"The presentation of Einstein’s discoveries is little short of inspired”

Amusing, irreverent, sophisticated and highly accessible, Einstein for Beginners has become established internationally as one of the best introductions to Einstein’s life and thought.

Reaching back as for as Babylon (for the origins of mathematics) and the Etruscans (who thought they could handle lightning), this book takes us through the revolutions in electrical communications and technology that made the theory of relativity possible. In the process, we encounter the scientific luminaries and personalities of imperial Germany, as well as Galileo, Faraday and Newton. We learn why moving clocks run slower that stationary ones, why nothing can go faster than the speed of light and follow Einstein’s thought as he works his way towards E = mc², the most famous equation of the twentieth century.