List price: $15.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $11.09
Buy one from zShops for: $10.70
Used price: $46.99
Collectible price: $124.50
Buy one from zShops for: $124.50
Collectible price: $39.94
This book is the only thing ever coming close to an autobiography that Einstein ever wrote. Needless to say, offers of money and prizes were offered to him, unlike the millions offered to ex-U.S. presidents to write a book. He never accepted any of these offers. The only offer he accepted was from Professor Schilpp to write an intellectual autobiography of himself.
Incredible and Timeless is only ways to describe this book. Einstein labels as his "obituary", for a man who was considered the "Person of the Century" by Time Magazine.
Friends, his own "obituary" in his own hand is a worthy read and cost of the book. It is not a "personal" life but his "thinking" on science and of course on physics. We all know the two great theories of physical was created in the early 20th. century: the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Einstein alone created relativity and was also one of the founders of the quantum theory. We also know now that Einstein never accepted quantum theory till the end.
Here, Einstein fully describes the failure of classical mechanics and the rise of the electromagnetic field, the theory of relativity and of the quanta.
Of note, Einstein's "Evolution of Physics" is a general lay discussion of the same issues. This is Einstein's technical discussion of the evolution of physics.
"When I was a fairly precocious young man the nothingness of the hopes and strivings which chases most men restlessly through life came to my consciousness with considerable vitality" This comment alone is worth price of the book.
The essays sections includes writing of the great scientist of the 20th century. We only read about them in textbook but here they are in their own words: Niels Bohr, Louis De Broglie, Arnold Sommerfeld, Max Born, Kurt Godel, Hans Reichenbach and Wolfgang Pauli. One only sees their picture in physics textbooks.
This book really belongs in all who are professional scientists or are interested in science. Unlike Newton "Principia" or Darwin's "The Origin of Species" Einstein papers are scattered everyone. This is the only definitive book on Einstein by Einstein himself.
Moreover, it is a scholarly and scientific book, so it should last for a long time and of value to all future generations.
--Lonnie R. Gardner (Math Teacher)
Used price: $15.00
Collectible price: $13.22
Buy one from zShops for: $24.98
Used price: $3.46
Buy one from zShops for: $12.99
List price: $14.00 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $2.98
Collectible price: $4.50
Buy one from zShops for: $9.70
At first I felt put off by two things. First, the picture of the woman on the cover, while appealing, did cause me to refrain from leaving the book lying around for my 8-year old daughter to see. This book does not need sex to sell. Second, I was put off by the fact that Arthur Clarke was not authoring it. But I gave it a shot anyway, and I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised.
What is added by Preuss is the style and setting - Sparta, a fragile but superhuman woman who has lost her past, searches for the people who made her what she is. In doing so, she becomes involved in the situations created in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction. The "Venus Prime" series maps out her journey (as well as serving up great stories by Clarke). Preuss peppers the books with nice details of life in the near future (like logical extensions, interesting-but-plausible technology, and so on).
If you're looking for the original short stories, several appeared in the out-of-print collection "The Sentinel ; masterworks of science fiction and fantasy" (the title story is also interesting as the origin of Clarke's novel "2001 a Space Odyssey").
I have been hooked right from the start - accolades to Paul Preuss and Arthur C. Clarke!
List price: $10.95 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $6.61
Buy one from zShops for: $7.41
Collectible price: $31.76
Used price: $45.00
Collectible price: $42.35