书名：Einstein: His Life and Universe爱因斯坦传
作者：Walter Isaacson
出版社名称： Simon & Schuster
出版时间：2008
语种：英文
ISBN：9780743264747
商品尺寸： 15.6 x4.1 x 23.4 cm
包装：平装
页数：680

Einstein: His Life and Universe《爱因斯坦传》是一本爱因斯坦的生活传记，也是爱因斯坦的所有文稿于2006年公开后出版的首本传记。作者艾萨克森是《时代》周刊前主编，其《基辛格传》和《富兰克林传》早已广为人知。本书2007年出版后好评如潮，首版印数高达50万册。作者高超的叙事技巧和驾驭材料的能力令人惊叹，他能将浩如烟海的材料相当巧妙地揉合在一起，使这本传记的可读性极强。尤其可贵的是，作者并不刻意美化或丑化爱因斯坦的某个方面，而是能客观公允地看问题，用事实材料说话。爱因斯坦伟大的科学成就和非凡的人格魅力在书中得到完美结合。爱因斯坦当数20世纪思想非常透彻的科学家，对什么是基本问题有着异常敏锐的直觉。他能很自然地把握事物的根本，而把其他细枝末节统统抛掉。在这个意义上，他又是极少数有深刻哲学思想的科学家。他可以用非常平实的语言把一个复杂的问题分析得清清楚楚，这不仅体现在他对科学的理解上，而且体现在他对人生和社会的看法上。他的著作总是朴实无华，自然亲切，所涉主题重大而高远，对人类怀有深切的悲悯，字里行间渗透着思想的伟力，闪烁着人性的光辉。
本书是英文原版，行文流畅，可读性极强。书本印刷清晰，彩色夹页展示了爱因斯坦的不少珍贵照片，是一本值得珍藏的好书。

媒体推荐：
“本书理应受到广泛赞誉。它行文流畅，可读性极强，将爱因斯坦的个人和科学两方面优雅地融合了起来。”——杰拉尔德•霍尔顿（Gerald Holton），哈佛大学马林克罗德物理学讲座教授，《爱因斯坦、历史与其他激情》（Einstein, History, and Other Passions）的作者
“艾萨克森对爱因斯坦科学著作的处理极为出色，准确齐备，正适合于普通读者阅读。这是迄今为止可读性很强的爱因斯坦传记。他利用新近披露的历史材料，完整地揭示了爱因斯坦的性格特征和思想贡献。”——A•道格拉斯•斯通（A. Douglas Stone），耶鲁大学卡尔•摩尔斯应用物理学和物理学讲座教授
“沃尔特•艾萨克森又一次写出了一部极有价值的传记。虽然关于爱因斯坦的读物已经为数不少，但难能可贵的是，艾萨克森有机会接触到新的重要材料，既讨论了爱因斯坦作为人的方面，又阐述了他在物理学上的深刻思想。这部赏心悦目的传记使这位大物理学家的生动形象跃然纸上。” ——默里•盖尔曼（Murray Gell-Mann），1969 年诺贝尔物理学奖获得者，《夸克与美洲豹》（The Quark and the Jaguar）的作者
“艾萨克森的这部传记出类拔萃，与众不同。作者对历史文献的掌握极为出色，对爱因斯坦的工作和生活提出了许多新的洞见。” ——戴安娜•科默斯•布克沃尔德（Diana Kormos Buchwald），《爱因斯坦全集》总编，加州理工学院历史学教授 
“艾萨克森这部出色的传记不仅介绍了爱因斯坦这个人，也很好地介绍了诸多科学细节。它引人入胜，扣人心弦，令读者手不释卷，是科学读物的典范之作。见到这本书，爱因斯坦定会倍感欣慰。” ——劳伦斯•M•克劳斯（Lawrence M. Krauss），凯斯西储大学的安布罗斯•斯韦齐物理学讲座教授。《隐于镜中》（Hiding in the Mirror）的作者
“本书妙语连珠，每每读至兴处，不禁为艾萨克森拍案叫绝。” ——达德利•赫施巴赫（Dudley Herschbach），哈佛大学小弗兰克•拜尔德科学讲座教授

By the author of the acclaimed bestsellers Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, this is the definitive biography of Albert Einstein. 
How did his 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 newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book 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.
Review
“Walter Isaacson has captured the complete Einstein. With an effortless style that belies a sharp attention to detail and scientific accuracy, Isaacson takes us on a soaring journey through the life, mind, and science of the man who changed our view of the universe. ”  —Brian Greene, Professor of Physics at Columbia and author ofThe Fabric of the Cosmos
“This book does an amazing job getting the science right and the man revealed. ”  — Sylvester James Gates, Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland
“This book will be widely and deservedly admired. It is excellently readable and combines the personal and the scientific aspects of Einstein’s life in a graceful way. ”  — Gerald Holton, Professor of Physics at Harvard and author of Einstein, History, and Other Passions
“Once again Walter Isaacson has produced a most valuable biography of a great man about whom much has already been written. It helps that he has had access to important new material. He met the challenge of dealing with his subject as a human being and describing profound ideas in physics. His biography is a pleasure to read and makes the great physicist come alive. ”  — Murray Gell-Mann, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics and author of The Quark and the Jaguar
“With unmatched narrative skill, Isaacson has managed the extraordinary feat of preserving Einstein’s monumental stature while at the same time bringing him to such vivid life that we come to feel as if he could be walking in our midst. This is a terrific work. ”  — Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
“Isaacson’s treatment of Einstein’s scientific work is excellent: accurate, complete, and just the right level of detail for the general reader. Taking advantage of the wealth of recently uncovered historical material, he has produced the most readable biography of Einstein yet. ”  — A. Douglas Stone, Professor of Physics at Yale
“This is a brilliant intellectual tapestry — and a great read. Skillfully weaving Einstein’s revolutionary scientific achievements, his prolific political initiatives, his complex personal life, and his fascinating personality, Isaacson has transformed the transformer of the twentieth century into a beacon for the twenty-first century. ”  — Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor of American Prometheus:The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography
“I found so much to admire; there are many places where I just had to cheer what Isaacson had written. ”  — Dudley Herschbach, Professor of Science at Harvard
“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
“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
“This is a biography that happens to be treatise on creativity. I was about to say scientific creativity, but I think I mean creativity itself. It shows us the creative exuberance of a man with an extraordinary visual imagination, able to recast certain problems in surprising ways. ”  —Ian McEwan

Einstein: His Life and Universe《爱因斯坦传》是爱因斯坦的所有文稿解密之后问世的一部有关他的内容详尽、可读性极强的传记。超级畅销书《史蒂夫·乔布斯传》的作者艾萨克森基于新近披露的爱因斯坦的私人信件，探究了这位富于想象、不拘礼节的专利员领会造物主的心思、揭开原子和宇宙奥秘的过程。《爱因斯坦传》揭示了爱因斯坦的科学想象如何源于他叛逆的个性。引人入胜的故事证明，创造力与自由密不可分。
As a scientist, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Albert Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint, and what we know of him as a husband, father, and friend is fragmentary at best. With Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin and Kissinger) brings Einstein’s experience of life, love, and intellectual discovery into brilliant focus. The book is the first biography to tackle Einstein’s enormous volume of personal correspondence that heretofore had been sealed from the public, and it’s hard to imagine another book that could do such a richly textured and complicated life as Einstein’s the same thoughtful justice. Isaacson is a master of the form and this latest opus is at once arresting and wonderfully revelatory.

沃尔特•艾萨克森，美国知名的传记作家，曾获得哈佛大学历史与文学学士学位及牛津大学阿斯彭研究所（Aspen Institute）首席执行官，历任美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）董事长和《时代》杂志总编。其主要作品有《史蒂夫•乔布斯传》《基辛格传》《爱因斯坦：生活和宇宙》等多部畅销书，其中《爱因斯坦：生活和宇宙》曾荣获美国国家科学总院2008年度科学传播图书奖。
Walter Isaacson, the President of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Kissinger: A Biography and the co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.  

Acknowledgments
Main Characters
CHAPTER ONEThe Light-Beam Rider
CHAPTER TWOChildhood, 1879-1896
CHAPTER THREEThe Zurich Polytechnic, 1896-1900
CHAPTER FOURThe Lovers, 1900-1904
CHAPTER FIVEThe Miracle Year: Quanta and Molecules, 1905
CHAPTER SIXSpecial Relativity, 1905
CHAPTER SEVENThe Happiest Thought, 1906-1909
CHAPTER EIGHTThe Wandering Professor, 1909-1914
CHAPTER NINEGeneral Relativity, 1911-1915
CHAPTER TENDivorce, 1916-1919
CHAPTER ELEVENEinstein’s Universe, 1916-1919
CHAPTER TWELVEFame, 1919
CHAPTER THIRTEENThe Wandering Zionist, 1920-1921
CHAPTER FOURTEENNobel Laureate, 1921-1927
CHAPTER FIFTEENUnified Field Theories, 1923-1931
CHAPTER SIXTEENTurning Fifty, 1929-1931
CHAPTER SEVENTEENEinstein’s God
CHAPTER EIGHTEENThe Refugee, 1932-1933
CHAPTER NINETEENAmerica, 1933-1939
CHAPTER TWENTYQuantum Entanglement, 1935
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONEThe Bomb, 1939-1945
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOOne-Worlder, 1945-1948
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREELandmark, 1948-1953
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURRed Scare, 1951-1954
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEThe End, 1955
EPILOGUEEinstein’s Brain and Einstein’s Mind
Sources
Notes
Index

CHAPTER ONE  THE LIGHT-BEAM RIDER
“I promise you four papers,” the young patent examiner wrote his friend. The letter would turn out to bear some of the most significant tidings in the history of science, but its momentous nature was masked by an impish tone that was typical of its author. He had, after all, just addressed his friend as“you frozen whale” and apologized for writing a letter that was “inconsequential babble.” Only when he got around to describing the papers, which he had produced during his spare time, did he give some indication that he sensed their significance.
“The first deals with radiation and the energy properties of light and is very revolutionary,” he explained. Yes, it was indeed revolutionary. It argued that light could be regarded not just as a wave but also as a stream of tiny particles called quanta. The implications that would eventually arise from this theory — a cosmos without strict causality or certainty — would spook him for the rest of his life.

“The second paper is a determination of the true sizes of atoms.” Even though the very existence of atoms was still in dispute, this was the most straightforward of the papers, which is why he chose it as the safest bet for his latest attempt at a doctoral thesis. He was in the process of revolutionizing physics, but he had been repeatedly thwarted in his efforts to win an academic job or even get a doctoral degree, which he hoped might get him promoted from a third- to a second-class examiner at the patent office.

The third paper explained the jittery motion of microscopic particles in liquid by using a statistical analysis of random collisions. In the process, it established that atoms and molecules actually exist.

“The fourth paper is only a rough draft at this point, and is an electrodynamics of moving bodies which employs a modification of the theory of space and time.” Well, that was certainly more than in consequential babble. Based purely on thought experiments – performed in his head rather than in a lab — he had decided to discard Newton’s concepts of absolute space and time. It would become known as the Special Theory of Relativity.

What he did not tell his friend, because it had not yet occurred to him, was that he would produce a fifth paper that year, a short addendum to the fourth, which posited a relationship between energy and mass. Out of it would arise the best-known equation in all of physics: E=mc².

Looking back at a century that will be remembered for its willingness to break classical bonds, and looking ahead to an era that seeks to nurture the creativity needed for scientific innovation, one person stands out as a paramount icon of our age: the kindly refugee from oppression whose wild halo of hair, twinkling eyes, engaging humanity, and extraordinary brilliance made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius. Albert Einstein was a locksmith blessed with imagination and guided by a faith in the harmony of nature’s handiwork. His fascinating story, a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom, reflects the triumphs and tumults of the modern era.

Now that his archives have been completely opened, it is possible to explore how the private side of Einstein — his nonconformist personality, his instincts as a rebel, his curiosity, his passions and detachments — intertwined with his political side and his scientific side. Knowing about the man helps us understand the wellsprings of his science, and vice versa. Character and imagination and creative genius were all related, as if part of some unified field.

Despite his reputation for being aloof, he was in fact passionate in both his personal and scientific pursuits. At college he fell madly in love with the only woman in his physics class, a dark and intense Serbian named Mileva Maric’. They had an illegitimate daughter, then married and had two sons. She served as a sounding board for his scientific ideas and helped to check the math in his papers, but eventually their relationship disintegrated. Einstein offered her a deal. He would win the Nobel Prize someday, he said; if she gave him a divorce, he would give her the prize money. She thought for a week and accepted. Because his theories were so radical, it was seventeen years after his miraculous outpouring from the patent office before he was awarded the prize and she collected.