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)

Fantastic! Inspiring!

Loved the narrator. I felt like I was listening to Professor Einstein. For a science idiot, this book was fascinating and understandable as a scientific subject. The presentation of the man, Albert Einstein was thorough and we'll supported. I feel that I knew him and am in awe of him while still knowing of his limitations. I highly recommend this recording.

A Beautiful Mind

Share the thinking, wisdom, rebelliousness, humor, frustrations, vision, curiosity, and joy of Albert Einstein.
This is a beautiful book that should be read by young and old. Listening is a blessing…

Wonderful

I loved Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs. Such a great book I wanted to read more by this author. This book should be required reading world wide. Wonderful job. Thank you. And lived the 22 hours too.

Wonderfully written and narrated

This was truly a pleasure to listen to. Very well written and narrated in a catchy voice and cadence, you will learn of this incredible man’s public and private life. There was much I didn’t know about Mr. Einstein; and I’m glad I chose to learn. Highly recommend.

Insightful and long

It’s an amazing read with enough detail. I enjoyed it and Learned a lot from listening.

Great look at who Einstein was and how he thought

What made the experience of listening to Einstein the most enjoyable?

Learning about who Einstein was and how he grew up. It was great to learn that he was a slow developer as a very young child and some people think that allowed him to develop a different way of looking at things and visualizing things. Also all the myths about Einstein are well covered and dispelled in this book.

Any additional comments?

For me there was too much coverage on Einstein's letters to people. I know these are historical artifacts and people love hearing them but I could have done without them.

The Definitive Story of Einstein

If you're looking for an incredibly accurate and detailed account of Einstein's life this is the book for you.

For me that meant that it went into too much detail and covered some parts of his life that were less interesting and notable.

It is a story worth knowing and gives a great perspective on Einstein, but you could probably find a shorter version of it and not be missing out on much.

very interesting

this is heady stuff! it stays or light but gets technical in places. I must say I had no idea how interesting of a man he was!

What a great, balanced book.

Would you consider the audio edition of Einstein to be better than the print version?

The audio edition was actually superior IMHO to the print version. I read 70% of the print edition before getting the audio edition. After making taking too much time to get the print edition read, I started the audio edition. I found the narration superb which lent a more personal and poignant veneer to the story.

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

There were multiple events in the book that I found facinating: the personal insights into the other great physicists of the era, their interrelationships, enough physics to understand a lot of the science behind their great works not to mention deep, profound insight into Einstein the person.

Great Listen

This was wonderful. A fine example of what it looks like for a person to get new information and change their mind. then, not be ashamed of it.