Physics can be difficult to learn when theories and formulae are thrown at you with no historical context. You begin learning about motion, and then electricity and magnetism, and it's almost impossible to see a coherent connection between the ideas. Many people have heard of relativity and quantum theory, but do not have even a general notion of what they aim to explain.

Like mathematics, you can learn physics without knowing about the people behind its development (though you will encounter many of their names in important expressions), but it never hurts to study how such ideas began, and how they came to be what they are today. Einstein and Infeld's book is aptly titled. They show how and why certain concepts came into being and what significance they hold. Beginning with "The Rise of the Mechanical View," they describe vectors, motion, forces, and energy. With "The Decline of the Mechanical View," they show how the behavior of electricity, magnetism, and light waves poses problems for the mechanical view.

The next two (and most interesting) sections explore field, relativity, and quanta, and how they have proved more accurate in describing physical phenomena than what was previously known. Einstein and Infeld describe everything with a minimum of mathematics so that anyone with an interest in the development of physics can understand the contents. Although such math is necessary for a precise understanding of physics, the aim of the authors, which they frequently repeat throughout, is to give the reader a broad understanding of the general underlying principles. They have succeeded in giving an account of where the human construction of physics started, what has been covered since then, and where it is heading. It is a simply written book, suitable for readers who don't know physics and want to learn, but also helpful for students of physics who want to see a broader picture of its evolution.

It has been two years since I read this book - but it impressed me so that I recommend it highly. It is quite readable without being condescending. It uses clear text and simple but essential diagrams to explain how physics evolved from Newton's work through to Einstein's. Only very basic mathematics is used (Can you add,subtract, multiply, and divide?) so the book is approachable by any reader who has at least a vague rememberance of physics. It's the best book of its type I have read.

This is the best short book that I know of on the history of physics--equally useful for the casual observer of science and the serious physics student. Einstein is capable of presenting the basic ideas of physics in a way that is succinct yet complete--and he never loses sight of the broad, revolutionary ideas that make the history of physics so exciting. This is undoubtedly because physics actually IS exciting for Einstein, and this excitement comes through in every page.

This book reads as if Einstein thinks of physics as a really good story--complete with all characters and action of any good story--that he really wants to share with his reader.

This is an exceptionally well written biography of perhaps the greatest scientific genius in human history.Clark superbly conveys the story of Einstein`s journey through physics,the world wars & Zionism.Be warned,though:the book`s encyclopedic nature & voluminous content ensures that reading it till the end is pie in the sky for people who are not used to heavy reading & deep contemplation on the topics discussed.

This is probably the most widely read biography on Einstein and with good reason: the author does a fine job of detailing the life of the man who pretty much dominated 20th century physics. It is a cliche now to say that his theories changed the way physicists think about the natural world, and his demeanor and politics continue to be the rage in so-called popular culture. Young students of physics usually get their first taste of advanced mathematical formalism when being introduced to his general theory of relativity, and the author, even though he is not a physics educator, actually does a decent job of explaining the concepts that Einstein was responsible for in his life work. The author does not leave out the politics of the man who continues to be known for his Zionism, and the reader will finish the book with an appreciation of the complexity of his thinking and his personal adherences to this point of view. Some readers may be perplexed on his associaton with the mustard gas researchers Walther Nernst and Fritz Haber, but put in context, as the author does with clarity, readers will see the reasons for this along with Einstein's commitment to the development of atomic weapons.

The author also conveys the excitement surrounding the experimental confirmation of some of Einstein's theories, particularly the photoelectric effect and the bending of the light around the Sun. In addition, the reader can appreciate more the concern among many physicists at the time of Einstein's use of "high-brow" mathematics in general theory of relativity. Now of course, such concern has definitely subsided, for today's theories of gravitation are laden with highly estoric constructions from mathematics. Einstein, as the author notes, was very young when he developed his theories. Modern theories of gravitation, such as superstring and M-theories require such a high level of mathematics that physicists who make contributions in these theories generally spend many years obtaining this background. It is interesting to reflect on how Einstein would have reacted to these theories and elementary particles physics. It is also interesting to ask whether Einstein's politics would be the same if he were alive today, given the current situation in the Middle East. In addition, computers were not available to Einstein in the way there are now to all physicists. Would Einstein have taken to computers? To computational physics? His general theory of relativity is now one of the main applications of high performance computing and symbolic programming.

This gem is not only well-researched and clearly written; it is a deeply moving overview of the life of the world's greatest scientist, not just as a theoretical physicist, but as a human being struggling to be true to himself in trying times.

Although Clark does explain a bit about special and general relativity, he does so only to aid one's understanding of why Einstein's contributions were so crucial. You will see Einstein as a curious boy, as a troubled student, as a young man making his way in the world, and then as a post office clerk who worked on physics when his bosses weren't looking.

You will see the tide slowly turn as physicists of his day began to take this uncredentialled but highly original thinker seriously. And then the day dawns when an experiment proves that gravity indeed bends light....and Einstein wakes up famous.

The book is also full of those charming anecdotes one loves to hear about Einstein, ever the absent-minded professor and "dropper of conversational bricks," such as the performance in which, armed with a violin but off rhythm, the greatest living physicist is chided by the director: "Einstein, can't you count?"

What comes through best is Einstein as a great-hearted and humble man who wanted "to know God's thoughts"; a man of conscience troubled by the wars and other injustices of his time and (unlike most of us) actively trying to do something productive about them; and most of all, a profound man whose central mood, known to every child but never to be outgrown in the inwardly alive adult, was his loving awe of the unknown.

There are numerous books on general relativity currently on the market, and these range in difficulty from those written for the beginner or the layman, those written for graduate students in physics, and research monographs covering specialized topics. It is always refreshing to go back to the originator of the subject, and take part in his special insights on the topic. Philosophers and historians of science can definitely benefit from a perusal of this book.

The author begins this book with a discussion of the origin of the concepts of space-time, the emphasis being partly philosophical and partly psychological, and the reader can see the origin of the author's operationalism in reading this introduction. He is clearly against the philosophers who attempt to remove concepts from experience and put them in his words "in the intangible heights of the a priori". The motion of rigid bodies is used to set up a discussion of Euclidean geometry and linear orthogonal transformations. The author emphasizes the role of the physicist in discerning whether a system of geometry is true or not, contrary to the pure mathematician. Examples of geometrical invariants, such as the Cartesian line element and the volume element are discussed, along with the role of vectors and tensors. Both of these are used as means by which one can give expression to the independence of Cartesian coordinates. Maxwell's equations are put in tensor notation as an example of covariance with respect to Cartesian coordinate transformations. All of this is done to motivate the theories of special and general relativity.

The theory of spectial relativity is treated in chapter 2, the author introducing his famous principle of special relativity. The author poses the problem of calculating the coordinates and time in an inertial system moving with uniform translation relative to another. He shows how this problem is solved by assuming that time and space are absolute, and if the coordinate axes of the systems are parallel to one another, the Galilean transformations result. Newton's equations of motion are covariant under these transformations, but Maxwell equations are not (but the author chooses not to show this explicitly). He then gives an in-depth discussion of how the Lorentz transformations arise as being those that guarantee the covariance of the Maxwell equations. The author also discusses the signature of the Lorentz metric and how it is related to the light cone. He ends the chapter by developing the energy tensor of the electromagnetic field and matter.

The author's rejection of inertial frames as being priveleged leads him in the beginning of the next chapter to a short philosophical critique of the principle of inertia. This leads to a discussion of the principle of equivalence and to the origin of the general theory of relativity, a theory which the author developed, amazingly, single-handedly, and which he clearly believes is very much superior to classical mechanics. The intuition to be gained by reading this chapter is invaluable for serious students of general relativity. One can see the simplicity and power of the author's arguments, relying on keen physical intuition and sound use of mathematics. In particular, the author's heuristic derivation of the gravitational field equations from Poisson's equation is briliant. In addition, he is not ashamed to interject philosophical argumentation into his writing, particularly in his discussion of Mach's principle. Such discussions are becoming more rare among physicists at the present time.

The Meaning of Relativity is an advanced book. The title should have made it clear. Einstein delves here into what his theory
actually MEANS. That is, what must we change (if anything...) in our world conception, in the way we think, as a consequence of his immense discovery. Just think that he meddled with time, a concept static since so long that it is registered deep in our DNA: our concept of time goes back to the epoch where our main purpose was to survive the day
(sounds familiar? No, no, it was different! It was permanent. What you experience now is transient...)
So what? Read it! It is a marvellous book. Perhaps you will have to reach for other, more elementary, books, in this enterprise. All right! That almost characterizes a book worth reading. So... go on! It will repay your efforts. It IS doable. You will come out, for instance, with a precise CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE! Your brains will be enriched.You deserve that!

In this presentation Einstein communicated a remarkable set of identities for the equation of motion, obtaining on page 102 or so a form like F = m[ E + (v x B)] + higher-order_terms for GR's geodesic equation of motion. The electromagnetic- like nature of the motion is quite evident in this Lorentz-force type of equation. Einstein complexified it a bit by using identities like E = - grad(phi) - dA/dt and B = curl A, but there it was, really a monument to his powers of analysis. However, in general relativity, we then have B four times too strong, which leads to a violation of the equation of continuity prominently featuring the factor of 4 as the problem term. This is the basis of my first non-self-consistency theorem for classical general relativity, the so-called 1st overthrow theorem. I have also been able to show that the problem comes up again when exact solutions are used, in particular, when the Kerr metric is employed. Einstein's solution in Cartesian coordinates is very useful not only for general relativity's overthrow, but for figuring out the kind of a theory most likely to succeed. Apart from the factor of 4, the linearized solutions look like Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field with the source-coupling reversed for like-charges-attract fields with consequently left-hand rule symmetry. They are mirror-image Maxwell's equations. A study of the electroweak model in Cottingham and Greenwood's INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR

PHYSICS suggested that a generalization of elementary particle theory's vector-boson field equations could contain all forces in local coordinates, including gravitation, electromagnetism, and the nuclear forces. This approach to unified field theory, which emphasizes the local validity of special relativity and the wave-operator identities of quantum mechanics, provides the right answers if we include the principle of equivilance in a way that produces gravitational time-dialation only, for the synchronization of clocks. This approach is far more direct with respect to the derivation of field equations than Einstein's, and produces a superbly unified picture of force field theory firmly grounded on conservative assumptions. Classical GR effects of higher-order can be derived from this theory. For details, see GRAVITATION & THE ELECTROFORM MODEL by James A. Green and THERMONUCLEAR FUSION IN STARS, also by James A. Green.

Albert Einstein lived the last thirty years of his life in the United States and passed away in 1955 in New Jersey. He wrote three great papers in 1905 at the age of 26.

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.

This is an interesting way to learn about a person. I took a passage from one of Al's writings in this book and read it during my weekly puppet show. The part of Einstein was played by a stuffed squirrel I bought at a yard sale. I added the traditional wacky hair and tweed jacket. The kids were confused at first, but squirrel puppetry soon broke down barriers. Next up is Hawking! If I can find a mini-chair and a look-a-like squirrel.

Here, Einstein clearly shows the world that he was a first-class intellectual and scientist.

--Lonnie R. Gardner (Math Teacher)

This is a fun book. At once, it humanizes Einstein and satirizes the "analysts" and others who bought into the dotcom mantra. As one reviewer analogized, this is "The Confederacy of Dunces" turned loose in Silicon Valley. The result is hilarious and the prose is magnificent.

This hilarious and witty post-mortem of the "new economy" revolutionary who balked at the traditional business model, substituting promise and potential for profitability, uses the father of modern physics and a modern-day delusional self proclaimed genius as an excellent analogy to keep the reader entertained on every page. I cannot wait for the movie and can already visualize several prominent actors portraying the complex yet loveable characters in this tome.

This is a MUST READ !!!

A subtle, yet scathing indictment of contemporary business life. Mr. Mone adeptly points out America's paranoid focus on the "commercial" individual. The author is uniquely close to the e-business wave, while at the same time cooly detached and brilliantly satirical. Office daydreamers will see the "Edward" in themselves! Rarely can an author effectively grasp the forefront of pop culture and relate it so creatively to our scientific history.

A very quick read and I read this book as fast as I could. It was hard to put down, as it was very enjoyable. There are quotes that I will use over and over again in my life, writing, and public speaking. You'll find yourself saying, Wow!, this is his best quote, only to be surprised again on the next page.

It showed the good and bad of Einstein (this was not a happily married man), and readers will probably get a better sense of the man than reading some sappy one-sided lovefest biography.

Once you pick up this book, you will be hard-pressed to put it down. I fully enjoyed reading this book of quotations of one of the most influential people in recent history. A wide selection of topics are covered including quotations about his colleagues. If you like Einstein, you will enjoy this.

If you're anything like me, you hate learning about a subject through a biased source. Be it the news, history, or a biography, when knowledge is passed on second hand, one is always left wondering what was lost in the translation, intentionally or otherwise.

This is why The Expanded Quotable Einstein is such a breath of fresh air; it allows one to learn about Einstein, his life, his thoughts, his character, in the purest way--through his own words. With over 400 pages of quotes, many of which are as poetically astute as you would expect from a top-notch professional writer, you can discover all there is to know, and draw your own conclusions, instead of being lead there on a leash by an author. Also, with factual information mixed in without the propaganda associated with a full-length biography, one can learn as many dates-names-places as one needs (unless you wish to write a complete fact-based synopsis of his life) and get to the heart of the matter: his spirit.

I feel that overall, this is the best way to present a historical figure, especially Einstein, whose thoughts and ideas need no embellishment, and for whom his own words serve as the best guide through his intricate mind.

One note: many people equate Einstein with E = MC^2, however do not be scared; this is a book of his quotes on everything, from politics to family to religion. No knowledge of mathematics or physics is required to enjoy the surprising insightful and well-rounded character that is Albert Einstein.

This book is an outstanding reference for the primary care pediatrician in office practice. It is much better oriented to day-to-day pediatrics than Nelson's and its imitators. The CD-ROM is very useful and easy to navigate. As a bonus, the CD-ROM contains all of the excellent illustrations for Zitelli & Davis' superb Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis.

This book is an outstanding reference for the primary care pediatrician in office practice. It is much better oriented to day-to-day pediatrics than Nelson's and its imitators. The CD-ROM is very useful and easy to navigate. As a bonus, the CD-ROM contains all of the excellent illustrations for Zitelli & Davis' superb Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis.

This book was a great reference in residency and now in practice

Lincoln Barnett has created a master piece of scientific literature for the uninitiated to the world of scientific thought. I feel that this book was written in a way that any person who reads it can grasp the basic concepts of relativity and electromagnatism. It should be required reading for all high school students with the anticipated result of turning out many more scientists and engineers in this country. I have owned the book for more years than I can remember and have read it and reread it multiple times and over time have given copies to youngsters that I thought had a potential scientific inclination. I still have a copy on hand and do not understand why in is not in print today.

I've read just about every book on Einstein's theories meant for the general reader (as well as not-so-general reader) and this is the clearest, most concise, and best-written book ever done on the subject.

I read this book almost 30 years ago and it's good to see from the other reviews here that people still know about this terrific book. It's a little masterpiece of science reportage done during a time (1950) when there were very few talented writers doing this sort of thing (unlike today), and in which there wasn't much demand for science writing in general. Lincoln Barnett was a gifted journalist and he produced a little classic in this book.

This is absolutely the best book on any scientific topic intended for the general reader that I have ever read. It is one of very few books about science I have ever read that I could seriously call a "page turner". Einstein's theories are presented in such a manner that anyone reading the book can understand the concepts without trying. I have read other books that discussed Einstein's theories, but none of them presented the ideas with such lucidity and simplicity, while at the same time not losing the depth and profundity of the concepts.

Ideas and Opinions expresses a wide range of Einstein's thoughts throughout his life. The subject matter includes comments on freedom, politics, pacifism, education, religion, Germany, friends, and scientific issues. Whereas Einstein had a specific goal in writing each of these addresses, speeches and articles, the editor of this collection by combining Einstein's writings in this manner paints a picture of the man and his time. The most profound impact upon the reader is not the individual message of each writing, but rather how the whole body of work illuminates the dedication and fierce determination of one scientist to make himself a "harmonious personality" (64). One of the features of this collection is that it attempts to present each article in a straightforward manner. Each article is titled by what it attempts to say, for example one article is called "My First Impressions of the U.S.A." (3). This accurately reflects what Einstein says in this article, but so much more than what this title describes is also reflected in the essay. Einstein's political attitudes are best expressed not in his many essays on politics, government and pacifism, but instead in his First Impressions of America. One of his many observations is that "nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced" (6). Understanding this aspect is of immeasurable value when encountering Einstein's essay where he prescribes a program of action against atomic weapons. The greatest fault of this compilation is that it tends to be repetitive. However, this often helps to drive home the point and complete the overall picture of this man and his time. This text should be read by all persons everywhere. No other collection could possibly contain a better view of America, international relations, scientific issues and advances, religion, and humanity. For use in Honors Science, only certain readings would enhance the goal of the course, but including them would be invaluable not only for scientific perspective, but for an enriched experience of life itself.

I am pleased I bought this book, The reason I chose to write this review is that it is a good book for a broad spectrum of persons. If you have any interest in the workings of life, it is worth it to have this book in your home. I would give a specific review but others have done that. The only thing that I was surprised with is that Dr. Einstein only expresses his opinions so accurately close and congruent to scientific known facts. I thought from what I had heard he was more wandering, he does not take chances. Even though he covers religion, he still will not express an opinion of true origins, but leaves so much to what has been proven. I did like that as it causes venturous thought and that is for certain this book will cause a reader to ponder considerably. I have recently read a very good book that covers this same type of matter but a slight more adventurous. Amazon recommends we mention books that are similar, Karl Mark Maddox is an up and coming theorist and scientist has a suprising paperback titled SB 1 or God.

When I bought this book a few months back, I was under the impression that this book was largely composed of Eistein's political thoughts. I based this on my thinking that science is usually not based in opinion. To my suprise, only about 1/3 of the book discusses Einstein's political opinions of events such as the holocaust, his role in creating the bomb, and pacifism.

Einstein also deals with the issues of education, freedom, Judiasm, his home of Germany, and science. EInstein is known for his scienctific thought. I am not much of a science person so I could not really get into Einstein's discussions on science. He may as well have written the discussions in ancient hebrew because they are hard to follow with many of the terms and concepts which I have forgotten since high school and college.

Based on Einstein's political thoughts alone, this book is a bargin. Einstein proves that he is not only a brilliant scientist, but he also has his finger on the pulse of humanity. Thank you for your insight Albert!

Like many people, I'd seen the factoid that Einstein's brain was kept in a box in Kansas, and always wondered about the full story. Running across this book I was very happy to finally get that story, told in a way that was engaging and fairly honest about everyone's role in the story (to the extent that's possible).

The only reason I'm giving the book four stars instead of five is that I found that my interest waned significantly over the last 50 to 75 pages. I think it had to do with the shift towards more science and less biography, though I'm not sure there was a way to write this book without the shift (it isn't huge, but it is noticable).

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Einstein, but perhaps even more to anyone who likes quirky history or biography.

I had recently read "Driving Mr Albert: A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain" by Michael Paterniti. I stumbled across this book at my local library, and thought, keeping with the trend of Einstein, it would be a nice addition to my mental collection of books. I was blown away by Carolyn Abraham's writing. I am 14 years old, and obviously not in any way a medical or college student. However, Abraham's writing was clear and concise. The author used understandable language along with scientific terms in a way that I was able to learn and comprehend new ideas and terms. In short, Abraham knew what she was talking about. Her transitions were interesting, but never confusing. The ability to describe--in considerable detail--the journey of about 50+ years of a mild-mannered pathologist and his amazing secret that was Einstein's brain is the mark of a superb writer, and I commend Carolyn Abraham for it.

I can't add much to what other reviewers have said. I picked up this book to learn what had been discovered scientifically by studying Einstein's brain, and ended up learning about much, much more. Interesting subplots include Einstein as a person (husband, father, man) and other trends in brain research.