About the Author

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography; and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson 'Isaacson's biography is readable and highly professional, based on extensive research and thorough checking by expert physicists and historians. Anyone coming to Einstein's life and work for the first time will be accurately informed and intellectually stimulated...A memorable conclusion: "For some people, miracles serve as evidence of God's existence. For Einstein it was the absence of miracles that reflected divine providence. The fact that the world is comprehensible, that it follows laws, is worthy of awe." This is as pithy as Einstein himself' Andrew Robinson, New Scientist 14/4 'What captures the public attention will be the biographer's revelation that Einstein fathered a daughter, Lieserl, before he married his fellow mathematician, Mileva Mari, and that the child mysteriously disappears from the record' Lisa Jardine, The Times 28/4 '[A] brilliant biography, rich with newly available archival material' Literary Review, June issue 'Beautifully written, it renders the physics understandable... Einstein was one of the creators of the modern world, and anyone that does not possess a biography of him should acquire this one' Sunday Telegraph 3/6 'With prodigious effort and businesslike calm, Isaacson has given us much more than Einstein the magus, he has given us Einstein the mensch' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times 3/6 'Isaacson is excellent at explaining the science... But moments later the reality of the understanding has slipped away and one's sense of amazement returns. This is because Einstein is analyzing a world beyond the direct perception of our senses' Daily Express 8/6 'YOU REALLY MUST READ... Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson: a highly readable, dramatic and revelatory biography' Sunday Times 10/6 'This book is popular science, biography, history and dramatic writing at its very best' 5 stars, London Lite 12/6 'A thorough exploration of his subject's life, a skilful piece of scientific literature and a thumping good read...It's one of the greatest stories of modern science and to his credit and my surprise, Isaacson has done a first-rate job in telling it. This is, quite simply, a riveting read' Robin McKie, Observer 10/6 'This book is a splendid achievement' Daily Telegraph 23/7 '[Isaacson] has written a great book, one that provides everything one would want from a biography of Einstein' The Spectator 30/6 'YOU REALLY MUST READ... a highly readable, dramatic and revelatory biography' Sunday Times 17/6 'A readable, dramatic and revelatory life, based on a mass of new letters' Sunday Times 1/7 'The popular Einstein story is impossible to resist. A young man fails his mathematics exams yet becomes the world's greatest scientist. He works in obscurity. When he publishes his great papers, he's ignored. Despite all this -- and his autism -- he triumphs. But he does so only with the help of his wife, a key source of his ideas. It turns out that none of that is true. The reality, however, is even better' FT 4/8 'This book reads very much like a labour of love... While Einstein may have changed from scientific revolutionary to reactionary during his career, his life remained fascinating and complex to the end, and this book does him justice' Independent on Sunday 12/08 'In the end, Einstein left his mark on the world because he always had the courage to stand up to conventional wisdom and was never afraid to ask seemingly naive questions, most of which began with the words "what if?". This tendency to rebel was the source of his creativity and his real talent was an ability to focus on mundane things that his contemporaries had overlooked. He has always deserved a biography that radiates intelligence, wit and eloquence - and now, thanks to Walter Isaacson, he finally has one' Sunday Business Post (Ireland) 5/8 'His sympathetic biography of "science's pre-eminent poster boy" can justifiably claim to be more comprehensive than any before. 'Isaacson still manages to explain Einstein's revolutionary thinking with infectious enthusiasm, but it is the man behind the science who is now brought into sharper focus' Guardian 25/8 'Walter Isaacson's achievement is to take us beyond the myth of the huge brain. Through an artful mix of biography and lucid illumination of the most mind-blowing theoretical leaps in science, he makes the case that Einstein's genius depended not on 'brute processing power', but imagination, independence, creativity and passion' 5 stars, Mail on Sunday 2/9 'It is the portrayal of [Einstein's] weaknesses and foibles that makes this book and Albert himself such a delight. He might have been able to understand quantum theory and imagine the universe as a series of equations that swept through existence like a wave, but people! He was just like the rest of us. His private life as a lover, husband and father shows many faults and mistakes. The book is a glorious attempt to showing a towering genius in human terms' Venue 28/9 'A compelling biography of the little scientist who never wore socks and who changed the way we see the world. Isaacson elegantly and fluently interweaves Einstein's interestingly chaotic personal life with confidently lengthy accounts of the work' Favourite Biographies of 2007, Sunday Times 25/11 'A wealth of information about a complex and divided character. Einstein said his public acclaim made him feel a fraud, but he was an adept manipulator of his own image; when it was rumoured that he was too absent-minded to remember his socks in the morning, he stopped wearing them so as not to disappoint anyone' Tim Martin, Biographies of the Year Daily Telegraph 24/11 EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson - 9781847370488 'In the end, Einstein left his mark on the world because he always had the courage to stand up to conventional wisdom and was never afraid to ask seemingly naive questions, most of which began with the words "what if?". This tendency to rebel was the source of his creativity and his real talent was an ability to focus on mundane things that his contemporaries had overlooked. He has always deserved a biography that radiates intelligence, wit and eloquence - and now, thanks to Walter Isaacson, he finally has one' Sunday Business Post (Ireland) 5/8 "Albert comes vividly to life and so do his space-warping, mind-bending theories. Isaacson uses personal letters that have only recently become available and it turns out he was as passionate about the female of our species as he was about the rest of the universe" Alan Alda, Hawkeye and Science buff, The Times 8/11

"Walter Isaacson has captured the complete Einstein. With an effortless style that belies a sharp attention to detail and scientific accuracy, Isaacson takes us on a soaring journey through the life, mind, and science of the man who changed our view of the universe." -- Brian Greene, Professor of Physics at Columbia and author of "The Fabric of the Cosmos"
"This book does an amazing job getting the science right and the man revealed." -- Sylvester James Gates, Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland
"This book will be widely and deservedly admired. It is excellently readable and combines the personal and the scientific aspects of Einstein's life in a graceful way." -- Gerald Holton, Professor of Physics at Harvard and author of "Einstein, History, and Other Passions"
"Once again Walter Isaacson has produced a most valuable biography of a great man about whom much has already been written. It helps that he has had access to important new material. He met the challenge of dealing with his subject as a human being and describing profound ideas in physics. His biography is a pleasure to read and makes the great physicist come alive." -- Murray Gell-Mann, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics and author of "The Quark and the Jaguar"
"With unmatched narrative skill, Isaacson has managed the extraordinary feat of preserving Einstein's monumental stature while at the same time bringing him to such vivid life that we come to feel as if he could be walking in our midst. This is a terrific work." -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln"
"Isaacson's treatment of Einstein's scientific work is excellent: accurate, complete, and just the right level of detail for the general reader. Taking advantage of the wealth of recently uncovered historical material, he has produced the most readable biography of Einstein yet." -- A. Douglas Stone, Professor of Physics at Yale
"I found so much to admire; there are many places where I just had to cheer what Isaacson had written." -- Dudley Herschbach, Professor of Science at Harvard
"Isaacson has written a crisp, engaging, and refreshing biography, one that beautifully masters the historical literature and offers many new insights into Einstein's work and life." -- Diana Kormos Buchwald, General Editor of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein
"Isaacson has admirably succeeded in weaving together the complex threads of Einstein's personal and scientific life to paint a superb portrait." -- Arthur I. Miller, author of "Einstein, Picasso"
"This is a brilliant intellectual tapestry -- and a great read. Skillfully weaving Einstein's revolutionary scientific achievements, his prolific political initiatives, his complex personal life, and his fascinating personality, Isaacson has transformed the transformer of the twentieth century into a beacon for the twenty-first century." -- Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor of "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer", winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography

Herrmann's reading offers solid, enjoyable and informative listening. Herrmann knows when his material is strong and does not try to compete with it. Instead, he delivers a straightforward yet endearing portrait of arguably the best mind of the last century. Herrmann keeps the text purely narrative, refraining from affecting a German accent when quoting Einstein and others, with the occasional accent appropriately slipping in only when pronouncing foreign words. In this, the first full biography based on Einstein's newly released personal letters, Isaacson takes care to keep the great mind's discoveries and theories comprehensible. Einstein, whose internally visualized "thought experiments" often led to his groundbreaking observations (at 16 he imagined chasing a light beam until he caught up to it), expressed these images with simplicity and elegance. Einstein's rebellious personality as well as the internal workings of his brilliant mind are brought vividly to life thanks to Herrmann's perfect reading, which is filled with warmth and accuracy. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 12). (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.