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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I'd been wanting to read his Why Socialism essay for a long time. I wanted to see the take of a man who was famous for being a symbol of genius on socialism and other issues of his day. As opposed to the often impenetrable ideas of relativity and quantum mechanics, I was pleasantly surprised by his easily accessible opinions and ideas on social issues. Most of the writing was concise and highlighted a fair number of big and pressing issues of his era. I'm glad I finally picked it up. Like other reviewers, I chose to skip most of the science pieces of 150 pages which I might return to if I ever end up teaching science again.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Mostly did it, but finally got fatigued. Brilliant ideas nonetheless, got insight into the mind of the man
I disagree with some of his opinions but it was still a wonderful read to get to know more about his ideas and his vision. The 3rd chapter was hard to keep up with in many instances.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Albert Einstein is a fascinating man, but I could not get into the book. It flowed well, but I did not find it overly engaging. Maybe I'm not a huge Einstein fan or maybe it was the translation (I assume most of these were originally in German and not English) or perhaps it would be better for me to hear him speak instead of reading his words. Perhaps Einstein for me is a man who I could talk with at a bar over a beer, but not read. Fans of Einstein should still try to check it out.
Unless one finds Einstein's ideas interesting regardless of subject matter and simply because of the place the man holds in Western history, this could be an intriguing collection. Similarly, if one has the combination of smarts and education that makes reading the scientific sections feasible, one might get more out of this book than I did. As it stands, I found the collection to be too erratic and in need of editing--was anything *not* chosen from Einstein's lifetime of writings? I skipped over some parts and skimmed even more. Occasionally I was intrigued, particularly when it came to topics like peace and politics. And, it's interesting to think about how Einstein's opinions on things like nuclear power, the state of Israel, and militarization would be different (or not) right now. I found meaningful quotes here and there, couched in a lot of writing that I doubt I'll remember (not to mention a lot of misogyny and some hints of paternalism toward non-Europeans/white Americans), so I might keep the book in case I want to call on those excerpts again. But, would I recommend the text as a whole? No.