In his most read book, Einstein’s Dreams, Alan Lightman gives readers plenty of material to consider. It is 1905, and Einstein works at a patent office in Switzerland. While thinking about relativity theory, he dreams about “time”. Each dream is strong enough to cause different effects on your perception of time, and it is highly pleasant to read. If you are looking for a book with a different style and subject rather than a literary book, Einstein’s Dreams may be for you.
We know what time is, but we have some trouble explaining. We only understand how we age with time and how to use it. We never doubt time; the past never changes, and our knowledge of the future consists of predictions. We can go neither past nor future; we are just now. Well, what if we can either wrap the time forward or backwards; if we could stop and play again? If time had a continually changing process or had an end? With stories that explore these and many other questions, you will dive into different worlds, different times and unusual dreams.
Einstein’s Dreams is a short book that is read very quickly and easily. Since it consists of tiny stories, you can find yourself finishing the book in no time. I especially recommend you to read before bed or on the road. I think you can think more deeply about the time in these circumstances. My suggestion to you is to take a short break after every little story and take a break-even for a second or two. Enjoy!
Einstein’s Dreams
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.
Alan Lightman
Alan Paige Lightman is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
