Isaacson's much heralded biography on Albert Eistein is a very long read, but that's because he covers in great detail each stage of the Eistein's life in a very thorough and satisfying way.

I was eager to find a comprehensive look into Eistein's life after reading about how the theory of relativity and other of Eistein's work contributed to 20th century science fiction, as well as having gone to high school in the town where Eistein lived out the last decades of his life. I'm very happy this book ended up being the consensus one to read.

Not only did all of Eistein's scientific theories (as well as the process of developing them) get highlighed in a detailed, but accessible, way-- but the other aspects of the man's life that made him so interesting were also closely examined, from his sometimes troubled personal and family life to his becoming one of the first 'modern day' celebrities to his political and philosophical efforts that came more in the forefront in his later years.

It is fascinating to see how Eistein broke through a scientific glass ceiling by being unafraid to question the unquestionable truths of Newton, attributing his great successes simply to his nonconformist character and unquenchable curiosity, and then later became the stubborn holder of 'unquestionable truths' in defending against quantum mechanics with his frequent declaration that "God would not play dice."

In his personal life, he struggled to stay close to either of his wives and any of his children, often as a side effect of dedicating all of his focus on his studies. There are definitely some aspects of his life-- from infidelity to acrimonious divorces to coldness to his own children-- that make you question his character. The more I learn and read about some of the greats in various fields, though, it seems that this sort of split between reaching ones professional pantheon and having troubled personal relationships seems all too common, sadly.

Outside of his family, however, one aspect of his relationships I did enjoy reading about were in seeing how closely he worked and formed friendships with other famous names I recognized but didn't know were his contemporaries-- in the sciences including Heisenberg, Bohr, and Schrodinger, as well as from his celebrity status in Charlie Chaplin and others.

The aspect of Einstein's life that I take the most away from this book, however, were his political/philosophical/religious viewpoints. Reading letters from him to people throughout the years, you really can see him become a man without any real home nation. At various points, he lived in Germany, Switzerland, America, and other places-- but he often considered himself a citizen of the world above all else. He did learn to feel the most kinship with his Jewish heritage and countrymen (though not religious), but his view of 'belonging' to no single country obviously informed his political pursuits for world peace, for an international government and military body, and for the human and civil rights for all. Einstein can perhaps be considered the most prominent 'globalist' of the 20th century, and many of his arguments could be compelling in today's world. For as much that was made about Einstein's famed FBI dossier and suspicious that he was a Soviet/Communist sympathizer, Einstein would later note what was fundamental to America "it can be swept by waves of what may seem, to outsiders, to be dangerous political passions but are, instead, passing sentiments absorbed by its democracy and righted by its constitutional gyroscope." In a letter to his son after McCarthyism had died down, Einstein noted "somehow they manage to return to normality. Everything-- even lunacy-- is mass produced here. But everything goes out of fashion very quickly." Hearing that being observed about the 1950s is pretty eye-opening, and one can only hope Einstein would see the same thing happen were he around to watch the calamity occurring all the time in modern day America.

In terms of his religion, I found it interesting that many Atheists in his time would write to him eager that the most famous and intelligent scholar live would agree with them that there is no God and Einstein would eagerly shut them down. While Einstein was adamant that there was no God with a stake in our lives who was affecting actions in front of us based on what we do/say/pray, he saw the science and his various discoveries as proof of a 'God' of types, and he said when he stared at the universe and saw the beautiful, elegant rules governing it he can only help but feel deeply religious. That to him is religion, going further to say that "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." With regard to his belief that free will does not actually exist, Einstein quoted Schopenhauer in saying "A man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills."

One last thing to note, though, is Einstein's ability and willingness to change viewpoints when the facts change. He came around to support the Zionist movement after initially balking at its necessity, he changed from being as pure a pacifist as you could be to recognizing the impracticality of complete disarmament in light of an increasingly threatening Nazi regime, and he seemed willing to do this time and time again in his scientific studies. I think it's an important lesson that the smartest among us are the ones who are able to admit they were wrong or that the situation has changed and they should now adopt a seemingly contradictory opinion. In a political climate where 'flip flopping' and not sticking to one's guns is portrayed as dirty, Einstein is a great example of how debate should be conducted and how we all should really listen to and engage the 'opposition.' When charged with inconsistency in his beliefs, he stated that "for a scientist, altering your doctrines when the facts change is not a view of weakness."