A biography can be judged based on a number of criterion. Balance, readability, comprehensiveness are all worthy candidates. But more importantly, we should ask whether it brings the spirit of its subject out. Walter Isaacson's Einstein succeeds triumphantly on all counts, especially the last one.
As one would expect, the book has readable introductory accounts of Einstein's science, but instead of going into too much detail, Isaacson focuses on the principles that guided Einstein's work. Einstein's life is presented in extensive detail, as an unknown patent clerk in Bern, as the biggest superstar of science after General Relativity, as an ardent pacifist who changed his mind when Nazis came to power (a good scientist abandons a theory when it no longer fits the facts), as guard of Realism in science which he found threatened by the rise of Quantum Mechanics which he himself had pioneered, and as a seeker of Unification, of forces of nature in a unified field theory and of nations in a world government, both quests which proved unsuccessful. Einstein had his flaws, but that is why you will feel even more kinship with his spirit. We get to witness the journey of a man through the maze of life, constantly amused at its strange turns both good and bad, trying to do as much good as he can and finding solace in his work to rise above the 'merely personal', and all this without losing his curiosity or sense of humour. Without qualification, a great portrayal of a great life.
As one would expect, the book has readable introductory accounts of Einstein's science, but instead of going into too much detail, Isaacson focuses on the principles that guided Einstein's work. Einstein's life is presented in extensive detail, as an unknown patent clerk in Bern, as the biggest superstar of science after General Relativity, as an ardent pacifist who changed his mind when Nazis came to power (a good scientist abandons a theory when it no longer fits the facts), as guard of Realism in science which he found threatened by the rise of Quantum Mechanics which he himself had pioneered, and as a seeker of Unification, of forces of nature in a unified field theory and of nations in a world government, both quests which proved unsuccessful. Einstein had his flaws, but that is why you will feel even more kinship with his spirit. We get to witness the journey of a man through the maze of life, constantly amused at its strange turns both good and bad, trying to do as much good as he can and finding solace in his work to rise above the 'merely personal', and all this without losing his curiosity or sense of humour. Without qualification, a great portrayal of a great life.
