It's not what I had expected.
OK, this is going to sound like Patti's third grade book review.......but, here goes....
I'm surprised at how broad his view of the world actually was.
I think that I had assumed that so much of his time and energy was focused on "work" that he must have been somewhat isolated from much, or at least some, of the rest of life.
For those of us of sub-average intellect, it seems a foregone conclusion that anyone known for brilliance and super-human productivity must certainly be cutting corners in his social life and certainly couldn't have a spare minute to keep on top of current events.
But Albert Einstein was a very thoughtful and well rounded individual. He reflects eloquently upon the events and personalities of his day with insight and compassion.
I love in particular that he mentions, several times, the importance of understanding how much each of us is dependent upon our society and community of fellow men for most of the advantages we enjoy in our lives, the books we read, clothes we wear, food we eat, freedoms we enjoy, ideas with which we agree, art, music.
I admire his very real understanding of our indebtedness to one another.
I have to say that I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book more than the final portion. This is because he got into science toward the end, and I am no scientist. I had been so much enjoying his views on everything else....
This book is one I would like to read again, maybe just keep it by the bed to read a little section here and there. It's not ideally suited to a quick reading done all at one gulp. This is because it's a compilation of many small articles and letters, each disconnected from the others. But I found that many ideas were repeated or rephrased, reiterated in more than one place.
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