Einstein, His Life and Universe

[Sunshine]

One great book this is, long, at 540 pages but, it does a fine job of covering every aspect of his life. From the early days of the Olympia Academy to his final years where he struggled to come to grips with quantum mechanics.Those two points in his life sandwiched  General Relativity, quoted as being "the most astounding feat of thinking about nature to have come from one mind" it really is fascinating to learn about how he came to General Relativity. One other man was also very close (Henri  Poincaré) at the same time but, he just did not have Einsteins ability for thought experiments. Understanding what makes general relativity work, mathematically, is futile for a simple mind like mine and, that goes for most of us, its ten underlying formulas, tensors, and such can easily chew up volumes themselves. Despite its complexity, the author does a great job of not only explaining how it changed our understanding of how the universe works, but also its impact in physics as a whole, GR is truly in a class all its own, it is a testament to what can be achieved by one person so inclined to think outside the box.

I must warn, this is not a textbook, definitely not a book which delves into the minutia of special relativity, general relativity or E=Mc2.  All are explained well enough to give the reader a good grasp of their impact and importance, enough so that i found myself having a eureka moment once i truly understood the "gravity" of general relativity (no pun intended but,  i'll take credit for it  since it is a bit crafty on my part lol). This is a book which does really delve into what made Einstein who he was to his loved ones and, what his legacy means to us now, he was a rebel, a lover, (a cold one sometimes) a fighter, and till his dying day he fought against the status quo. Equally as fascinating as reading about his breakthroughs (his miracle year) was reading about howmuch he enjoyed simply sailing in his tiny boat, alone, often drifting beyond sight, lost in thought.

Every amateur astronomer would enjoy this book, even if they understood his achievements in more detail than what is explained in the book. Understanding the dynamics in his life that led to these achievements is greatly satisfying, Albert loved sausages, i love sausages, maybe we all owe our current understanding of the universe to German sausages lol.

Walter Isaacson has also written equally fascinating and large books on DaVinci which i read before Einstein, my next in his series will be on the life of Benjamin Franklin.

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by Sunshine