book that covers the mathematics of general relativity like Introducing Einstein covers SR. If you are in for this book then you are in for Introducing Relativity, but that is how the Introducing series works.

Einstein became a household name with his formula E=MC2 meaning energy is mass. As a consequence he established that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light because the energy required to accelerate mass to this speed would be infinite because acceleration also produces an increase in mass.

Einstein understood Newton. Newton showed with his laws of motion how matter moves with and without force and established gravitational effects while Maxwell unified magnetism and electricity by showing that shifts in either electricity or magnetism produces a shift in the other. Newton however also implied that there was no absolute standard of rest because everything is moving. There was no such thing as absolute position or space in his mind. Newton did not believe that time was part of space but separate and could be measured with a good enough clock.

Reality without time is actually like saying that everything is flat and we now know this is an error. This flatness can be imagined by saying that when all questions about matter (sun, moon, planets and forces) was connected through Newton's mechanics of explaining nature it was explained `linked' in a flat sort of way.

Einstein discovered because of the properties of observing light that these `links' have an underlying nature that would change the Newtonian model with his SR.

In SR Einstein showed time dilation at near light speeds. A simple theoretical model for this is a train with a light that goes off inside the train cart that strikes the front and back door at the same time. An observer standing in the cart will see both doors open at the same time. An observer watching the train go by will see the last door going past open before first door going past. This proves time dilatation.

Newton's flat model was not in agreement with SR. Time could change relative to the observer. Only the speed of light remained constant and the law that it could not be broken.

Ultimately Einstein for beginners aka Introducing Einstein, is a prelude to buying a complete biography of Einstein and is a partial guide to Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. If you collect the books mentioned in this review then you are well on your way to thinking and working out something very important about how the universe works in the same way Albert Einstein did.

(Note: This book does contain proactive references to Socialism by Einstein himself.)

This book is a very engaging tool for acquainting young people with Einstein and his work. My son enjoyed the cartoons and appreciated the fact that the author included personal biographical information as well as professional history. The book is most appropriate for middle schoolers on up.

I first read Einstein for Beginners in 1984 before heading off to college to get a Physics degree. What I loved then about the book was the elegant way it describes Einstein's thought process. 14 years later I rebought the book, and could still remember much of what was in it!! The book gives a wonderful account of how a freethinking (yet brilliant) mind can change the way everyone thinks. Truly inspirational.

Even with an engineering degree, I have always had trouble understand the ideas proposed by Albert Einstein. This book cuts out the theoretical baggage and gets to the crux of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. It is a charming account and an easy read. You truly cannot judge a book by its cover as this book can enlighten adults as well as children on the greatest theory of this century.

I read this book some years ago when I was a young left-wing pinko liberal and found it fascinating!

I am now an old left-wing pinko liberal and found it a bit harder going this time. I know it's great to have historical context etc. but I wish there was more on the theories...

Anyway, an excellant read and just the thing to get young minds thinking outside the square. It's wonderful to see how quickly they can visualise the concepts, especially the moving train etc.

An easy and maths free introduction to the world of A.E. However, some of the more silly and irrelevant cartoons might distract the reader.

All in all, not a bad introduction to A.E. (In fact a damn good place to start discovering relativity). My grouse is that it does not cover all of A.E.'s works. The treatment of relativity touches the tip of the ice-berg only, so to speak.

Still, it really makes you want to read more about A.E.'s works, at least for this reader.

I had read this book years ago, and although the material is presented in an entertaining and interesting way, I had trouble understanding how Einstein came to his conclusions. Having now read it again, I was able to follow his thinking, but still cannot grasp his theory as it pertains to time. However, I can certainly recommend this book for anyone who wants to approach his work in a very humorous way. I wish schools would have had this for a textbook, rather than the dry and boring material they tend to favor. I actually bought this book to give away, and since I knew what it was, since I already had a copy that I recently found, it would be ridiculous for me to not recommend it.

It is certainly unique in dealing with a very heavy subject in a very light hearted manner. For young people and those who might be intimidated by ole Albert, here is an approach that makes it fun.