Customer Reviews

Einstein Defiant: Genius versus Genius in the Quantum Revolution

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The research behind this book is amazing. The author has stuffed this book with many little facts that enrich the scenes. For example, there is a chapter in which Einstein and his rival Niels Bohr first meet and walk together through Berlin while they dispute physics. It sounds arcane, but the research Bolles did brings the story alive. First, it is plain that there is no record of what the two men actually said. Bolles does not make up dialogue, but he presents the two scientists' positions in back-and-forth form so it feels like a debate. There are many scenes in the book where Bohr and Einstein dispute in this manner. The research necessary to understand the changes in their arguments at different times must have been great. On top of that, the author includes descriptions of Berlin while the two men walk through neighborhood after neighborhood. Added to this is an account of the absentmindedness of the two as they ignore the city around them. The result mixes science, humor, and 1920's Berlin into a scene that is as sharp as something in a movie. And there is scene after scene like this. The catastrophe of inflation that destroyed everybody's savings (including that of Einstein's wife) never sounded so hellish. I noticed that one Amazon reviewer complained about this book's research, but that is unfair. We get data from old guidebooks, photos, diaries, letters, newspapers, science journals, and many other sources. These details are seamlessly sewn together into one grand fabric.

Anyone looking for something other than a straightforward biography of Einstein should consider this wonderful book, a full exposition of Einstein's vision of science and of the world science describes. By looking at the clash of approaches between two major 20th Century thinkers, Bolles elucidates a larger cultural clash that animates the 20th and, now, the 21st centuries, between those who are careless of ideals and essences, focused on "whatever works," and those who are more concerned with meaning and grasping something whole.

In his review of Bolles' book in the Washington Post "Book World," David Bodanis wrote that this "tender, insightful book" is "the best popular account I know of this central episode in 20th-century thought." "Tender" is an unusual word to associate with a book about such a subject, but Bolles, whose list of writings is as varied as it is extensive, manages to bring a seriousness of purpose to all his work which extends well beyond an accumulation of facts, to something quite profound about the nature of man and his struggle with Being.

THe book on Einstein for this year (and next)? Blair Bolles' "Einstein Defiant."

This book covers a fascinating and important topic, but it fails to live up to its potential. There are several problems that weaken the book.

First, Bolles' writing style often gets in the way and on some occassions reads like a Freshman descriptive writing assignment. While he's right in his goal to weave in world events and the personal lives of the main figures with a discussion of the science, his execution is awkward.

Second, the book is plagued by the use of dubious analogies to explain the experimental and theoretical physics of the quantum revolution. As a scientist (but not a physicist), I find that the analogies often seem incorrect or misleading.

Finally, the book relies very heavily on secondary sources, which perhaps is only a minor problem in a book aimed at a popular audience.

I still enjoyed the book because the subject is fun and fascinating, and because it is a book that makes an effort to deal with both the personalities and the science in early 20th century physics.

Einstein Defiant by Edmund Blair Bolles is a great book that recounts the conflicts between some of the greatest Geniuses of our time. The book explains how Einstein believes that there is order in the universe and you can apply a law and therefore an explanation to everything. Bohr on the other hand believes that there is a form of randomness that takes over and that laws may no longer apply when dealing with quantum. The author obviously has a great love for physics and the scientists that expand the frontiers of physics, because only a person with such passion for physics could write a 300 page biography dealing with physics that has a lot of technical information and keep the reader entertained at the same time. I thought it was a great book and was exceptional in comparison with similar books as it did a great job of explaining some confusing concepts and ideas. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone as it is interesting to see into the minds and achievements of geniuses and it is very entertaining. I really enjoyed this book.

Bolles has put a brilliant spotlight on one of the central philosophical questions confronting the physical sciences. The debate between Einstein and Bohr, portrayed with dramatic personal texture in a historical context, continues to this day. Relativity and quantum theory are presented in a manner that enlightens the reader without intimidating the nonspecialist. The leading physicists of the early 20th century are brought vividly to life through Bolles' sharing of their all too human foibles. The book is richly annotated, and draws from an impressive fount of reference material.

I found this book to be a little too slow in developing the theme but it is well researched. In the first part, the author tries to describe the post-war Germany and give the reader a sense of the social setting of the time. This is interesting, but I feel that it sometimes also overshadows the main theme -- which should be about the quantum revolution. Had the author been a little more judicious in weighing the materials, it could have been a more absorbing book.

Also, the last famous Einstein-Bohr debate (regarding the "black body emmission on a scale" experiment, in which Bohr defended Heisenberg Principle by using Eisten's own General Relativity) is, in my opinion, one of the most profound and fascinating examples of "thought (or theoretical) experiments" in the history of Physics (others include Einstein's chasing a light beam and Galileo's free fall of two objects with different weights), yet it only appears in the second-to-last chapter and does not get the detailed analysis that it deserves (the author does describe it in detail and has some, but in my opinion not sufficient, commentary).

Despite these flaws, I enjoyed the book and it is well grounded on thorough research.

I am not a scientist or science buff, but I loved this book. The book shows how Einstein thought about his work, what he imagined, and how he planned to go about it. Einsteinc omes across as a down-to-earth person. I had never heard of Niels Bohr, but as the quantum revolution unfolded, he too made a key contribution. Einstein and Bohr fought over quantum physics: Einstein a realist, Bohr a pragmatist. This tension between them made the story flow. I am not a scientist, but the story made me care about Einstein's and Bohr's ideas. What will stay in my mind is the picture of Einstein on a quest to understand the universe.

I abandoned the book after the fourth chapter. I am not a physicist, but I have read quite a lot about quantum theory and philosophy and Einstein's life, so I was very interested in the topic of the book. I found the author's style, however, very annoying. He does not keep to a timeline, but meanders off in five different directions page after page, and digresses left and right before telling what happened. The book reads more like a chat with a slightly tipsy gossip, who has to bring in every little bit of juicy information about the neighbors and their cats before relaying the main story. I finally gave up when the author tried to explain quantum theory by the properties of springs in the mattress where Einstein is supposedly making love to an actress! (Page 43 for those with prurient interests! ;)

In 1895 and then 1905 Einstein published first the Special and then the General Theories of Relativity. In the next years as the full implications of the theory came to be understood, new theories began to be developed, new experiments began to extend the boundries of physics.

Beginning in about 1920, these new boundries began to explore the nature of light. This eventually led to Quantum mechanics. A key to Quantum theory was that you could examing a lot of something, like a lot of atoms emitting light and statistically predict that so many atoms would emit light, but you can't say for certain just which atom would do so. Niels Bohr was a champion of the Quantum approach.

Einstein rejected this statistical approach with the famous statement, "God does not play dice with the Universe."

But that is exactly what God does. This well researched book is the story of the development of Quantum mechanics and the arguments between Einstein and Bohr. One fascinating aspect is that as Bohr (and others) developed the theory, Einstein would find holes in their thinking. This forced them to work ever harder to perfect the theory. The result was a consistent, well developed theory available much sooner than it would have been othwise.

There are other books that discuss this time and transition, including Andrew Whitaker's excellent 'Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma.'But you'd better know a good bit about physics before starting it. This book, instead is written for the interested layman, and isn't so technical that you can't follow it. Highly recommended.

This is one of those books, for which one thinks, that I wish I had read this book years ago! The book clearly shows that how Quantum Mechanics, is NOT a theory. While going through undergraduate Physics program, I used to be bewildered by Quantum. Countering your Profs did not help at all, since you were faced with the canned responses, that "it works"! This book has put me at the highest mountain, that my personal objections to the "theory" were being echoed by Einstien himself!

A very good book which just cracks open the entire Modern Physics revolution in a very concise and simple way in front of all to understand, in the spirit of Einstien himself, who was against the notion of incomprehesibility, even when it came to expalining the laws of the Universe at large. The book puts the reader right next to the Physics gaints of the century, in a very personal way. The picture comes vividly. It's a must have and a must read.

However at some junctures, the book reveals some information, which makes one think about the sources. For instance, the tram ride in Berlin (Einstien & Bohr), while trying to go back home, but keep missing their stops, since they are busy arguing over light quanta. The author regrets, that no passanger heard/witnessed the talk or seeing how pathetically they have been missing thier stops..if there is no account from witnesses, what is the source of our esteemed author? Makes one think. Besides, the editor should pay close attention to typos.