Isaacson, in his usual dry and fittingly detached writing style, opens up the amazing life of Albert Einstein to the world, some of which has been glorified and publicized throughout history, and some of which is historically groundbreaking. The monumental work describes the life of Einstein in his own words (through the numerous letters he wrote to family and friends), through interviews with living family members, and even scientific papers and news articles, which chronicled the genius' life from his breakthrough on Relativity on.

The author skillfully depicts the bohemian German Jew from his early childhood and his struggles with language and school through his success as a theoretical physicist and on as he became a celebrity and political force. Accompanying the biographical information, Isaacson delves into the focus of Einstein: science. Since Einstein was a visual and theoretical physicist, Isaacson was able to convey his ideas easily and effectively, if not thoroughly. Some may find the scientific descriptions difficult, but with any effort, should be able to grasp enough to realize the importance of what Einstein discovered.

Aside from his great scientific achievements, the reader learns that Einstein was a prototype for the '60s hippies- wandering around the world, promoting individual socialism (not sure how that one works), and basically indulging in free love. We also learn that Einstein was a religious man, though he didn't stick to any traditional religion as that would have conflicted with his aversion to authority in every sense.

There isn't much comic relief in this book (unless you consider jokes about Einstein's suit and hair fulfilling the law of entropy funny) but that's the only thing this work misses. It's an inspiring and insightful look into the life of one of the most influential characters of the 20th century.

- JSB Morse