I'm giving this book 2 stars merely because I believe the idea of it is really good. It is always nice to catch books humanizing some of the greatest figures in history. For me personally, Albert Einstein is even a better subject than most, I know and partially understand his professional achievements but honestly, I do not know much about his personal life beyond the very public facts. That is why I picked this book, Einstein is a great subject for a book. Also, some passages of this manuscript are quite endearing I have to say.
Now, let's cut to the chase. This book is fundamentally (at least that is what I hope) unfinished. It looks more like a set of key points for a dozen of different essays yet to turn in, that it does a book. It is messy and confusing and incomplete. The writing looks like a draft. Some portions of it are OK, you could even say they are enjoyable, but some other chapters are barely there.
The all thing is quite annoying. I had fine hopes for this book. I was disappointed and I would not recommend it to anyone looking for anything to do with Albert Einstein. Yet, in all honesty, and not just to put a positive spin on a not so positive review, I feel like there is real potential here. It just needs to be researched further, rewritten and fixed. Which seems like a pretty daunting task, but that is my honest opinion on it.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable account of Einstein’s life...from childhood to his death. I felt it presented a balanced picture of the man....his work and his personal life...both of which were fraught with controversy.

Skimming of the description has lead me to believe this was going to be something more whimsical and lachrymose, instead this book turned out to be a pleasant surprise, a somewhat fictionalized biography of Albert Einstein, containing only as much whimsy as its character himself did, which is actually no small amount. Einstein is unquestionably a genius, arguably the most significant one of the last century or two. There hasn’t been a mind like his, but what this book particularly succeeded in depicting is his spirit, a stunningly joyous one considering all the vagaries of fate that he has endured in life. The man has had a difficult personal life, fraught with disappointments and adversities, outlived most of his family, left behind places he loved and so on and yet he seems to have maintained a authentically positive outlook and ability to find pleasure and beauty in the world that has seemingly so often gone out of its way to prove the opposite. Maybe there’s something about a certain level of intelligence that allows a person to perceive that sort of mysterious magnificence of all things that can make one genuinely happy. Personally I always thought that level of joy was a privilege of idiots, but maybe it works on the opposite end of the spectrum also. Anyway…this book is lovely. I don’t get into biographies much and probably because I don’t expect them to be as eminently readable and enjoyable as this book was. The narrative was engaging, entertaining (sure, I knew a lot of the facts, but it was still lovely to revisit old knowledge and add new facts to it) and (loved this, my favorite thing and so infrequently found) as each character was introduced more often than not there’s be an accompanying photo, same went for locations. Einstein himself was a fan of photos, so it was perfectly apt. The book deals to a great extent with Einstein’s professional career and accomplishments, but seems to concentrate on a personal perspective, bringing to light the indomitable spirit, charisma and even funniness of the man. The pacifist record alone, the bravery of taking dangerous stands during dangerous times, leading to be investigated by various agencies in Europe and USA, the firm support of equality and antiracism and women rights…makes for a genuinely admirable morally upright individual. If Einstein didn’t exist, he’d be a terrific fictional character invention. I’d read that book too, albeit it possibly with some degree of incredulity. Maybe it would be as great as this one. Thanks Netgalley.