A review by grete_rachel_howland
Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein

2.0

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.