Einstein: The Life of a Genius

This is a beautiful coffee table book.I bought it to have something good looking and engaging in my office guest area. I prefer to leave brain food lying about rather than garbage like the pop magazines. This book is a huge hit, people pick it up to look at the photos and the drawings and then get completely engrossed in the text. It is extremely well put together and immediately draws people into the rich story of this mans life and impact.The only downside is that I keep having to rescue the book. People like it so much that they take it back to their desks. :)

From the beginning I'll admit I'm a sucker for these Museum In A Book type of books. These books are often described as books for children. I'm not sure why? Too many pictures, too much interaction? I don't get it.This one was fairly typical of the style, with fixed pages throughout and with added pockets containing pictures, documents, postcards, newspaper articles etc. However this book also had many artifacts that were carefully taped onto the pages so that the reader could unfold them without removing them from the book. This is a little different than most books of this kind. This way documents stay on the page their meant to be on and don't get lost as easy. Is this good or bad? You decide. The graphics are also more subtle than many other books of this type. Less bright color, plenty of call out boxes with text and graphics lending itself to a more serious look.It covers not only the work that Einstein did early in his life with Relativity and THE BOMB but also his work with Civil Rights, Israel, and McCarthyism. From his birth to his death and some of the more interesting time in-between. Very nicely done for a subject that can be somewhat dry.

an addition to my Einstein book collection.

love it

Having already written a fine biography of Einstein, Walter Isaacson had no need to write another. Of course, this very short work really cannot pass for a biography. It is more of an outline or "Entwurf". The only attraction is the collection of historical photographs of Einstein and his contemporaries and the reproductions of significant documents such as some of Einstein's manuscripts and correspondence. Otherwise, the content is thin and innocuous. In fact, it reads like it was written for a child. And it contains many puerile errors. Isaacson writes that Einstein received his Ph.D. from the Zurich Polytechnic, which did not award Ph.D.'s at the time, instead of the University of Zurich, where he was awarded the degree in 1905 (Isaacson says 1907). The author confuses "privatdozent" (unpaid lecturer) with "tenured professor" and he has Einstein moving to Zurich to take a position at the University of Bern. More fundamentally, Isaacson foolishly insists that the purpose of the unified field theory was to resolve the uncertainties in quantum mechanics when, instead, it was supposed to unify gravity with electromagnetism, the only forces well understood at the time. Isaacson should have reread his earlier work or at least employed a competent editor.The charming photographs are spoiled by the sloppy, garish presentation that gives the book the appearance of a cheap tabloid. This is a disgraceful offense on the centenary of the publication of the field equations of general relativity.

Everything I expected and more, in terms of the prompt service and the quality of the pre-owned book I received!

This was purchased as a gift for my Dad & he absolutely loved it!!Thanks Academic Book Guy!!Blah Blah

This book was requested by my wife and she has been reading it and loves it.This book reminds me of the 1776 book we purchased a few years ago...

A well written biography by a great author ! The book is a must for every home library.

Really lovely book!

thx

Great book. received in good time too.