nashiraprime's review against another edition

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5.0

Quiero leer este libro mil veces para ponerle 5 estrellas cada vez.

Sin exagerar, este es el mejor libro sobre la vida de Einstein que he leído. Kaku no solo es un biógrafo, sino, como en la saga de Ender, es La Voz de Los Muertos. De manera metanarrativa, en este caso fue necesario conocer al autor (Einstein) para entender su legado. Sus dos grandes teorías de la relatividad (especial y general) fueron producto de su aguda y profunda intuición; de sus momentos de ocio y sus conocimientos de física (y más adelante y con ayuda, de matemáticas y geometría); pero también son el resultado de sus debates con otros grandes físicos y matemáticos de la época; se alimentaron de las correcciones que les hicieron sus aliados y de los errores señalados por sus detractores; sufrieron y renacieron de la mano de sus dos esposas; fueron víctimas del nazismo y su propaganda antisemita… Los momentos eureka no nacen de la nada.

Desde pequeña me he interesado por la astronomía, la cosmología, la astrofísica y luego la mecánica y física cuántica y todo descubrimiento y teoría y experimento al respecto; pero recién con este libro me he dado cuenta de que muchísimas de esas teorías han estado conectadas por un entramado geográfico, temporal y social. Los divulgadores que he leído no conectaban estas cosas y por eso, los juegos mentales de uno u otro físico eran explicados como si fuesen una hipótesis y no un contra-argumento, como es el caso del entrelazamiento cuántico o el gato de Schrödinger. Lo único que me ha permitido entender un poco las teorías que explican el universo (a nivel macro, micro y cuántico) es descubrir cómo éstas se gestaron.

Más allá de exponer el legado de Einstein, Kaku le rinde a éste un conmovedor homenaje lleno de respeto y admiración hacia el científico y el ser humano. Kaku nos muestra a un anciano Einstein que, a pesar de no haber logrado encontrar su ansiada teoría del todo, no fue como muchos periodistas de la época lo pintaron: un viejito caduco. Einstein, en su búsqueda por la teoría del todo, sentó las bases de nuevas teorías que sin las suyas, jamás hubiesen existido. Año tras año, en cada nuevo descubrimiento posible gracias a la tecnología actual como las ondas gravitacionales o los agujeros negros de otras dimensiones, el legado de Einstein desafía al espacio y el tiempo, literal y figurativamente.

Gracias, Michio Kaku.

j4mestran's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

4.0

justinm's review against another edition

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4.0

As the review says on the back of the book, "you don't need to be an Einstein to understand Einstein."

Physicist, futurist, professor, popularizer of science and bestselling author Dr Michio Kaku tells the story of Einstein's life, from the early stages, how he formed his theories, and how he changed the world. Kaku tells the reader that simple physical terms that can be understood by a child are much better than shuffling through mathematics when trying puzzle out the deepest mysteries of the universe. It was Einstein's ability to think in terms of simple physical pictures that would ultimately cause him to form his well known theories.

This is a short and easy to read biography on one of the greatest scientists the world has seen. Michio Kaku tells the story brilliantly, and his deep respect for Einstein as a scientist shines through the pages. This book will be a very enjoyable read to anyone interested in Einstein and science history in general.

iamme1353's review against another edition

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5.0

A great overview of Einstein's life, and science at the time, Kaku is able to pique my interest page after page. Einstein's Cosmos is a great overview of many subjects you may have heard before but don't know too well. It goes over general and special relativity, blackholes, the big bang, and more, while also giving great insight on a scientist with a ginormous impact on the world of science. 5/5 stars.

bbrie's review against another edition

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5.0

The first book I've read by Dr. Kaku and I loved it! I kept lots of notes and did a bit of scribbling. It's one of thsoe books that makes me want to go Google lots of stuff and I've added a few books to my to-read list as a result. Now, I'm finally ready to give 'Physics of the Impossible' a chance!

wellington299's review against another edition

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5.0

Biographies usually bore me. But Michio manages to avoid the dry academic prose and the romantic idolatry of the subject. He even manages to give a layman reader like myself a beginner’s grasp of Einstein’s theory of relativity!

The book gives me a respect for the physicists and mathematicians of the world. I was already fascinated with Einstein and was overjoyed to get a peek at his life and mind.

ocelopan's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

haramis's review against another edition

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4.0

What did I learn from this? That physics makes my head hurt. Okay, it's not quite that bad, but only being mildly mathematically-inclined, I stuck to biology and botany in school, and clearly that didn't help. In retrospect, I wish I'd been a bit braver and tried it out, so that I wasn't so at loose ends with what is clearly meant to be a book accessible to laymen. I'm so out of physics, I didn't even know that Einstein needed apologists to redefine his importance in the field of modern physics. Oops. Also, everything I know about string theory, I learned from Noein. I honestly think I would have to read this book a second time to absorb what I didn't get the first time through. Obviously all the parts that were the history of Einstein's life were straightforward enough, but I was a bit at a loss for other bits.

paigechu's review against another edition

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4.0

Come for the science, stay for the story.

paladinboy's review against another edition

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5.0

Unless you are a physicist and work with this material every day this is a fascinating book. It outlines generally Einstein's theories and places them in historical context with great anecdotes as well as major world events. The balance of history and science is excellent and engaging. I lsitened to this on Audible and the reader was quite good.