The Unexpected Einstein: The Real Man Behind the Icon - Hardcover

Brian, Denis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471718408 ISBN 13: 9780471718406

Verlag: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2005

Inhaltsangabe

The Unexpected Einstein tackles many unexpected and rarely covered aspects of Albert Einstein's life, thoughts, and personality. This fast--paced and informed account strips away the myths, rumors, and outright lies that continue to circulate about Einstein to offer readers a uniquely intimate portrait of the living, breathing man. Brian draws upon an impressive array of original sources including recently discovered documents and interviews--many previously unpublished--with Einstein's relatives, colleagues, lovers, enemies, lifelong friends, and relative strangers. In their own words, these men and women share their memories of the "father of modern physics" and offer insight into his character. The profoundly complex man who emerges from these pages may be best understood in his own words: "I live and feel puzzled, and all the time I try to understand."

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

DENIS BRIAN is author of Einstein: A Life, Pulitzer: A Life, Genius Talk: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries, The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him, and other popular books. He lives with his wife, Martine, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Advance Praise for The Unexpected Einstein

"Einstein, the scientist who rejected all mythology, has himself become something of a mythological character a god of the universe. Einstein would have approved of Denis Brian's demystification of the real genius who used facts to demolish myths. The real Einstein, with his complex views regarding God, politics, and life, is far more interesting and human than the mythological caricature."
Alan Dershowitz

Critical acclaim for Denis Brian's Einstein: A Life

"Denis Brian's convincing picture . . . only makes our wonder grow at Einstein's sublime achievements."
The Washington Post

"A fascinating, vastly enjoyable, deeply researched, and fair account of Einstein the man."
Physics World

"Exhaustively researched, almost obsessively detailed, written with unobtrusive informality, the book is exemplary as a record of Einstein's personal and professional life."
The Spectator (UK)

"An utterly fascinating life of a great scientist full of new insights and very readable."
Ashley Montagu

"A fascinating read with more interesting material about Einstein as a human being than I have ever seen before. . . . Once I started it, I couldn't put it down."
Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and bestselling author

"A thoughtful and captivating account of one whom I had the joy of knowing and loving."
George Wald, Nobel laureate

"Brian's ambitious and well-researched work is a refreshing change from the recent glut of revisionist Einstein biographies. . . . Does a fine job of depicting the man, not the myth."
Library Journal

Aus dem Klappentext

Exactly one hundred years ago in 1905, Albert Einstein, the best-known and most beloved scientist of the twentieth century, revolutionized our understanding of the universe with his special theory of relativity. But behind the familiar image of the lovable eccentric with the cherubic smile and nimbus of white hair, did there lurk a very different individual? Now, fifty years after his death, this book tackles head-on many unexpected aspects of Einstein's life, thoughts, and personality rarely, if ever, covered in conventional biographies: his controversial treatment of his wives and sons; his love affairs, including one with a Soviet spy; what he really thought about God and organized religion; his daily, private life; and the mystery of his daughter Lieserl, whose very existence he kept secret from the world.

Was he the chilly, self-centered narcissist and misogynist that some contend? Did he, as one biographer claims, shamelessly plagiarize the work of others, including work done by his first wife as well as his special theory of relativity? Is there any truth to the frequent claims he was dyslexic, an incompetent mathematician, and a faker with only a tenuous grasp of physics? Or was he, as J. Edgar Hoover spent a quarter century trying to establish, a mad scientist in the employ of Moscow, bent on bringing Western democracy to its knees with the help of a death ray, a mind-controlled robot, and other fiendish inventions?

In this fast-paced and informed account, biographer Denis Brian strips away these and other myths, rumors, and outright lies that continue to circulate about Albert Einstein to offer us a uniquely intimate portrait of the living, breathing man.

Brian draws upon an impressive array of original sources including recently discovered documents and interviews?many of them previously unpublished?with Einstein's relatives, colleagues, lovers, enemies, lifelong friends, and relative strangers. In their own words, these men and women share their vivid memories of the "father of modern physics" and offer their insights into his character. In the process, many unexpected facets of Einstein's life and personality are revealed, including his childlike sense of fun, his hobbies, his love of pets, his poetry, and even his culinary exploits. Also weighing in are many luminaries from the worlds of science, politics, and the humanities, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Werner Heisenberg, Upton Sinclair, Linus Pauling, I. F. Stone, Ashley Montagu, Bertrand Russell, Martin Buber, and David Ben-Gurion, to name just a few.

A profoundly complex man who charmed almost all who met him; an extraordinarily humane, generous, shy, and essentially lonely individual: the unexpected Einstein who emerges from these pages may, in the final analysis, best be understood from the casual observation he once made to the Russian author Ilya Ehrenburg: "I live and feel puzzled, and all the time I try to understand."

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons Inc
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2005
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0471718408
• ISBN 13: 9780471718406
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar