By the author of the acclaimed bestsellers Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, this is the definitive biography of Albert Einstein.

How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson’s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.

Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk—a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn’t get a teaching job or a doctorate—became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom, and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals.

These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.

Length: 705 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Product details

File Size: 30322 KB
Print Length: 705 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Media Tie-In edition (April 10, 2007)
Publication Date: April 10, 2007
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B000PC0S0K
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,607 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Physics > Relativity
- #12 in Books > Science & Math > Physics > Relativity
- #18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists

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Mark F. LaMoure

An Excellent Masterpiece

November 28, 2015

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Mark F. LaMoure, Boise, ID

"Einstein," is a book by Walter Isaacson who discusses Einstein's life in detail. It is very well written for the lay person and reveals many interesting sides of Einstein's life and works.

As a scientist, Albert Einstein was one of the most epic stars among all 20th-century scientific thinkers. The book brings Einstein's life and times into clear focus, delivering new information never seen by the public. This biography focuses closely on Einstein's personal life and the non-scientific circumstances of his very long and highly productive career.

The book is not a fast read, nor is it simple read, but shows Albert Einstein (1879-1955) to be a master genius. The book is a fascinating and well-written account by Mr. Isaacson, whose style is to write about people who are so stunning that we need to know what makes them that way.

Isaacson's book studies Einstein as a man, with his many imperfections, some bizarre, others just plain incredible. What I especially admired was the angle of description that Isaacson chose for this detailed portrait of Albert Einstein.

I give the book 5 Gold Stars, which was 24 Karat Gold cover-to-cover. A brilliant masterpiece.

86 people found this helpful

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Mr. Donutbadgerme

Will there ever be another scientist like Einstein?

July 17, 2015

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There is perhaps no greater scientist to have ever lived. His name is known internationally. Even if people don't completely understand his work, they respect his contribution. This is the third book I've read by Walter Isaacson, and I must say, like "The Innovators" and "Steve Jobs," "Einstein" is a wonderful read.

Isaacson has won my vote: he's one of the best biographers of our time. Book after book, he captures the essence of these figures with respect and critical review. Einstein is a fascinating, flawed, and brilliant man. Isaacson adeptly weaves stories of scientific discovery with the trials and tribulations of marriages run amok. Einstein's temperament was extreme: kindness juxtaposed with coldness. Isaacson compares the two and leaves his focus on display for the reader.

I was exceptionally impressed by Einstein's political leanings and powerful statements. Here are a few that captured my attention:

"Blind respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

'A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience."

"People who live in a society, enjoy looking into each other's eyes, who share their troubles, who focus their efforts on what is important to them and find this joyful -- these people lead a full life."

"Use for yourself little, but give to others much."

29 people found this helpful

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D. Safir

A great biography of a great man. A must-read!

November 15, 2017

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What can I say? I have not been a reader of biographies, so I have no basis of comparison. I bought this book because the writer was touted on TV for his new biography of DaVinci, and they mentioned his very popular biography of Einstein. I have always been interested in Einstein, so I decided to tray this. I do not have the right to say that this is a masterpiece because, as I've said, I have not read biographies. I thought I might have trouble getting into it. Not even close! I was totally absorbed with it. Isaacson gets you not only into the science of the man, not only into the facts of his life, but into the warmth, humanity and humor that was so characteristic of him. I totally loved this book and recommend it to anyone who has any interest in knowing about the great genius of Albert Einstein and, at the same time, reading a totally absorbing book.

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Franklin the Mouse

The Humble Creative Nonconformist

April 3, 2018

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Before reading Mr. Isaacson's biography, the only things I remembered about Albert Einstein were E=mc(squared), he was German, and the guy's Muppet hairdo. It was nice to see photos of him as a child. I thought maybe he was born already wearing a friggin' mustache. There is a lot to like about Mr. Einstein. He was widely noted throughout his life as generally kind, good-natured, gentle, and unpretentious. Despite these admirable qualities, Mr. Einstein made enemies because he was a pacifist, polite but stubborn, a nonconformist, and Jewish. Anti-Semitism especially reared its ugly head when his revolutionary theories about physics were accepted by many in the scientific community as well as when Nazi Germany was becoming popular. Mr. Isaacson's work shows how professional jealousies within academic circles broke out into assassinations of Mr. Einstein's character and intelligence.

Mr. Isaacson's Einstein biography addresses such things as the myth he was poor at math, who were the people who helped him on the road to his scientific discoveries, his two marriages and relationship with his sons and two step-daughters, Einstein's good fortune to be working at the Swiss Patent Office when he developed his theories, his slow ascension into eventually being accepted into academia, his revulsion of German nationalism during the first and second World Wars, his involvement in the development of the atom bomb, his belief in "God," the politics behind him eventually being awarded a Nobel Prize in physics, and Einstein's push back during the United States' Red Scare witch hunt. The biography jumps back-and-forth between personal episodes and his scientific breakthroughs. Thankfully, Mr. Isaacson gives a clear general overview of Einstein's mass-energy equivalency, the photoelectric effect, as well as his Special and General Theory of Relativity. Despite the author doing a good job of not wading into the deep end of the physics pool by not including mathematical equations, this numbskull reader still needed assistance of YouTube videos to better grasp Einstein's theories. It also explains why quantum mechanics unsettled him throughout his life. The author also highlights how serendipity occurred numerous times during Einstein's younger years which helped him to focus on his major breakthroughs. The book also includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos.

This is the second biography I have read by Mr. Isaacson. Both the Steven Jobs and Albert Einstein books overlooked that they were clearly on the high-functioning autism spectrum (also known as Asperger's). Because of my family's dynamics, there were oodles of red flags that appeared to me whenever the author discussed Einstein's and Job's eccentricities. I suggest the reader keep it in mind when reading either of Mr. Isaacson's excellent books.

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