This 179 page book took me four days to read. Not because it was difficult. In fact, the prose was exquisite and effortless in its beauty. It was because I wanted to read and cherish all of the novel's short vignettes rather than rush through. The book is a series of dreams, close to 30 in all, that Albert Einstein is dreaming as he struggles with his theory of relativity. Alan Lightman, a physicist himself, describes aspects of the theory and time itself through these descriptive "stories". This is not a book that has what I would call a plot. Einstein himself is presented in various interludes and is a minor character. Time is the major protagonist. This novel is an unique experience with parts of it being rapturous. It is both an intellectual and a aesthetic delight bordering on the spiritual. Go into this with an open mind and you should be amazed.
Marvin's Bookish Blog
Another darn place to list my reviews and to obsess about books.
This 179 page book took me four days to read. Not because it was difficult. In fact, the prose was exquisite and effortless in its beauty. It was because I wanted to read and cherish all of the novel's short vignettes rather than rush through. The book is a series of dreams, close to 30 in all, that Albert Einstein is dreaming as he struggles with his theory of relativity. Alan Lightman, a physicist himself, describes aspects of the theory and time itself through these descriptive "stories". This is not a book that has what I would call a plot. Einstein himself is presented in various interludes and is a minor character. Time is the major protagonist. This novel is an unique experience with parts of it being rapturous. It is both an intellectual and a aesthetic delight bordering on the spiritual. Go into this with an open mind and you should be amazed.
