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bcbogan04's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
smalefowles's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I was initially put off by the fact that it's so similar to Invisible Cities, a book that I love. But why wouldn't I love a book that's similar to a book that I love??
trin's review against another edition
3.0
A series of short, fantastical essays about the nature of time, looped together with a framing device that suggests that these are the dreams Einstein had while he was working on the Theory of Relativity. The various interpretations of time are very cool—and will not be entirely unfamiliar to you if you read/watch as much silly sci-fi as I do—but this is not a novel. I know I am being Senorita Crankypants here, but it’s just not. Nifty, yes. A novel, no. I’m not sure whose editorial decision it was to brand this “EINSTEIN’S DREAMS: A NOVEL,” but to them I say, “In what alternate universe?” Ha!
This mature analysis of a work of theoretical physics is brought to you by too much caffeine and my worthless English degree.
This mature analysis of a work of theoretical physics is brought to you by too much caffeine and my worthless English degree.
dreaming_ace's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful exploration of various theories of time. Each story feels like a poem.
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
In this world, there is no difference between reading experience and real life experience. And so those who can read live many lives – and they chose all but one of their lives, the places of their birth, their parents everything. Since you are being given chance to live many customized lives, everyone is up and reading. In this world, people live to read and read to live. Everyone keeps a diary - an old player need only pick his diary to relive his moment of glory. Cherished moments are always relived, not remembered but relived, by slipping back a few pages. One’s past is but one of many, can’t be told from fictional ones and so hardly weighs on present whereas present and future are always full of opportunities.
And people are not scarred of feeling for others –feeling pain and suffering of slaves of another century and country or that of a medieval woman shouting uselessly to crowds that she is not a witch. In this world, people are prepared to suffer all this, even want to; knowing that they can retreat anytime they wish; just pick another book and go spend their times in Hogwarts, go in quest for the one ring that rules them all, or down the rabbit hole with Alice. Another change of books and now they are commending Sherlock for his genius with Watson or some imaginary author with Borges.
In a world that knows no difference between real and book lives, reality is irrelevant, at most a mere intellectual curiosity for university geeks; for others – both Adams and tie-wearing-dinosaurs are true. The old need not worry about their age or death since they can pick up wizard of Oz and become young again.
There is no oppression or prejudice here – for every man has sighed with Bovary at her social chains, every Christian has found himself wishing for death in Auschwitz, every white man has changed into darker skins and every child has wept in pain of the mother in Anderson’s story and has felt shock of a cheated father with Lear. Everyone knows along with Humsun what it feels to be hungry for days – and so, it is made sure that no one dies of hunger. And having suffered with Oliver Twist, newly wed couples are all seen fighting with each-other as to who gets to adopt the new orphan kid.
In this world, when two friends get together after years, they can hardly bother themselves with gossiping about others – since they want to discover the books they both might have lived and talk about their experience thereof or recommend each other on others.
In this world; study table is preferred over crown and, people look forward to the evening adventurers, yearning for colorful dreams that are hidden in that black ink spread on white paper and they hate parting from these dreamswhen they finally fell dozing off on their books.
And people are not scarred of feeling for others –feeling pain and suffering of slaves of another century and country or that of a medieval woman shouting uselessly to crowds that she is not a witch. In this world, people are prepared to suffer all this, even want to; knowing that they can retreat anytime they wish; just pick another book and go spend their times in Hogwarts, go in quest for the one ring that rules them all, or down the rabbit hole with Alice. Another change of books and now they are commending Sherlock for his genius with Watson or some imaginary author with Borges.
In a world that knows no difference between real and book lives, reality is irrelevant, at most a mere intellectual curiosity for university geeks; for others – both Adams and tie-wearing-dinosaurs are true. The old need not worry about their age or death since they can pick up wizard of Oz and become young again.
There is no oppression or prejudice here – for every man has sighed with Bovary at her social chains, every Christian has found himself wishing for death in Auschwitz, every white man has changed into darker skins and every child has wept in pain of the mother in Anderson’s story and has felt shock of a cheated father with Lear. Everyone knows along with Humsun what it feels to be hungry for days – and so, it is made sure that no one dies of hunger. And having suffered with Oliver Twist, newly wed couples are all seen fighting with each-other as to who gets to adopt the new orphan kid.
In this world, when two friends get together after years, they can hardly bother themselves with gossiping about others – since they want to discover the books they both might have lived and talk about their experience thereof or recommend each other on others.
In this world; study table is preferred over crown and, people look forward to the evening adventurers, yearning for colorful dreams that are hidden in that black ink spread on white paper and they hate parting from these dreamswhen they finally fell dozing off on their books.
thechanelmuse's review against another edition
5.0
"In a world of fixed future, life is an infinite corridor of rooms, one room lit at each moment, the next room dark but prepared. We walk from room to room, look into the room that is lit, the present moment, then walk on. We do not know the rooms ahead, but we know we cannot change them. We are spectators of our lives."
Einstein's Dreams is unlike any other book I've ever read. It seamlessly blurs the lines between prose and poetry, taking the reader through a series of enchanting, thought-provoking, mind-bending vignettes in the slumbering brain of a young patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, whom the world would know as Einstein, surveying the mysterious nature of time and its possibilities in thirty different, kaleidoscopic life sequences while working on his Special Theory of Relativity paper in 1905. His annus mirabilis (miraculous year).
The book is also comprised of a prelude and epilogue that feels like an onlooker observing Einstein's process of thought to completion in the real world, as well as three interludes of Einstein in brief conversations with his friend, Michele Besso, during his waking moments that are nested in between the dreamworld chapters.
Alan Lightman has some serious pen game.
Einstein's Dreams is unlike any other book I've ever read. It seamlessly blurs the lines between prose and poetry, taking the reader through a series of enchanting, thought-provoking, mind-bending vignettes in the slumbering brain of a young patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, whom the world would know as Einstein, surveying the mysterious nature of time and its possibilities in thirty different, kaleidoscopic life sequences while working on his Special Theory of Relativity paper in 1905. His annus mirabilis (miraculous year).
The book is also comprised of a prelude and epilogue that feels like an onlooker observing Einstein's process of thought to completion in the real world, as well as three interludes of Einstein in brief conversations with his friend, Michele Besso, during his waking moments that are nested in between the dreamworld chapters.
Alan Lightman has some serious pen game.
cunningba's review against another edition
2.0
Mostly pretentious mystification. A series of vignettes exploring different visions of time. Almost none of them seem related to any scientific conception of time of any sort. Only a few seem related to any psychological perception of time. If not for those few glimmers I rate it as 1 star.
The crude framing story of a fictionalized Einstein seems there simply to exploit his name and fame and provide a turn of the century Swiss backdrop for the vignettes.
I think the author wanted to dazzle me with taurine ordure. I was not dazzled.
The crude framing story of a fictionalized Einstein seems there simply to exploit his name and fame and provide a turn of the century Swiss backdrop for the vignettes.
I think the author wanted to dazzle me with taurine ordure. I was not dazzled.
juniper77's review against another edition
DNF. Could find time for it: more of a bite-sized than binge-read book. Also it felt pretentious and did not generate any insights. I bet the author felt so smart coming up with this premise.
missyjohnson's review against another edition
4.0
What interesting "dreams". Each one individually could the be the starting point for a long evening of discussion with friends. The pictures painted by Alan Lightman with his sentences were lovely. Quick read that will stay with me for a long time. Lots to think about