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The definitive, internationally bestselling biography of Albert Einstein. Now the basis of Genius, the ten-part National Geographic series on the life of Albert Einstein, starring the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award–winning actor Geoffrey Rush as Einstein.
How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson's biography shows how Einstein's scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom. Einstein 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.
Einstein, the classic #1 New York Times bestseller, is a brilliantly acclaimed account of the most influential scientist of the twentieth century, "an illuminating delight" (The New York Times). The basis for the National Geographic series Genius, by the author of The Innovators, Steve Jobs, and Benjamin Franklin, this is the definitive biography of Albert Einstein.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
April 10, 2007 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780743561396
- File size: 619696 KB
- Duration: 21:31:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Edward Herrmann narrates the most complete biography of Einstein to date with his trademark thoughtful pacing and clarity. Isaacson's biography is equally thoughtful, offering a well-balanced portrayal of several facets of Einstein's life. As a theoretical physicist, Einstein has been so thoroughly chronicled that new insights are rare. Isaacson, however, offers new personal information and gives more attention to Einstein as a public figure than have previous biographies. The results, aided by Herrmann, who reads in a pleasant, straightforward manner, are fascinating. Herrmann sounds utterly engaged by Einstein. Listeners, too, will succumb. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine -
Albert Einstein, like no other scientist before or after him, managed to become a celebrity on par with the biggest movie stars and athletes--despite the fact that most nonscientists have no idea why his work was so important. This new biography helps explain the phenomenon by bringing out Einstein the human being, as well as the great physicist. Edward Herrmann, who also reads the unabridged recording, gets everything right in this briefer edition. The abridgment is occasionally choppy--perhaps unavoidably so--but nonetheless covers many interesting periods in the genius's life. Herrmann reads slowly and deliberately when explaining a principle of relativity, then switches to a more breezy style when relating biographical events. Like Einstein's own, it's a winning formula. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from July 30, 2007
Herrmann's reading offers solid, enjoyable and informative listening. Herrmann knows when his material is strong and does not try to compete with it. Instead, he delivers a straightforward yet endearing portrait of arguably the best mind of the last century. Herrmann keeps the text purely narrative, refraining from affecting a German accent when quoting Einstein and others, with the occasional accent appropriately slipping in only when pronouncing foreign words. In this, the first full biography based on Einstein's newly released personal letters, Isaacson takes care to keep the great mind's discoveries and theories comprehensible. Einstein, whose internally visualized “thought experiments” often led to his groundbreaking observations (at 16 he imagined chasing a light beam until he caught up to it), expressed these images with simplicity and elegance. Einstein's rebellious personality as well as the internal workings of his brilliant mind are brought vividly to life thanks to Herrmann's perfect reading, which is filled with warmth and accuracy. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 12). -
February 12, 2007
Acclaimed biographer Isaacson examines the remarkable life of "science's preeminent poster boy" in this lucid account (after 2003's Benjamin Franklin
and 1992's Kissinger
). Contrary to popular myth, the German-Jewish schoolboy Albert Einstein not only excelled in math, he mastered calculus before he was 15. Young Albert's dislike for rote learning, however, led him to compare his teachers to "drill sergeants." That antipathy was symptomatic of Einstein's love of individual and intellectual freedom, beliefs the author revisits as he relates his subject's life and work in the context of world and political events that shaped both, from WWI and II and their aftermath through the Cold War. Isaacson presents Einstein's research—his efforts to understand space and time, resulting in four extraordinary papers in 1905 that introduced the world to special relativity, and his later work on unified field theory—without equations and for the general reader. Isaacson focuses more on Einstein the man: charismatic and passionate, often careless about personal affairs; outspoken and unapologetic about his belief that no one should have to give up personal freedoms to support a state. Fifty years after his death, Isaacson reminds us why Einstein (1879–1955) remains one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century. 500,000 firsr printing, 20-city author tour, first serial to
Time; confirmed appearance on
Good Morning America.
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