A contemporary look at Albert Einstein's classic call for socialism
First published more than seventy-five years ago in the inaugural issue of Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine, Albert Einstein's Why Socialism? is an unheralded classic. Written during the McCarthyite witch-hunt in the United States, it constituted an act of defiance, making a case for socialism unrivaled in its time or ours. Yet, its very existence has been an embarrassment to an establishment which has continually sought to downplay the significance of his iconoclastic essay, together with Einstein's socialism itself. This slim, elegant volume includes Einstein's essay along with a detailed commentary on his essay by Monthly Review editor, John Bellamy Foster. Foster's introduction tells the story of Einstein's life-long commitment to socialism and the events leading to the publication of Why Socialism? and contextualizes the importance of his essay as we enter a time of planetary crisis and new threats of world war. Over the three-quarters of century since its publication, Why Socialism? is one of those rare statements whose power has only grown, reaching untold numbers of readers over the years. It is of crucial importance that--for the sake of the future of humanity--Einstein's message continues to proliferate.A handsome annotated edition of Einstein's celebrated book on relativity
After completing the final version of his general theory of relativity in November 1915, Albert Einstein wrote Relativity. Intended for a popular audience, the book remains one of the most lucid explanations of the special and general theories ever written. This edition of Einstein's celebrated book features an authoritative English translation of the text along with commentaries by Hanoch Gutfreund and J rgen Renn that examine the evolution of Einstein's thinking and cast his ideas in a modern context. Providing invaluable insight into one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, the book also includes a unique survey of the introductions from past editions, covers from selected early editions, a letter from Walther Rathenau to Einstein discussing the book, and a revealing sample from Einstein's original handwritten manuscript.From the age of Galileo until the early years of the 20th century, scientists grappled with seemingly insurmountable paradoxes inherent in the theories of classical physics. With the publication of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, however, traditional approaches to solving the riddles of space and time crumbled. In their place stood a radically new view of the physical world, providing answers to many of the unsolved mysteries of pre-Einsteinian physics.
Acclaimed as the pinnacle of scientific philosophy, the theories of relativity tend to be regarded as the exclusive domain of highly trained scientific minds. The great physicist himself disclaimed this exclusionary view, and in this book, he explains both theories in their simplest and most intelligible form for the layman not versed in the mathematical foundations of theoretical physics.
In addition to the theories themselves, this book contains a final part presenting fascinating considerations on the universe as a whole. Appendices cover the simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation, Minkowski's four-dimensional space, and the experimental confirmation of the general theory of relativity. Students, teachers, and other scientifically minded readers will appreciate this inexpensive and accessible interpretation of one of the world's greatest intellectual accomplishments.
Discover Albert Einstein's groundbreaking theories with Relativity: The Special and the General Theory. This influential work provides a comprehensive exploration of the principles that revolutionized our understanding of space, time, and gravity. A must-read for science enthusiasts and those intrigued by the mysteries of the universe.
A definitive scholarly edition of the correspondence and papers of Albert Einstein
This volume finds Einstein recovered and traveling again after a prolonged illness, to Paris, London, and Zurich to receive three honorary doctorates; to the Sixth Solvay Congress in Brussels and to Leyden; and to attend the Constituent Meeting of the Jewish Agency Council in Zurich and the twelfth session of the ICIC in Geneva. By the end of the volume, Einstein embarks on a transatlantic voyage for the first time in five years to spend an academic term at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Einstein's work focuses on the teleparallel approach to unified field theory, on which he engages in intensive correspondence with Élie Cartan and begins his collaboration with Walther Mayer. He also presents popular accounts of his work, surveying the historical progression from classical to twentieth-century physics leading up to the latest developments in unified field theory. He also engages in lively exchanges on both technical and foundational issues in quantum mechanics with W. Pauli, M. Born, M. Schlick, and others. His personal correspondence reflects eventful changes: the Einsteins realize their dream of owning a summer house outside Berlin, Einstein becomes a grandfather, his younger son Eduard commences his university studies and has his first serious mental health crisis, and his younger stepdaughter Margot gets married. Einstein's ties to the Zionist movement are seriously tested in the wake of the violence that erupts in British Mandate Palestine in 1929, to which he reacts with forceful calls for a genuine symbiosis between Jews and Arabs, proposing the establishment of joint administrative, economic, and social organizations. He warns that without finding the path to honest cooperation and honest negotiations with the Arabs, we [Jews] have learned nothing from our two-thousand-year ordeal and deserve the fate that will befall us. In Germany, too, Einstein champions democracy in the face of rising support for the Nazi Party, is active on behalf of Jewish refugees, opposes the death penalty, and supports abortion rights and the decriminalization of homosexuality. Einstein promotes pacifism more vigorously. His efforts to promote peace follow three distinct transnational avenues: disarmament, conscientious objection, and apolitical pacifism, aimed to find practical mechanisms to restrict the nation state.An English-language edition of selected correspondence and papers of Albert Einstein
A translation of selected non-English texts included in Volume 17 is available in paperback. Since this supplementary paperback includes only select portions of Volume 17, it is not recommended for purchase without the main volume. Every document in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein appears in the language in which it was written, and this supplementary paperback volume presents the English translations of select portions of non-English materials in Volume 17. This translation does not include notes or annotations of the documentary volume and is not intended for use without the original language documentary edition, which provides the extensive editorial commentary necessary for a full historical and scientific understanding of the documents.The great thinker reflects on such topics as nuclear weapons, world poverty, and international affairs in this Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Nuclear proliferation, Zionism, and the global economy are just a few of the insightful and surprisingly prescient topics scientist Albert Einstein discusses in this volume of collected essays from between 1931 and 1950. Written with a clear voice and a thoughtful perspective on the effects of science, economics, and politics in daily life, Einstein's essays provide an intriguing view inside the mind of a genius addressing the philosophical challenges presented during the turbulence of the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the dawn of the Cold War. This authorized book features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.A handsome annotated edition of Einstein's celebrated book on relativity
After completing the final version of his general theory of relativity in November 1915, Albert Einstein wrote a book about relativity for a popular audience. His intention was to give an exact insight into the theory of relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics. The book remains one of the most lucid explanations of the special and general theories ever written. In the early 1920s alone, it was translated into ten languages, and fifteen editions in the original German appeared over the course of Einstein's lifetime. This new edition of Einstein's celebrated book features an authoritative English translation of the text along with an introduction and a reading companion by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn that examines the evolution of Einstein's thinking and casts his ideas in a broader present-day context. A special chapter explores the history of and the stories behind the early foreign-language editions in light of the reception of relativity in different countries. This edition also includes a survey of the introductions from those editions, covers from selected early editions, a letter from Walther Rathenau to Einstein discussing the book, and a revealing sample from Einstein's handwritten manuscript. Published on the hundredth anniversary of general relativity, this handsome edition of Einstein's famous book places the work in historical and intellectual context while providing invaluable insight into one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.