July 30, 2010
Hot Reads for Summer
Walter Isaason, author of “Einstein.†Art Courtesy Simon & Schuster
Whether passing time on a plane, lounging on a beach chair near the ocean or relaxing in front of a fire at a mountain resort, reading is still one of our favorite pastimes. Our selections, culled from the most interesting and often newly printed titles, are based on what we've read and can recommend.
Our Recommendation
In Walter Isaason's "Einstein," we discover that when the future scientist was a boy, he wondered what it would be like to race alongside a light wave. That curiosity — and his lifelong resistance to governments or institutions which insist on conformity (thereby stifling creativity) — are the hallmarks of Albert Einstein's life, according to the author of the highly acclaimed (and deservedly so) "Einstein." Using his access to newly released personal letters, Isaacson takes us on a journey through the life of this exceptional man.
Einstein's life-long resistance to authority reveals itself early on — forcing his early exit from (high) school. We are with him when his dissertation is rejected and he is forced to take a job in a patent office — where he has his most productive years. We come to know the Einstein who had life-long friendships but was a less-than-stellar husband. He asked his wife for a divorce in exchange for the money that he was going to receive someday from winning the Nobel Prize. (She did. And he did.)
We come to know Einstein the genial employee, the gracious teacher, the kind but detached father, the loving step-father, the devoted brother, the bohemian, the continually unfaithful husband (to his second wife), the endearing absent-minded professor, and the brilliant physicist. He was also witty. When told the Germans' had a bounty of 5,000 pounds on his head, he touched his head and said, "I didn't know it was worth that much."
Science came first, but Einstein also strongly believed in social justice and in the importance of world peace. Thus, he invited Marian Anderson to stay with him when there was no room at the inn for the black contralto. And horrified by the bomb that he inadvertently helped create, he encouraged scientists from around the world to speak out on the necessity of arms control. That effort, not surprisingly, created enemies — most notably Herbert Hoover.
Do not let an aversion to, or a fear of science, keep you from reading this book. The science actually is so clearly presented that is understandable, even to novices. The story of how he could never quite reconcile quantum physics with his sense of what God would do in creating this earth is perhaps the most fascinating read of all.
Notable Reads
Marie Sharp, a Londoner, is turning 60 and she's fine with that, thank you very much, so don't go telling her to go thrill seeking. She came of age in the '60s so she's done that. And don't tell her to find a man — she's been there, done that too. And for goodness sake, don't tell her to join a book club. She's got enough on her plate as it is. She's got a dying friend to tend to, and a new grandbaby to get to know. And if that's not enough, Praise the Lord, Inc. is moving into the building right by her flat. The book is not quite as deftly told as "Bridget Jones," but still the perfect book to have on an airplane or porch swing, or if you just love all things British.
Told in alternating voices, the story of two older boomer women is drenched with details of New York life and has a bit of a mystery as a
Myra McLarey
This book is a bit of a slow starter, but worth staying with.
Myra McLarey is author of two novels including "Water from the Well." She taught writing at the Harvard Extension School from 1991-2000.
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