**By the author of the acclaimed bestseller *Benjamin Franklin*, this is the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available.**

How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson's biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.

Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk -- a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate -- became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals.

These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.

### Amazon.com Review

As a scientist, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Albert Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint, and what we know of him as a husband, father, and friend is fragmentary at best. With *Einstein: His Life and Universe*, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling biographies *Benjamin Franklin* and *Kissinger*) brings Einstein's experience of life, love, and intellectual discovery into brilliant focus. The book is the first biography to tackle Einstein's enormous volume of personal correspondence that heretofore had been sealed from the public, and it's hard to imagine another book that could do such a richly textured and complicated life as Einstein's the same thoughtful justice. Isaacson is a master of the form and this latest opus is at once arresting and wonderfully revelatory. *--Anne Bartholomew*

**Read "The Light-Beam Rider," the first chapter of Walter Isaacson's *Einstein: His Life and Universe*.**

* * *

**Five Questions for Walter Isaacson**

**Amazon.com:** What kind of scientific education did you have to give yourself to be able to understand and explain Einstein's ideas?

**Isaacson:** I've always loved science, and I had a group of great physicists--such as Brian Greene, Lawrence Krauss, and Murray Gell-Mann--who tutored me, helped me learn the physics, and checked various versions of my book. I also learned the tensor calculus underlying general relativity, but tried to avoid spending too much time on it in the book. I wanted to capture the imaginative beauty of Einstein's scientific leaps, but I hope folks who want to delve more deeply into the science will read Einstein books by such scientists as Abraham Pais, Jeremy Bernstein, Brian Greene, and others.

**Amazon.com:** That Einstein was a clerk in the Swiss Patent Office when he revolutionized our understanding of the physical world has often been treated as ironic or even absurd. But you argue that in many ways his time there fostered his discoveries. Could you explain?

**Isaacson:** I think he was lucky to be at the patent office rather than serving as an acolyte in the academy trying to please senior professors and teach the conventional wisdom. As a patent examiner, he got to visualize the physical realities underlying scientific concepts. He had a boss who told him to question every premise and assumption. And as Peter Galison shows in *Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps*, many of the patent applications involved synchronizing clocks using signals that traveled at the speed of light. So with his office-mate Michele Besso as a sounding board, he was primed to make the leap to special relativity.

**Amazon.com:** That time in the patent office makes him sound far more like a practical scientist and tinkerer than the usual image of the wild-haired professor, and more like your previous biographical subject, the multitalented but eminently earthly Benjamin Franklin. Did you see connections between them?

**Isaacson:** I like writing about creativity, and that's what Franklin and Einstein shared. They also had great curiosity and imagination. But Franklin was a more practical man who was not very theoretical, and Einstein was the opposite in that regard.

**Amazon.com:** Of the many legends that have accumulated around Einstein, what did you find to be least true? Most true?

**Isaacson:** The least true legend is that he failed math as a schoolboy. He was actually great in math, because he could visualize equations. He knew they were nature's brushstrokes for painting her wonders. For example, he could look at Maxwell's equations and marvel at what it would be like to ride alongside a light wave, and he could look at Max Planck's equations about radiation and realize that Planck's constant meant that light was a particle as well as a wave. The most true legend is how rebellious and defiant of authority he was. You see it in his politics, his personal life, and his science.

**Amazon.com:** At *Time* and CNN and the Aspen Institute, you've worked with many of the leading thinkers and leaders of the day. Now that you've had the chance to get to know Einstein so well, did he remind you of anyone from our day who shares at least some of his remarkable qualities?

**Isaacson:** There are many creative scientists, most notably Stephen Hawking, who wrote the essay on Einstein as "Person of the Century" when I was editor of *Time*. In the world of technology, Steve Jobs has the same creative imagination and ability to think differently that distinguished Einstein, and Bill Gates has the same intellectual intensity. I wish I knew politicians who had the creativity and human instincts of Einstein, or for that matter the wise feel for our common values of Benjamin Franklin.

* * *

**More to Explore**

*Benjamin Franklin: An American Life*

*Kissinger: A Biography* **

**The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made* ***

* * *

### **From Publishers Weekly**

**Acclaimed biographer Isaacson examines the remarkable life of "science's preeminent poster boy" in this lucid account (after 2003's *Benjamin Franklin* and 1992's *Kissinger*). Contrary to popular myth, the German-Jewish schoolboy Albert Einstein not only excelled in math, he mastered calculus before he was 15. Young Albert's dislike for rote learning, however, led him to compare his teachers to "drill sergeants." That antipathy was symptomatic of Einstein's love of individual and intellectual freedom, beliefs the author revisits as he relates his subject's life and work in the context of world and political events that shaped both, from WWI and II and their aftermath through the Cold War. Isaacson presents Einstein's research—his efforts to understand space and time, resulting in four extraordinary papers in 1905 that introduced the world to special relativity, and his later work on unified field theory—without equations and for the general reader. Isaacson focuses more on Einstein the man: charismatic and passionate, often careless about personal affairs; outspoken and unapologetic about his belief that no one should have to give up personal freedoms to support a state. Fifty years after his death, Isaacson reminds us why Einstein (1879–1955) remains one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century. *500,000 firsr printing, 20-city author tour, first serial to *Time*; confirmed appearance on *Good Morning America*. (Apr.)*

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. **

In his bestselling , Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang brilliantly debunked many of the predominant myths of neoclassical economics. Now, in an entertaining and accessible primer, he explains how the global economy actually works—in real-world terms. Writing with irreverent wit, a deep knowledge of history, and a disregard for conventional economic pieties, Chang offers insights that will never be found in the textbooks.

Unlike many economists, who present only one view of their discipline, Chang introduces a wide range of economic theories, from classical to Keynesian, revealing how each has its strengths and weaknesses, and why  there is no one way to explain economic behavior. Instead, by ignoring the received wisdom and exposing the myriad forces that shape our financial world, Chang gives us the tools we need to understand our increasingly global and interconnected world often driven by economics. From the future of the Euro, inequality in China, or the condition of the American manufacturing industry here in the United States— is a concise and expertly crafted guide to economic fundamentals that offers a clear and accurate picture of the global economy and how and why it affects our daily lives.

Printemps 1951, deux espions de la CIA épient une rencontre de la plus haute importance entre David Ben Gourion, « premier » Premier Ministre de l'État d'Israël, et Albert Einstein. L'objet de leur discussion : l'obtention de l'arme nucléaire par le jeune état juif et l'existence de Dieu. Cinquante ans plus tard, Tomas Noronha, expert en cryptologie, est appelé au Caire par une mystérieuse jeune femme. Sa mission : déchiffrer un cryptogramme caché dans un document détenu par le gouvernement de Téhéran. Un manuscrit écrit de la main d'Albert Einstein dont le contenu pourrait bousculer l'ordre mondial. Tomas Noronha devient alors un agent double censé collaborer avec les Iraniens pour informer l'Occident. Mais au cours de son enquête, il découvre que le fameux manuscrit contient beaucoup plus de choses que ne l'espéraient ses différents commanditaires. Il serait tout simplement la preuve scientifique de l'existence de Dieu.

« Le Caire, de nos jours. Le cryptologue portugais Tomás Noronha se voit confier le décryptage d’un manuscrit original. Son nom ? . Son auteur ? Albert Einstein lui-même. L’enjeu ? Le mode d’emploi d’une bombe nucléaire surpuissante. Précipité malgré lui au cœur d’une affaire d’espionnage international, Noronha plonge dans les secrets de l’atome… et dans un mystère bien plus grand encore.. »

"The Transmissibility of Pellagra: Experimental Attempts at Transmission to the Human Subject" is an article from [Public Health Reports (1896-1970), Volume 31](/search.php?query=collection%3Ajstor_publhealrepo1896%20AND%20volume%3A31).

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Essays by space scientists and engineers teamed with a collection of tales by an all-star assortment of award winning authors all taking on new methods of star travel.Some humans may be content staying in one place, but many of us are curious about what's beyond the next village, the next ocean, the next horizon. Are there others like us out there? How will we reach them? Others are concerned with the survival of the species. It may be that we have to get out of Dodge before the lights go out on Earth. How can we accomplish this?Wonderful questions. Now get ready for some answers. Here is the science behind interstellar propulsion: reports from top tier scientists and engineers on starflight propulsion techniques that use only means and methods that we currently know are scientifically possible. Here are in-depth essays on antimatter containment, solar sails, and fusion propulsion. And the human consequences? Here is speculation by a magnificent array of award-winning SF writers on what an interstellar voyage might look like, might feel like - might be like. It's an all-star cast abounding with Hugo and Nebula award winners: Ben Bova, Mike Resnick, Jack McDevitt, Michael Bishop, Sarah Hoyt and more.

C’est en dirigeant un laboratoire du CNRS consacré aux mots et aux dictionnaires que Jean Pruvost a contracté une dicopathie incurable. Chaque foyer possède au moins un exemplaire de ce condensé d’érudition, inlassablement mis à jour par l’usage et codifié par l’Académie. Ivre des mots, ce dicolâtre vit, lui, entouré de 10 000 dictionnaires.

Créateur d’une qui réunit depuis vingt ans des linguistes du monde entier, il se livre à un passionnant effeuillage de l’objet de toutes ses convoitises dont il goûte jusqu’à l’odeur… On découvre l’histoire passionnante de ce best-seller méconnu et mille anecdotes. Comment, au XIX siècle, la « fesse » a-t-elle été jugée si indigne qu’elle a disparu de certaines éditions ? Pourquoi trouvait-on la définition d’« un » automobile ou d’« une » cyclone avant que Littré ne change d’avis pour ce dernier mot ? Le « sexe féminin », « sexe imbécile » selon Furetière, n’y était guère mieux traité que l’« étudiante », cette « jeune fille de condition modeste et de mœurs légères ». Et que dire de ce collégien qui a rageusement biffé la mention des 30 000 mots annoncée sur la page de garde de son dictionnaire pour les remplacer par 28 943, selon son décompte ?

De Furetière et Vaugelas au  en passant par le , la saga des  ou le , Jean Pruvost nous fait partager son addiction pour les mots de la langue française, leur histoire et leurs secrets.

Jouer avec les mots pour qu’ils ne se jouent pas de nous. Éclairer les obscurités, lever les couvercles qui font de nos expressions favorites des trésors cachés.

Voilà ce qu’une équipe d’amoureux du langage, animée par a imaginé pour nous permettre d’ et faire que nous cessions de Quand on se lève on peut reconnaître le minet, mais certes pas le potron. Si les choses se produisent qu’es aco, ce

La langue française est une richesse, mais c’est aussi une boîte à malice. Déjouer cette malice, ce n’est pas trahir notre langage, c’est l’enrichir, et c’est nous faire plaisir. , par les temps qui courent, ce n’est déjà pas si mal. Et quand quelques-unes de ces expressions sont pimentées par , virtuose du jeu de mots, c’est encore plus savoureux !

Тваё падарожжа па найбольш яркіх адметнасцях беларускага краю працягваецца. З кожным новым дакрананнем да пульсуючага нерва гісторыі ты адчуваеш, якое багатае, напружанае і разнастайнае жыццё кіпела некалі на нашай зямлі. Як дбайна і гаспадарліва імкнуліся ўладкаваць яе нашы продкі. І як беражліва захоўваюць плён іхняй працы і шчыравання сённяшнія беларусы. Вось так ад пакалення да пакалення і прадзецца пуцяводная нітка Арыядны. А прадзіва гэтага хопіць і табе. Бо гістарычная пераемнасць і непарыўнасць з’яўляюцца залогам новых плённых дзён для роднай Беларусі.

Гэтым разам табе прапануецца праз чароўныя акуляры часу зазірнуць за больш чым двухмільённагадовую намітку гісторыі. Пазнаёміцца з выбітнымі і неардынарнымі постацямі, якіх нарадзіла беларуская зямля. Падзівіцца на захаваныя часам і людской дбайнасцю архітэктурныя помнікі, што сведчаць аб высокім майстэрстве беларускіх дойлідаў. Удыхнуць жыццядайны водар малельных храмаў, атуленых спагадлівасцю і спрыяннем цудатворных абразоў. Адчуць цяпло рук і сэрцабіццё перапісчыкаў кніг. Зрабіць падарожжа ў прасторы і часе, пабываць там, куды завяла беларусаў спрадвечная рупнасць, цікаўнасць і неабыякавасць.

Старонкі кнігі пазнаёмяць цябе з самай старажытнай рукапіснай кнігай – Тураўскім Евангеллем, з нечаканай і нязвыклай для манастыра гістарычнай і мастацкай знаходкай – Аршанскай кальчугай-байданай. Ты даведаешся, што марская гісторыя Беларусі звязана не толькі з легендарным Морам Герадота. Была яшчэ і рэальная Крычаўская суднаверф, дзе будавалі караблі для расійскага флоту. Постаці першага дыпламата з беларускай зямлі Іосіфа Гашкевіча, які сваім талентам скарыў непрыступную для чужаземцаў Японію, і апантанага даследчыка казахстанскіх стэпаў, прататыпа аднаго з герояў паэмы Адама Міцкевіча “Дзяды” Адольфа Янушкевіча выведуць цябе далёка за межы Беларусі. Ты даведаешся, чаму нашы продкі будавалі храмы як цытадэлі, калі зірнеш на архітэктурны воблік Маламажэйкаўскай царквы-крэпасці. Разам з першанасельнікамі беларускай зямлі можаш адчуць усю небяспеку палявання на дагістарычных мамантаў.

Ты гатовы? Тады – посах у рукі і наперад па дарогах і сцежках у займальнае падарожжа па родным краі. А з сабой захапі і гэтую кніжку. Яна паспрыяе табе быць больш дасведчаным і вопытным падарожнікам. Можаш браць яе разам з іншымі кнігамі серыі “Сем цудаў Беларусі” і на школьныя ўрокі. Глыбокія веды і выдатныя ацэнкі будуць справядлівай кампенсацыяй за тваю няўрымслівасць і цікаўнасць.

У роки Великої Вітчизняної війни гітлерівські загарбники, здійснюючи політику розорення і пограбування тимчасово окупованих ними районів, вивезли з Радянського Союзу величезну кількість матеріальних цінностей, в тому числі творів мистецтва.

Серед украдених фашистами унікумів була й знаменита янтарна кімната Катерининського палацу-музею у місті Пушкіно під Ленінградом.

Незабаром після закінчення війни стало відомо, що деталі оздоблення янтарної кімнати разом з іншими музейними експонатами за розпорядженням одного з найближчих поплічників Гітлера гауляйтера Еріха Коха відправлено до міста Кенігсберга (нині Калінінград). У перші післявоєнні роки було створено комісію по розшуках скарбів, украдених гітлерівцями. Комісія провела велику роботу, метою якої було повернення радянському народові його добра. Розшуки янтарної кімнати тривають і досі.

Влітку 1958 року обласна газета «Калининградская правда» надрукувала серію статей, в яких розповідалося про янтарну кімнату, її викрадення і розшуки. Потім побачив світ окремою брошурою нарис В. Дмитрієва «Дело о янтарной комнате» (Калінінградське книжкове видавництво, 1960 р). Ці матеріали знайшли широкий відгук серед читачів. До редакції газети, до видавництва, а також на адресу партійних і радянських органів Калінінграда надійшло і ще надходить багато листів. В них трудящі запитують про те, що являла собою янтарна кімната, просять докладніше розповісти про все, що пов'язано з нею, виявляють бажання допомогти в розшуках її.

Прагнучи відповісти на ці запитання, автори пропонують до уваги читачів повість «Таємниця янтарної кімнати».

Книга побудована на документальній основі. Автори її, учасники розшуків янтарної кімнати, використали численні архівні і музейні документи, в яких описується викрадений скарб і подається його історія, довідкові та монографічні матеріали з історії Кенігсберга, а також матеріали комісії по розшуках янтарної кімнати.

Користуючись нагодою, автори висловлюють глибоку подяку товаришам, які подали допомогу у збиранні матеріалів до книги. Особливо вдячні вони професорові Берлінського університету докторові Гергардту Штраусу (НДР), товаришеві Карлу-Хайнцу Вегнеру — головному редакторові журналу «Фрайє Вельт» («Вільний світ»), що його видає Товариство німецько-радянської дружби, а також завідуючій науковим відділом палацу-музею у м. Пушкіно Є. С. Гладковій.