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Summary: "Einstein's Dreams" is a perfect read
Review: I was first introduced to Alan Lightman's novel in my honors drawing class in high school. We were assigned to each read a chapter and draw on that aspect of time. After reading one chapter, I was craving more and more. I went out to purchase the book and read it all in one day. I recommend this book to anyone, even those who don't enjoy reading because I don't enjoy reading that much, but this is an amazing book.
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Summary: A Wonderful Novel.
Review: "Einstein's Dreams" is a wonderful little book that deserves to be read more than once. It is a wonderous journey into what a genius might be dreaming. Einstein falls asleep, and author Alan Lightman takes us into his dreams. This of course, is brilliant because anything is possible in the world of dreams and Lightman uses this as an excuse to give us wonderous vistas, touching, memorable stories and situations, and provocative, mind-opening ideas. The way in which he writes the words can make the book a hypnotic trip, and the images may even filter in your own dreams. He also doesn't write a dumb book, indeed, there is a lot of intellectual fire. "Einstein's Dreams" is an enjoyable book for the thinking person. Also, look closely and you'll see that the book isn't only about dreams, physics or science at all, but about LIFE, the weird things in life and how important the smallest actions can be. "Einstein's Dreams" can also be romantic, with great passages about the love lovers feel. I've read it about three times already and will surely read it sometime again. It's one of those special books where you find something new everytime you read it. It is a novel to cherish. "Einstein's Dreams" can reach the part of your mind that thinks, and the area in the heart that feels. A masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic
Review: Perhaps this book is unique to college freshmen. The concepts such as time taking multiple paths (the first chapter) is sooo not unique it's been done by Hollywood -remember Sliding Doors in 1998? The book presents ideas that everyone ponders, but all it does is put the ideas out (example " imagine a world where days just repeat themselves" - Well, wasn't that the GroundHog Day movie?) What's the value of simply putting out an idea if it's already out there? I expected some analysis, at least a somewhat scientific framework that would say "this is somewhat rational thought, if we assume, or because, or based on...."
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Summary: Emit retfa emit
Review: I used to assign this book to my English students because its easily digestible standalone chapters made for easy and entertaining reading. It's also a tiny book, perfect for carrying in one's pocket for quick little impromptu reads at bus stops and bank lines. Framed as the dreams Einstein might have had while formulating his theory of relativity, the vignettes are as poetic and humane as they are philosophically intriguing. Lightman, a professor of physics at MIT, rifs on different possibilities of the structure of time by couching the mindbending postulations in mundane contexts, deftly balancing theoretical physics with human interest. More than an intellectual exercise, it is a strangely consoling book which calls into question our preconceptions of the inflexibility, linearity, and irreversibility of time. So much so that it's the one book I gave my mother when she was diagnosed with cancer.
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Summary: Dreams of Time
Review: This book is a delight to the imagination. Einstein's dreams of time are so interesting, each one totally different from another. These are developed into amazing stories. With beautiful imagery this book draws you in. I recommend this book to all!
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Summary: Wanted to Like the Book More
Review: As I understand it, Lightman, a physics professor at MIT, is trying to examine one of Einstein's achievements -- his ideas about time -- in human terms. To do so, he presents little vignettes that represent what life would be like if there were no time, time stood still, there were two simultaneous measures of time, time was fixed by an obsession with the past, and so on. I think his idea is intriguing but the execution is not satisfying, largely because the vignettes are static and abstract -- at least to my taste -- and eventually become irritating to read. This is a small book, not much more than a pamphlet really, but its parade of images finally felt endless. It's like Walt Whitman writing carefully, conscientiously, but without emotional connection to humankind.
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Summary: A Study in Human Nature as Well as Physics
Review: Alan Lightman writes as if he is monotonously droning on quietly to himself, and this method works. His images are so sublte, despite their definition, that I was not struck by the bizarre worlds he created until I had taken "Einstein's Dreams" in as a whole. However, reading this book on the surface as a collection of Einstein's hypothetical dreams while he came up with Relativity might leave you bored and disappointed. Lightman goes deeper than that, using each scenerio to not only exagerate different aspects of physical time, but also to shine light on disturbing aspects of human behavior. We see people who live only for the present, or who's lives are entirely predestined, and how they react to the situation. There is some truth in all Lightman's surreal vignettes."Einstein's Dreams" is rather short and does not take long to read, so I recommend giving it a try if you have nothing to do one afternoon. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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Summary: Truely 'fantastique'!
Review: I loved this book! It played about with alternative realities that continue to amaze and perplex me. The book makes one wonder why reality is what it is, or if in fact it is only our perception that makes it so. The number of different time zones that Lightman imagines seems unlimited and had me in hysterics - what! another one? Truly 'fantastique'! This book makes physics really interesting. Sure doesn't read like a textbook!
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Summary: Indoctrination into the New Age
Review: The book is a poetic and lyrical work which lulls the reader into a semi-hypnotic state of suggestability after which the author slips in a bit of humanistic, new-age philosophy which the non-critical reader is then likely to swallow whole. Overall there is nothing new in the book. The philosophy can be traced back to the Theosophical Society, Freemasonry and the other roots of the current New Age fad. Einstein and his work have nothing to do with the book but seem to be merely intellectual bait to draw in the curious.
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Summary: Use your imagination
Review: This a a book that allows its readers to go beyond their imagination. It is a key that explores many of the unanswered questions about time that only Einstein could have thought of, and Lightman express in the colorful ways that exude from this book. I cannot insure that it is a book in which all readers will praise as a life-changing experience, but it is definitely something to look into if you enjoy tinkering with the world of your imagination.
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