Einstein in Love: (A Scientific Romance) [Hardcover]

Dennis Overbye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2000

An acclaimed science writer's insightful and revelatory biography of young Einstein--teenager in love, draft dodger, bohemian, poet, and scientist--drawing upon many unpublished letters and years of research

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the world stood on the verge of upheaval as all the familiar political, cultural, and scientific truths were challenged by new discoveries and philosophies. It was a period when young Albert Einstein was in love--with physics and the secret order of the universe; with his brilliant, tormented first wife, Mileva; and with a series of comely young women who were distractions from his gradually failing marriage. While that marriage worked, though, the Einsteins were a truly modern couple, a couple who had relativity and quantum mysticism as their pillow talk, a couple who were as often colleagues as they were fierce adversaries.

In Einstein in Love, Dennis Overbye presents this greatest of scientific romances in a vivid new light, telling the unforgettable story of the young man--a sly firebrand who left personal and professional chaos in his wake--who did the revolutionary work that changed the very way we view reality.

Einstein in Love separates the man Albert from the myth Einstein and restores humanity, individuality, and nuance to the most monolithic figure in the scientific pantheon.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his first book, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, New York Times science writer Dennis Overbye humanized the formidable intellects who have probed the inner workings of the universe. With Einstein in Love, he takes on the most formidable intellect of all--and the result does justice to a complicated man and his equally complicated work. Overbye's narrative concentrates on the years between 1896 (when the 17-year-old Einstein arrived in Zurich to study physics) and 1919 (when he used measurements of light deflection during a solar eclipse to support his new theory of relativity thus beginning a reign as the 20th century's most famous scientist). It's no accident this period begins with Einstein meeting fellow student Mileva Maric, who would become his first wife, and closes with his second marriage. "Physics was not all Einstein's life," writes Overbye. "He lived on Earth with a belly and a heart." Accordingly, Einstein in Love depicts a young man who liked to hike, play the violin, flirt, and tell dirty jokes. Albert and Mileva had a child before they were married (Michelle Zackheim's popular 1999 book, Einstein's Daughter, attempted to unravel the mystery of Lieserl's fate), and the young father was as careless of convention in his dress and grooming as in his scientific work. Indeed, although Overbye nicely captures Einstein's personality, the real excitement comes in those chapters delineating his thought. The book effortlessly incorporates a capsule history of physics from the Greeks to the Victorians, both laying out the issues with which Einstein grappled and suggesting just why his solutions were so revolutionary. Even those with little grounding in science will easily grasp why Einstein's ideas made such an impact, not just on fellow physicists, but on a populace that at the dawn of the 20th century was ready to accept the demise of all the old certainties. As usual, Overbye's work is a model of science writing for the general reader; it's also a perceptive biography highlighting Einstein's most creative years. --Wendy Smith

From Publishers Weekly

Of the many recent and imminent books on Einstein, Overbye's (Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos) may have the most compelling title and most fulfilling approach. An accomplished science writer, Overbye, deputy science editor of the New York Times, tells the story of Einstein's early years, when he cultivated his image as the shaggy and sloppy, garrulous and brilliant bad boy of physics and committed himself to twin passions: revolutionizing our understanding of the universe, starting with light, gravity and time; and living the bohemian life with the woman he'd eventually marry, Mileva Maric, a superior mathematician in her own right. At first, it seemed that Mileva and Albert would make the world together, but Albert's passion for physics proved the stronger. As Einstein's fame grew and his theories - the development of which Overbye explains brilliantly - gained adherents, he escaped the drudgery of work in the patent office for a series of university appointments, while his wife and their children faded into the background. He took up with other women, which, as the reader learns, was even sadder than it may at first appear, because of all that Maric gave up to be with him, including their first child, Lieserl, born out of wedlock and sent away so that she wouldn't hinder Einstein's career. Overbye's aim - which he accomplishes with the precision of a scientist and the ear of a musician - is to portray Einstein the man, not the myth ("no picture of Einstein can be complete that does not explore both disparate strains of his life, both the sacred and the profane"). In the end, the reader may come to like Einstein less but appreciate his achievements even more. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1 edition (October 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670894303
• ISBN-13: 978-0670894307
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Einstein, Albert

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely outstanding - Once in a decade..., November 22, 2000

By 

John Rummel (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Einstein in Love: (A Scientific Romance) (Hardcover)

Nine years may seem like a long time to wait for an encore. Overbye's 1991 "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos" was an instant classic - a scientific biography of a half-dozen of astronomy's most interesting characters. I've often lamented that this was Overbye's only book. Why couldn't someone capable of writing such a seamless blend of biography and popular science have a whole shelf of his own?

Dennis Overbye has answered that question with a resounding "patience, patience..." Overbye has indeed been busy. For the last several years, he has spent considerable time with a dozen or so scholars who are pouring over the Einstein papers - a vast repository of personal documents that had been tied up in legal limbo since Einstein's death in 1955. As this material is slowly and deliberately digested by scholars, a much more personal picture of the man is emerging - a portrait beautifully captured by Overbye in this effort.

Overbye's book "Einstein in Love" is a stunning follow-on to his earlier work, this one focusing on a single individual - the most famous scientist who ever lived. It fully captures his relationships with family and friends. Besso, Solovine, Habicht, Grossman, Mileva - his first wife and the mother of his 3 children - all come to life within these pages. Overbye documents the mysterious disappearance of his first child, the daughter Lieserl, but doesn't attempt to solve it.

There is no shortage of biographical and popular scientific books on Einstein and relativity. Overbye sets his latest effort apart from the pack with an unprecedented personal look into the life of the young Einstein as can only be achieved with the wealth of personal correspondence available in the Einstein papers. Overbye's writing style is almost poetic. He has a way of turning a phrase and capturing the essence of a moment. I have read a great many of the above mentioned works on Einstein (as well as biographies of many other scientists) but have never felt so captivated by a story.

This book continues the slow process of eroding some enduring myths regarding Einstein. For instance, it is frequently noted that as a patent office clerk in Bern, Einstein was cut off from the scientific world, blissfully unaware of the work being done by physicists in Europe and the United States. To the contrary, Overbye notes that during his tenure in the patent office, Einstein was writing review articles for a German physics journal, summarizing the content of dozens of articles being published around the world. He also documents how Einstein almost certainly read the Michelson-Morley research while he was still a student at ETH under Weber, and was well aware of the precarious state of the "aether."

Overbye admits that this book is not strictly a biography. He begins the story during Einstein's college years and ends soon after the completion of the theory of general relativity and the confirmation by Eddington's eclipse observations. This is in part because the vast work of sorting through the Einstein papers is itself not yet far enough to permit further exploration, but surely more is to come.

And if that's not enough, Overbye doesn't gloss over the science. To the contrary, he has equal facility in explaining thorny physical concepts in language that any reasonably educated and interested person can understand. He doesn't attempt to explain relativity mathematically, but does a wonderful job of tracing the development of Einstein's thought over time, as played out in correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues. In fact, he has woven the scientific and personal together in a way that is surprisingly smooth, given that almost a century has elapsed since some of the principle discoveries, not to mention that Einstein himself has been dead for nearly half that long.

This book will quickly take its place as one of the most important and popular works on the life of Albert Einstein, and one that should not be missed by any lover of science history.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Love of Physics, December 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Einstein in Love: (A Scientific Romance) (Hardcover)

I think a biography of a scientist ought to give readers four things. First, it should explain the scientist's work and its significance. Second, it should place the scientist in the context of his times, presenting the problems with which the scientist struggled and his growing awareness of an answer. Third -- especially for a scientist as famous as Einstein -- it should humanize the subject, digging into the myths and popular perceptions to show us the soul beneath. And fourth, it should leave the nonspecialist wanting to learn more about the science. Dennis Overbye's Einstein in Love excels at all four objectives. If you know of Einstein from popular accounts, try this book. You'll learn the state of physics at the close of the 19th century, and you'll find Einstein wasn't quite the lone wolf he's often portrayed as. You'll discover a young genius living in, and ultimately shaping, interesting times. There's some excellent informal presentation of special and general relativity, and more important, you can follow along as Einstein struggles through two decades to formulate it all. But prepare for some disillusionment along the way, as Einstein's true love (physics) substitutes for lasting relationships with women, and with his children. Still, this nonspecialist left the book with an even greater appreciation for how Einstein transformed our lives. In fact, I'm so intrigued to understand that transformation fully, I may just go buy a book on tensor theory!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Romance of Many Dimensions, June 25, 2002

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Einstein in Love: (A Scientific Romance) (Hardcover)

This book gave me a much more detailed and intimate look at Einstein's personal and intellectual life than anything else I've read, and it makes for a truly fascinating read. Overbye spent years poring through Einstein's letters and personal papers to research and write this book, and it shows.

There is a wealth of detail describing and chronicling Einstein's life as he struggled with the creation of the momentous scientific discoveries that were to make him famous, especially the long and difficult path to his final solution for the General Relativity problem. Along with this, you get a detailed look even into his personal day-to-day life, learning about his friends, scientific associates, and even his loves. Einstein is no longer a towering, remote intellect plumbing the depths and secrets of the universe in cloistered solitude; Overbye's account displays Einstein's very human side also, showing him to be a man of his times, often with Bohemian and avant-garde personal, social, and political ideas. For example, Overbye mentions how Einstein and his first wife, Mileva, had their first baby out of wedlock, and subsequently married. And the dark side of Einstein's personal life, the unhappy ending to his first marriage and his often careless dealings with the women in his life, don't escape Overbye's purview.

But don't be misled by the title, it's not just about Einstein's sometimes checkered love-life (although he did have more romantic dalliances than I would have expected); Overbye also does an excellent job of presenting Einstein's most important ideas, including a good explanation of the special and general theory of relativity.

And last but not least, Overbye is a fine writer whose prose flows and doesn't get in the way of the story, and who has a good command not only of the personal, but also the scientific side of Einstein's life. Altogether a well-written and fascinating book on a fascinating historical and scientific figure.

(P.S. Did anybody happen to notice the title of my review is the sub-title for Edwin Abbott's classic mathematical and social allegory, "Flatland, a Romance of Many Dimensions?" But it works equally well here as a segue into my review of Overbye's biography.)