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Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein Reprint Edition

by Abraham Pais (Author)

114

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National Book AwardWinner, 1983

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Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein
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Having the advantage of knowing Einstein personally during the last nine years of his life and having access to some of his 50,000 pages of letters and science papers, the author fills many gaps about what we know of Einstein's life. It deals with his interest in philosophy, his concern with Jewish destiny, and his opinions of great figures from Newton to Freud. Also depicts the state of physics at the turn of the century and how Einstein transformed the field.

ISBN-10

0195204387
ISBN-13

978-0195204384
Edition

Reprint
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

November 10, 1983
Language

English
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 8.75 inches
Print length

576 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A monument to sound scholarship and graceful style....Accurate, witty and clear as brook water, it is a work against which future scientific biographies will be measured."--The New York Times Book Review"A marvelous new biography....Pais demonstrates an astute understanding of Einstein's discoveries....The finest Einstein biography yet published."--Science Digest"A delightful and instructive book, perhaps the most sensitive and valuable scientific biography of Albert Einstein that has been published....Pais exhibits delicacy and sensitive judgment and succeeds in projecting an image that does justice to Einstein, the human being, and conveys the enormous appeal that Einstein had on those privileged to know him. All told, this is a fine book which will be a valuable addition to one's library."--Foundations of Physics"A sympathetic but clear-eyed view of his life and work....examined mainly in his own plentiful papers, supplemented by a remarkably wide list of unusual sources....A fine book."--Scientific American"An outstanding biography of Albert Einstein that one finds oneself reading with sheer pleasure....Pais has produced a lively book that is, at the same time, a major contribution to Einstein scholarship."--Physics Today

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (November 10, 1983)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195204387
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195204384
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,516,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,887 in Scientist Biographies
- #36,713 in Physics (Books)
- #227,049 in Unknown

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4.5 out of 5

114 global ratings

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Kindle Customer

Best Bio of Professor Einstein

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2013

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I have read now five biographies of this remarkable person and for me the work of Abraham Pais is the best. Several reasons for this: He actually knew Einstein (and Bohr) which gives his subjective musings much more meaning. The historical accounting of the emergence of Einstein's 1905 and 1915 papers on the special and general relativity theories is fascinating and as thorough I think as an historical accounting can be. The sequencing of theory, experiment and the people who did the work leading to the quantum theory and later quantum mechanics is eye opening and quite human in its descriptions. And finally of course is the math - the equations - with which I am not competent, but Pais describes them and develops them again in a historical context and attempts to explain at least some of the variables involved, and their relations, in a text that is at least sometimes accessible to me. At least he tries! This book is not just a remarkable biography of a genius but also a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening explanation of 19th/20th century physics and how we arrived to where we are today.

8 people found this helpful

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Kathleen O’Hara

Scientific biography

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2022

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The important word here is "scientific" biography. If you don't have advanced math and physics this book is not for you. Otherwise a great book.

4 people found this helpful

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Allan Fromm

A spellbinding book and the finest writing of any biography or other non-fiction book I ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2016

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A spellbinding book and the finest writing of any biography or other non-fiction book I have ever read. The very best of the best and should be required reading for any college student studying literature or science. Pais was a brilliant physicist who worked at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton where he met Einstein. Over his lifetime Pais knew at least 20 of the most famous physicists of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is a blessing for all of us that he chose to write biographies of several of these men. For me the most interesting aspect of this book is his description of the interactions of Einstein with the other renowned physicists of Einstein's time including Lorenz, Planck, Poincare, Bohr, etc. If you are really interested in science and have taken a course or two in calculus you will be able to follow the math rather well.

12 people found this helpful

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Metallurgist

A good scientific biography

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2009

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This is a scientific biography written by a physicist and friend of Einstein's. Only about 20% of the book is non-technical biography, the rest being a very technical discussion of Einstein's physics, the prior work that influenced it, and its impact. Being a friend of Einstein's, the author puts him in the best possible light. For instance, missing is any reference to the daughter he fathered with his first wife Mileva before they were married, the reasons for their divorce, the events surrounding his relationship with his second wife, etc. (To be fair, before the unsealing of many of Einstein's personal papers, the existence of this daughter was a well-kept secret; one almost definitely unknown to the author of this book.) Of more concern is a lack of very much discussion of most of his non-physics related interactions, so if you want the personal Einstein there are better, more modern, books. However, if you want to know more about Einstein's physics, its development and its impact, then this book is a very good choice, providing that you have the necessary background. The book contains a very extensive timeline of Einstein's life, especially of the events that had a bearing on his technical work. This timeline should be a great reference for Einstein's life as most of the events are referenced to specific days, not just to the year of its occurrence.

As noted the author is a physicist and the book is written from that perspective. He goes into Einstein's physics in considerable detail so a physics background is necessary to get the most from this book. For the most part, there is no attempt to provide the necessary scientific background for these discussions, so if you are completely ignorant of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics or theoretical physics in general, you will likely find yourself having to skip over large portions of the text. There are a lot of sentences that contain "it is well known from ...that ...", so if this is not well known to you, you may have to skip over that portion of the text, and perhaps the rest of the chapter. There is also a lot of mathematical notation that is not explained or developed, so you may be lost if you are unfamiliar with it. However, the book is very good for those with the necessary background because it describes how Einstein developed his physics and what influenced this development.

I recommend this book for people with some background in physics; the more the better. This might be a five star book for a theoretical physicist, but only a one or two star book for someone with little or none of the necessary background. On average, I rated it as a four star book because, while I do not have all of the necessary background, I had enough to follow the discussion. I am also very interested in the development of Einstein's ideas, so this book was a natural for me. I only wish that I had a better background, because then, for me, it might have been a five star book, so please consider this rating from that perspective.

28 people found this helpful

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NoBigWoop

The complete story of Einstein, his life and his accomplishments.

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2016

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Gotta give this 5 stars. If you want to know almost everything about Einstein's life, including especially what he accomplished when, there's no better source. Nothing dumbed down here either -- Chapters explaining his work supply the nitty gritty (i.e. formulas, and in some cases derivations). But even if you don't follow all that (I didn't, and I got through calculus many years ago), every other chapter or so switches over to discussing other aspects of his life: early, schooling, patent office, professorships, communications with peers (particularly interesting). Here's an example: though the common understanding is that Einstein spent ten long years figuring out general relativity after publishing special relativity in 1905, the truth is that half that time was spent working on problems in the even newer field of quantum mechanics.

One person found this helpful

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John

The scientific biography of Albert Einstein, by one who knew him.

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2019

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This is the definitive scientific biography of Einstein, written by a distinguished theoretical physicist who met Einstein towards the end of his life. Einstein's (very) human biographical story can be read independently of the scientific sections, but it is worth trying to follow the details as the two strands are interwoven in the subject's life. You may wish to compare Pais' work with other biographies, such as that by Walter Isaacson or Banesh Hoffmann or Ronald Clark, which tend to emphasize the human aspects more. This work is extensively referenced, and the interactive Kindle edition is well constructed. The illustrations include many lesser-known episodes in Einstein's life.

One person found this helpful

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Kajda

Excellent Biography

Reviewed in Germany on August 4, 2023

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I like the book, because it gives an excellent historical view on Einstein's scientific work and its evolution. In this respect it is outstanding compared to the bulk of Einstein biographies.

Buckley

Très satisfait

Reviewed in France on May 23, 2022

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Très satisfait. Livraison parfaite, colis parfait.
Le produit est parfaitement conforme à la description et a été livré dans les délais.

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Raj Rai

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2020

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Arrived three days before delivery date and condition was as described. Satisfied.

Started to read the book. So far excellent - not only about Einstein but all scientific activities happening at that time which have been beautifully knitted together, you feel as if you are actually there - and will update further once finished all pages. Please note one needs to be Maths and Physics literate in order to grasp all notations.

One person found this helpful

s.jagathsimhan

... you get an insight into the minds of its great leaders who contributed so much

Reviewed in India on August 15, 2017

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The study of science is never complete unless you get an insight into the minds of its great leaders who contributed so much. This book provides it in respect of the chief actors who revolutionized science in the 19th and 20th cys. What more can be asked for than to get to know how the mind of Einstein, undoubtedly the greatest of them all who outdistanced all by not merely miles but light years, worked and what all went behind some of science's momentous developments.

One person found this helpful

Rob

Best book on Einstein if you want a deep-dive on the science

Reviewed in Australia on June 30, 2022

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I bought this book because I wanted to better understand how Einstein developed his theory of general relativity. It exceeded my expectations. I’ve read a lot of popular science books that explain relativity at a high level and talk about Einstein’s contributions, but this book goes way deeper and covers a lot more ground. It is quite scholarly in style and has lots of equations (there will be some sections you might want to skip over). It doesn’t cover as much as Einsteins personal life as other books, but if you want to understand the science and why Einstein truly was a genius, this is THE book to get. I only take off a star because in some sections it is almost too thorough and highly technical, which makes it harder work to persist. But if you do persist, it is worth it.

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