Rating: 
Summary: Albert consumed with passion
Review: "Einstein in Love" opened a new door to the rich and immensely eventful life of one great scientist, Albert Einstein. It is quite amazing that a whole community of people are, more than before, dedicated to unravelling more about the life of Albert. Overbye's books does a lot to humanise the early years of Albert till around the early 1920s. This is the first book I have read about Albert, and I cannot compare it to other similarly-aimed books, but I can say that Overbye's account, the result of years of research, gives us lots of insight into Albert's personality: the innocence of a person who's first love was science, his numerous romances, his escapades, the Albert-Mileva menagerie, the friends he had. This books say a lot about how Albert went about constructing his view of physics, and how he managed to live in different societies. It is a must read for anyone interested in knowing more about Albert before 1920.
Rating: 
Summary: Young Einstein's Love and Work
Review: 0
After studying a large number of published and unpublished letters for a decade, Dennis Overbye, the author of another well-written book "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos," successfully portrayed young Albert Einstein from the two sides of his personal life and scientific endeavor. In "Einstein in Love" Albert is depicted vividly as a lad who loved his former physics classmate Mileva and constantly tackled the most profound problems of physics. The author also writes in detail about the social and scientific backgrounds of the time and views of the places Albert lived in. Albert's marriage with Mileva comes to an unhappy ending. Then he marries his cousin Elsa. Albert's dark side during the years of these events does not elude Overbye's polished writing. In the section about Albert's relation to the physicist Hendrik Lorentz, the author writes, "Albert was the eternal outsider"; and at another place, "When it came to women he could be like a child." These words cogently summarize the human side of the scientific giant.A reviewer who is an expert in physics (A. J. Kox for "Physics Today") has criticized that Overbye's discussion of science is not always accurate. The present reviewer thinks that if the description of physics were made more compact, this book would have been much more absorbing. Inclusion of a chronological table might have been a good idea. It is a little disappointing that the source of citation is often of secondary nature; for example, "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" is cited many times. However, these are only minor defects. This is a laboriously and skillfully written book to be read by all those who love passion and science and revere "Time" magazine's Man of the Century.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: Dennnis Overbye has been blessed with a unique talent - the ability to translated complex scientific theory into language that the thinking reader can understand. In "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos" we read about the theory and history of cosmology along with the personal travails of one scientist an the bitter infighting among all scientists. In this non-novel novel, we are immersed into the nascent world of relativity. From its theoretical origins [thinking outside the box] we are given a review of classical physics and the theories / illuminations of the greatest scientist of this age. The scientific story advances within the framework of Einstein's personal life. It is rare that an individual can succeed in all areas of endeavor, be they love, work or play. One feels some disappointment with his personal travails and while he may appear cold or disloyal, many times great people sublimate their relationships to their passion. Unlike other intellectuals whose personal lives were a total repudiation of the their professed ideology (Marx was an utter slackard, Hellman and Brecht were serial liars, Fuller switched positions with the wind, scolding the world when they began to ignore his newest mania), Einstein never tried to impose a social scheme on others. He loved quietly as one should and made his mistakes in private, again as one should. All in all, a successful work.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: Dennnis Overbye has been blessed with a unique talent - the ability to translated complex scientific theory into language that the thinking reader can understand. In "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos" we read about the theory and history of cosmology along with the personal travails of one scientist an the bitter infighting among all scientists. In this non-novel novel, we are immersed into the nascent world of relativity. From its theoretical origins [thinking outside the box] we are given a review of classical physics and the theories / illuminations of the greatest scientist of this age. The scientific story advances within the framework of Einstein's personal life. It is rare that an individual can succeed in all areas of endeavor, be they love, work or play. One feels some disappointment with his personal travails and while he may appear cold or disloyal, many times great people sublimate their relationships to their passion. Unlike other intellectuals whose personal lives were a total repudiation of the their professed ideology (Marx was an utter slackard, Hellman and Brecht were serial liars, Fuller switched positions with the wind, scolding the world when they began to ignore his newest mania), Einstein never tried to impose a social scheme on others. He loved quietly as one should and made his mistakes in private, again as one should. All in all, a successful work.
Rating:
Summary: An all-too-human genius
Review: In this book Overbye has adroitly blended Einstein's often-difficult personal relationships with the discoveries that made him the most celebrated scientist in a century during which there was no shortage of brilliant scientific minds. All in all, I found it one of the most engagingly-written and informative histories of science I've ever encountered. One cannot read this work without wondering how the author was able to lay his hands on, and then digest, that mountain of material -- epistolary, journalistic, and geographic. It would appear that he read hundreds and hundreds of letters and visited every locale of importance to Einstein in the first four decades of his life. I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in knowing how scientific progress happens. Overbye's thoughfully-constructed and lucid explanations should, moreover, prove of particular value to those whose previous exposure to physics has left them with the desire for a fuller understanding of some of its more complex principles. For me, not least among this work's plusses was that it attached names that had been little more than textbook entries -- Planck's constant, Wien's law, Bohr atom, Born-Haber cycle, and many others -- to real people. Einstein's universe did, after all, include real people.
Rating:
Summary: For the Love of Physics
Review: Nine years may seem like a long time to wait for an encore. Overbye's 1991 "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos" was an instant classic - a scientific biography of a half-dozen of astronomy's most interesting characters. I've often lamented that this was Overbye's only book. Why couldn't someone capable of writing such a seamless blend of biography and popular science have a whole shelf of his own? Dennis Overbye has answered that question with a resounding "patience, patience..." Overbye has indeed been busy. For the last several years, he has spent considerable time with a dozen or so scholars who are pouring over the Einstein papers - a vast repository of personal documents that had been tied up in legal limbo since Einstein's death in 1955. As this material is slowly and deliberately digested by scholars, a much more personal picture of the man is emerging - a portrait beautifully captured by Overbye in this effort. Overbye's book "Einstein in Love" is a stunning follow-on to his earlier work, this one focusing on a single individual - the most famous scientist who ever lived. It fully captures his relationships with family and friends. Besso, Solovine, Habicht, Grossman, Mileva - his first wife and the mother of his 3 children - all come to life within these pages. Overbye documents the mysterious disappearance of his first child, the daughter Lieserl, but doesn't attempt to solve it. There is no shortage of biographical and popular scientific books on Einstein and relativity. Overbye sets his latest effort apart from the pack with an unprecedented personal look into the life of the young Einstein as can only be achieved with the wealth of personal correspondence available in the Einstein papers. Overbye's writing style is almost poetic. He has a way of turning a phrase and capturing the essence of a moment. I have read a great many of the above mentioned works on Einstein (as well as biographies of many other scientists) but have never felt so captivated by a story. This book continues the slow process of eroding some enduring myths regarding Einstein. For instance, it is frequently noted that as a patent office clerk in Bern, Einstein was cut off from the scientific world, blissfully unaware of the work being done by physicists in Europe and the United States. To the contrary, Overbye notes that during his tenure in the patent office, Einstein was writing review articles for a German physics journal, summarizing the content of dozens of articles being published around the world. He also documents how Einstein almost certainly read the Michelson-Morley research while he was still a student at ETH under Weber, and was well aware of the precarious state of the "aether." Overbye admits that this book is not strictly a biography. He begins the story during Einstein's college years and ends soon after the completion of the theory of general relativity and the confirmation by Eddington's eclipse observations. This is in part because the vast work of sorting through the Einstein papers is itself not yet far enough to permit further exploration, but surely more is to come. And if that's not enough, Overbye doesn't gloss over the science. To the contrary, he has equal facility in explaining thorny physical concepts in language that any reasonably educated and interested person can understand. He doesn't attempt to explain relativity mathematically, but does a wonderful job of tracing the development of Einstein's thought over time, as played out in correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues. In fact, he has woven the scientific and personal together in a way that is surprisingly smooth, given that almost a century has elapsed since some of the principle discoveries, not to mention that Einstein himself has been dead for nearly half that long. This book will quickly take its place as one of the most important and popular works on the life of Albert Einstein, and one that should not be missed by any lover of science history.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging Account of the Man of the Century
Review: The first comment that comes to mind about Einstein in Love is that Overbye can really write well; I find the prose to be much more enjoyable than that of any other Einstein book I am aware of. Overbye also does a good job of at least attempting to explain relativity to a lay reader, while also not ignoring the other important works of the young Einstein on Brownian motion, gravity, etc. I do find the title more than a little misleading, though - Einstein's marriages to Mileva and Elsa and his dalliances with others seem to have little connection at all with the progress of his scientific thought. I suspect that the title is little more than a device to capture attention and sell books. I also find it odd that the book just seems to end for no apparent reason around the time of his divorce from Mileva. Still, if you want a good read about a true genius and his early life and works, this is one of the better places to turn - just don't expect much "scientific romance," except for the beauty pouring out of Einstein's head.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging Account of the Man of the Century
Review: The first comment that comes to mind about Einstein in Love is that Overbye can really write well; I find the prose to be much more enjoyable than that of any other Einstein book I am aware of. Overbye also does a good job of at least attempting to explain relativity to a lay reader, while also not ignoring the other important works of the young Einstein on Brownian motion, gravity, etc. I do find the title more than a little misleading, though - Einstein's marriages to Mileva and Elsa and his dalliances with others seem to have little connection at all with the progress of his scientific thought. I suspect that the title is little more than a device to capture attention and sell books. I also find it odd that the book just seems to end for no apparent reason around the time of his divorce from Mileva. Still, if you want a good read about a true genius and his early life and works, this is one of the better places to turn - just don't expect much "scientific romance," except for the beauty pouring out of Einstein's head.
Rating: 
Summary: Einstein did his own mathematics
Review: The idea that Einstein's first wife Mileva checked his mathematics for the special theory of relativity is laughable. This issue has been put to rest by Einstein's biographer Abraham Pais in his 1994 book "Einstein Lived Here." Here is why. First the special theory of relativity requires only elementary mathematics, the breakthrough is in the concepts. Second Mileva was unable to pass her final examination in mathematics in 1900 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Einstein passed). She failed again in 1901 and did not receive a degree. Third Einstein was able to master the advanced mathematics necessary for the general theory of relativity which came after his divorce from Mileva. It takes a very creative reading of the documents to ascribe any role to Mileva whatsoever in the special theory.
Rating:
Summary: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Review: This book gave me a much more detailed and intimate look at Einstein's personal and intellectual life than anything else I've read, and it makes for a truly fascinating read. Overbye spent years poring through Einstein's letters and personal papers to research and write this book, and it shows. There is a wealth of detail describing and chronicling Einstein's life as he struggled with the creation of the momentous scientific discoveries that were to make him famous, especially the long and difficult path to his final solution for the General Relativity problem. Along with this, you get a detailed look even into his personal day-to-day life, learning about his friends, scientific associates, and even his loves. Einstein is no longer a towering, remote intellect plumbing the depths and secrets of the universe in cloistered solitude; Overbye's account displays Einstein's very human side also, showing him to be a man of his times, often with Bohemian and avant-garde personal, social, and political ideas. For example, Overbye mentions how Einstein and his first wife, Mileva, had their first baby out of wedlock, and subsequently married. And the dark side of Einstein's personal life, the unhappy ending to his first marriage and his often careless dealings with the women in his life, don't escape Overbye's purview. But don't be misled by the title, it's not just about Einstein's sometimes checkered love-life (although he did have more romantic dalliances than I would have expected); Overbye also does an excellent job of presenting Einstein's most important ideas, including a good explanation of the special and general theory of relativity. And last but not least, Overbye is a fine writer whose prose flows and doesn't get in the way of the story, and who has a good command not only of the personal, but also the scientific side of Einstein's life. Altogether a well-written and fascinating book on a fascinating historical and scientific figure. (P.S. Did anybody happen to notice the title of my review is the sub-title for Edwin Abbott's classic mathematical and social allegory, "Flatland, a Romance of Many Dimensions?" But it works equally well here as a segue into my review of Overbye's biography.)
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