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Einstein in Time and Space - Samuel Graydon ****

This book is pure marmite (for non-UK audiences, this implies you'll either love it or hate it). It takes a radically different view to building a biographical picture of Albert Einstein, which is just as well, because it's easy to imagine with the number of books on him there are out there that the man has been covered from every possible (and several improbable) angles already.

Rather than produce a straightforward linear work, Samuel Graydon gives us '99 particles' - short articles ranging from a page to around six pages long. The articles are chronological, but each acts as a separate entity, commenting on some event or aspect of Einstein's life. Graydon describes it as a 'mosaic biography', basing the approach on Craig Brown's 'Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret.'

The result is a mix than can both delight and occasionally feel bewildering. We get a 'particle', for example, that consists solely of a picture of Einstein's hands and some details from his (failed) health examination for Swiss national service. Others describe, for example, one by one his 1905 papers, putting across their meaning concisely and effectively. Many provide snapshots of the man, his many contradictions, and his relationships with members of his family - this includes an unnerving letter from the 20-year-old daughter of Elsa Löwenthal (who would soon become Einstein's second wife), suggesting that Einstein was torn between marrying her or her mother.

Although Graydon is science editor of the distinctly highbrow Times Literary Supplement, this is written more in the American biographical style than academic British - the 'particles' have a chatty feel and provide an easy read. All in all, then, it's a worthy addition to the groaning Einstein biographies shelf that will appeal to many who might not bother with a traditional scientific biography, with sufficient focus on the man and his relationships that even those who are usually put off by science will find it appealing.

I do need to add one extra point. I don't like marmite - and, equally, this book wasn't really for me. I can see absolutely that the approach will be really appealing to many, but I like a good narrative, preferring more structure, rather than assembling a picture from fragments - narrative shape is inevitably lacking from a book like this, as is any opportunity to dig into the science at anything more than a surface level. I also found that some of the openings of the 'particles' tried a bit too hard to be atmospheric. So, for example, one opens 'It's Christmas time in Cambridge, 1933. In the Senior Combination Room at Trinity College, five men sit around the old fireplace, smoking long clay pipes in accordance with seasonal tradition.' Hmm. 

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free hereShort
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