Reviews

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

arisphere's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

srycrli's review

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

theknick's review

3.0

Pretty good. Obviously not massively engaging since it took me so long to finish it. I enjoyed it when I did read it but had trouble picking it back up. The last quarter or seemed a little light for some reason. Might have just been me, or the fact that the last bit of his life was actually pretty quiet...

whiteknight247's review

4.0

I'm amazed by Isaacson's breadth of writing and research. He's able to bring to light the variety and depth of relationships that were fundamental parts of Einstein's life while also having such a thorough understanding of the science to be able to explain the complexity simply. I enjoyed understanding more about the world Einstein grew up in, the academic and political conditions at the time, and the power of the friendships and relationships that existed within his life. Each of these supported his pursuit of knowledge and contributed to the amazing expansion of humanity's understanding of physics and the universe.

bfeld's review against another edition

5.0

Einstein is one of my heroic figures and Walter Isaacson just nails it. If you are an Einstein fan or just want to really learn the full story, this is the book for you.

worldofjoel's review

3.0

Having never taken a physics class a lot of the theory and life's work of Albert Einstein went over my head. In fact a lot of this book did. What I will say though that Walter Isaacson did an incredible job of bringing the whole life personal/professional into a nice clean package.

There are some real dry spells in this biography, in fact I would go as far as to say that the abridged version might have been a better idea for me. However if you are at all fascinated by the Einstein and want to learn what made him tick this is a great book for you.

bcohen13's review against another edition

5.0

What can you say? A thorough, entertaining journey through the life of the world’s most famous scientist. The revelation of how his mind worked and reached his scientific conclusions was fascinating, even if the theories themselves are still a little hard to grasp. His personality and enjoyment in observing life comes through.

nenenest's review against another edition

1.0

Abandoned on page 116 of 550. It was just dull and a bit repetitive.

iva33's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I learned more about world politics in this book than I have throughout my life. Beautiful book. The pace changes as Einstein's life progresses, which is frustrating sometimes but it is his life, and that was his life. 

the_only_leslie's review

4.0

I powered through this one. First really thick book in a while. It's inclusion of science and thought exercises was great, but I would have liked more passages from Einstein himself. I was repeatedly told he told funny quips and stories, but it was not shown to me.

This review is dedicated to Linda