Relative values
02 April 2020 | Einstein, Reviewing, TLS | Post a comment
I’ve reviewed five recent books on Albert Einstein for the Times Literary Supplement this week.
These are the books: Michael D. Gordin, Einstein in Bohemia; Andrew Robinson, Einstein on the Run: How Britain saved the world’s greatest scientist; Allen Esterson, David C. Cassidy and Ruth Lewin Sime, Einstein’s Wife: The real story of Mileva Einstein-Marić; Matthew Stanley, Einstein’s War: How relativity conquered nationalism and shook the world; Daniel Kennefick, No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 eclipse that confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity.
I’ve written about Einstein’s life myself, albeit briefly, but it’s fascinating seeing how much interest there still is in Einstein — the man and the science — after so many years.
You can read the review on the TLS site. But here’s a paragraph from my piece as a taster:
Before Einstein departed for America on October 7, he said “no matter how long I live I shall never forget the kindness which I have received from the people of England”. Once ensconced in the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, Einstein never returned to Britain. Most of his closest friends in America remained Europeans though. V. S. Pritchett visited him there: “The atmosphere of Princeton is exemplary and decorous: Einstein’s laughter blew all that away”. It was, he said “a laugh that had two thousand years of Europe in it”.
