Einstein

His Life and Universe

By: Walter Isaacson

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 21 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Biography/Memoir

How did Einstein's 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 the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson 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.

It's all relative: listen to more about Albert Einstein.

©2007 Walter Isaacson. All rights reserved (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Biography/Memoir, 2008

"[A] lucid account." (Publishers Weekly)
"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)
"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)

Loved it!

The reader was good, the story was good, and eventhough it got a bit technical about the covariance issues in the tensors einstein was using and this might annoy the layman, it didn't detract from the overall experience. And the mathematically literate will not be too offended by the authors obvious unfamiliarity with said issues. It was a bit funny too.

Very entertaining story about a great man

Where does Einstein rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoy the spy type story. So for me to enjoy this speak volumes. It was nice to hear about his struggles and successes...

Science and Spirituality

"God doesn't play dice" could be the alternate title of this book. This book has a very professional (i.e. historical) writing style that nicely blends the hard facts of science and the soft reasoning of religion in Einstein's life. Examples of this include full descriptions of the "thought experiments" that were the basis of Einstein's theories and the personal conflicts that he struggled with in politics. There is no thrilling conclusion to this book as most will start the book already knowing it's conclusion. However, if you are interested in connecting the dots in between the beginning and the end than this is the book for you.

Great Bio, But Above Me

Loved Einsten's biography. What a brilliant gentle man! What a life!
My problem with it was that I'm not a physics or mathematics person, and that part was too too much for me. I would drift off for ten minutes and realize I hadn't been listening. For maybe the first time ever..... I might have enjoyed listening to an abridged version.

Einstein is always interesting

Very interesting to know details about the life of such a man, so detached from the opinions of others, trusting and following his own intuitions till the end of his days; and at the same time always gentle. There are also lots of amusing stories and anecdotes; I enjoyed the listening. I rate four stars because I missed some more about his relationship with the spiritual realm, with God (the well-known "God does not play dice" and little more).

Excellent

At first I wasn't sure I would like the book, but it didn't take long to get into it. There's a lot of scientific explanation in the book and the author really tasked the time to explain it so the non-scientist reader can sort of understand. This is physics so it quite complex and theoretical. The book is well written and very well researched. I got a sense of who Einstein was and what influenced his life. The author explained what was unique about how Einstein tackled scientific challenges. A truly excellent book for anyone wanting to know about Albert Einstein.

Walter Isaacson walks on water

If you could sum up Einstein in three words, what would they be?

Interesting Incredible story

Who was your favorite character and why?

Einstein. Because he is Einstein.

What does Edward Herrmann bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Edward Herrmann reads the story as though he was there (which I guess Mr. Isaacson deserves credit for). But Mr. Herrmann certainly reads as though he was there, and wrote the material. So there.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Moved is a strong word. This is a biography about a physicist.

Any additional comments?

Listen. You will like it.

Isaacson and Herrmann deliver again -- GREAT!

I got this book because I thought Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was outstanding and because I have loved every book I've experienced narrated by Edward Herrmann. The team delivered.

You will learn a ton by way of this book... about principles of physics, historical movements and the quirks of Einstein's personality.

Some people found it a bit long but I thought it was so well written and organised that the hours flew by. Really loved it. Strongly recommended.

I enjoyed the book, but not as much as I expected!

I purchased this book after I read Steve Job's biography which was very inspiring and very well written.

I expected pretty much the same "awesomeness" from the life of Einstein. I was a good book, but most of it are analysis of the letters that Einstein wrote during his life which did not make it as interesting to me. So it's not so much a story of his life, it's mostly the collection of his correspondence. I was a bit disappointed by that.

Other than that, it gives great insights on Einstein's life, his passions, his ideas, and all that stuff. Overall, it is a good book!

Fascinating!

Learning about Albert Einstein, his history and life has been very rewarding. While revered the world over, he still had to put his pants on one leg at a time. This book is extremely well written, and the narration could not have been better!