Einstein's Greatest Mistake: A Biography - Softcover

Bodanis, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 132874552X ISBN 13: 9781328745521

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2017

Synopsis

"What Bodanis does brilliantly is to give us a feel for Einstein as a person. I don't think I've ever read a book that does this as well . . . Whenever there's a chance for storytelling, Bodanis triumphs." --Popular Science

"Fascinating." --Forbes

Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his general theory of relativity and helped lead us into the atomic age. Yet in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, and his ideas were opposed by even his closest friends. How did this happen? Best-selling biographer David Bodanis traces the arc of Einstein's life--from the skeptical, erratic student to the world's most brilliant physicist to the fallen-from-grace celebrity. An intimate biography in which "theories of the universe morph into theories of life" (Times, London), Einstein's Greatest Mistake reveals what we owe Einstein today--and how much more he might have achieved if not for his all-too-human flaws.

About this title

Review:

"Bodanis is a lot like Einstein--minus the great mistake. Both see fun in physics, both love simplicity and brevity."--The Times (UK)
"Fascinating."--Forbes
"Highly entertaining...This book should be required reading."--Astronomy Magazine
"A thoroughly engaging and illuminating read."--Shelf Awareness

Named "Science Book of the Year" by the Sunday Times (UK)

Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his general theory of relativity and helped lead us into the atomic age. Yet in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, and his ideas were opposed by even his closest friends. How did this happen?
In Einstein's Greatest Mistake, best-selling biographer David Bodanis shows how Einstein's imagination, self-confidence, and astonishing early successes paved the way for his greatest failure: his inability to accept the truth of quantum physics, one of the most significant scientific discoveries of his age. An intimate biography in which "theories of the universe morph into theories of life" (The Times), Einstein's Greatest Mistake reveals what we owe Einstein today, and how much more he might have achieved if not for his all-too-human flaws.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for David Bodanis

No one makes complex science more fascinating and accessible and indeed more pleasurable than David Bodanis.
Bill Bryson, author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Walk in the Woods

Astonishing lucid, even thrilling I didn't know I could know so much.
Fay Weldon, Books of the Year, Washington Post on E=mc2

Bodanis seems like an intellectual thermonuclear explosion, a kind of Jonathan Miller on speed.
Independent (London)

Stephen King meets Stephen Jay Gould meets Mr. Wizard... informative and often fiendishly witty.
St. Petersburg Times on The Secret House

Both informative and highly readable... this is everything a popular science book should be.
Daily Express (London) on E=mc2
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About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 132874552X
• ISBN 13: 9781328745521
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304