I was given early access to this book by NetGalley and the publishers, PublicAffairs in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book about Emmy Noether, a person I (and probably you) had never heard of, who is referred to in the book's title as "Einstein's Tutor". This is unfortunate because she was a brilliant individual in her own right and especially given the times she lived in. She was an accomplished mathematician and her work lay the groundwork for several advancements in the realm of physics. She lived during a time when women's accomplishments in science were often overlooked (or stolen and credited to the men they collaborated with or who had learned of the woman's work).

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting biography to read.

Emmy Noether was an extraordinary person. Not just because she was a woman in academia who overcame every roadblock put in her way. Not just because she was a groundbreaking mathematician. Not just because she was a Jewish woman forced into exile by the Nazis, dying far too young in a land far from her own. But, at least in my opinion after reading EINSTEIN'S TUTOR, perhaps the most extraordinary thing about her was that she was all these things while also being generous, funny, good-humored, egoless, and even occasionally foul-mouthed. It's easy to see why she attracted a school of students everywhere she went, even when she wasn't allowed to be an official teacher or even be paid by the university. Mathematics and the teaching of it seem to have been the greatest, almost the only, joys of her life, so much so that, while a statement like that would usually be said with a note of pity or sadness, in this case it can only be said in awe and admiration.

If there is one caveat to my five-star review it is this: EINSTEIN'S TUTOR is not a "biography" of Noether as such. It is biographICAL, but much more concerned with highlighting her work and demonstrating how central and important it was to the development of modern physics. And, Phillips fairly convincingly shows, her most famous work -- known as Noether's theorems -- is at the forefront and foundation of both relativity and the edifice of particle physics known as the Standard Model, and thus of physics as we know it. (I won't even attempt a potted explanation, but it's fundamentally about how symmetries underlie the laws of physics.)

Due to sexism, her disinterest in things like taking credit, the fact that as a pure mathematician she honestly did not care about the physics work once she had finished with it, Noether has only recently begun to get the recognition she deserves. Lee Phillips seeks to move that program forward with EINSTEIN'S TUTOR, and succeeds admirably. It's heady stuff, but he makes it understandable without recourse to much technical detail (more of which he provides in the appendices). Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of late 19th- and early 20th- century German academia, a cauldron of both genius and bigotry, and a constellation of geniuses who influenced, collaborated with, and championed Emmy Noether, such as Hilbert, Klein, and the titular Einstein (she helped him with the math for general relativity, thus the "tutor" part).

I admit, I knew something about Emmy Noether and her work before, as a consumer of popular science. But EINSTEIN'S TUTOR has only deepened my admiration and appreciation of her greatness as a mathematician, but, even more so, as a human being. I hope others will do the same.

Einstein's Tutor by Lee Phillips is about the brilliant Emma Noether, a German mathematician who earned her PhD in a man's world in the early 1900s. She was the brains behind "Noether's Theorem" and influenced Albert Einstein. Female mathematicians were unheard of and her life was challenging because of it. She even worked without pay, though she was amongst the top in her field.

My hope was for a biographical account of this fascinating woman's life but was disappointed that the topic was much more about gravity, symmetry, quantum physics and the like. This book would be ideal for those who are passionate about mathematical physics, which I am not. Unfortunately, I did not finish as the technical details and topic are outside my scope of understanding.

My sincere thank you to PublicAffairs and NetGalley.

I’m very interested in this subject matter, but the way this is written is too technical for me. I’m not the target audience. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Have you ever been on a date where you know early that you don't jibe with the other person? Sure, they could be perfectly pleasant, but this is not love at first sight. So, you don't want to be rude, and continue with the date to see if maybe everything will improve and instead you just confirm your first inclination. Unfortunately, Einstein's Tutor by Lee Phillips was one of those dates in book form.

Einstein's Tutor tells the story of Emmy Noether, who was a mathematical genius before most men realized that such a thing could be true. Emmy created a theorem which revolutionized our understanding of physics. We don't know Noether's name today and it is a profound tragedy. I did outside research and her genius is not exaggerated. She was the real deal who had a fascinating and sometimes sad life.

The reason I had to do outside research is because Phillips' book did not provide an enjoyable account of either her life or the strides she made scientifically. I don't know how else to say it but to be blunt. I did not like Phillips' writing. It read like a college lecture with numerous diatribes away from Noether. He constantly throughout the book will say things like, "In this chapter, I will explain," or "As I already talked about in chapter 4." As I said, it feels like a lecture where you aren't trusted to read and soak up the facts and characters yourself. Phillips will also make bizarre and misplaced comments which have no business in the narrative. Specifically, he makes a comment about how 100 years ago and today that American college students are not as prepared for higher education as German students. I have no idea if this is true, but it didn't need to be said and there is no backup to this assertion in the text in any meaningful way. It is not the only time grand pronouncement left unsupported and it is profoundly distracting.

This is all a shame as Phillips is trying to shine the spotlight on a woman who rightfully deserves it. In the beginning of the book, Phillips even states he is not a historian and will not be writing a linear biography. I think this was a mistake. I think if he had an experienced hand at this type of story to pair with his passion for Noether and her work, then this could have been a must read.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and PublicAffairs.)

I enjoyed this book. I liked the conversational tone and the plain language explanations. Lee Phillips covers the important information while keeping the technical information to a minimum. Some of the material is complex but translating from Math to English can be incredibly difficult, as I’ve seen after having read a lot of these types of books. There was a lot of biographical information which I really enjoyed and I thought that the chapter on the legacy was brilliant. And it was worth at least skimming the Appendix as I found some fairly good nuggets. Overall this book is well worth reading, both as a biography of Emmy Noether’s Theorems, and a biography of the vastly under-appreciated Emmy Noether. Thank you to Netgalley and PublicAffairs for the advance reader copy.