Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
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Synopsis:
A modern classic, Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, when he worked in a patent office in Switzerland. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar.
Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.
Review:
Einstein's Dream was an interesting read. It is one of those books that you could pick up and read a chapter even if you only had a minute or two. The book was broken up into sections that talked about what time was like in different worlds and each section was only a few pages. Easy, quick reads.
Time is interesting to me partly because I don't really understand the complexities of it. Like time dilation and such. It is crazy to think about and hard for me to wrap my head around. So when I saw a book that imagined what time was like in different places I thought it sounded interesting. Now not every small story was that interesting to me, but overall I loved it. I enjoyed reading the different places and how time worked. From places where people live in houses on stilt, the higher you are the wealthier you are because time moves slower farther away from the earth you are, to ones where everything is constantly in motion because time moves slower then. The faster you go the slower it moves, to places where time will just move you around suddenly, to many, many more. This was a fun read. Like I said you could just pick it up for a minute and read about one place as you are waiting in line then put it away until you have a few minutes again. Or you could sit down and read it in one go.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
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