Einstein and Relativity: The Big Idea

Paul Strathern (Nietzsche in 90 Minutes, Plato in 90 Minutes) has turned his attention from big philosophers to big ideas, specifically Einstein and Relativity. (Other titles in his Big Idea series include Hawking and Black Holes and Newton and Gravity.) Like Strathern's previous books, Einstein and Relativity makes for good company at a coffee shop or on the bus, with its slick cover and fluid prose.

Not surprising for its size (just over 100 short pages), the book focuses more on the man than the science, recounting anecdotes that shaped Einstein's personal and intellectual growth. Tales of him as a quirky, curious youngster flow naturally into his days of iced coffee and pipe smoking in Zurich and run-ins with professors. The bulk of the book, though, deals with Einstein's annus mirabilis, 1905, when his three most influential papers were published, and the years of struggle, then criticism, then praise, that followed.

If you're looking for a good, readable primer on relativity, you're better off with Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe (and you'll learn about superstrings and the GUT, to boot). But if you just want to get acquainted with Albert Einstein and gain some familiarity with his work, Einstein and Relativity does the trick, and fast. --Paul Hughes