Reddit reviews Einstein: His Life and Universe

I recently read this biography of Einstein. He was so much more than what we learn about him. It was a great book.

http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Life-Universe-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1442348062

It's important to note that "Zionism" in Einstien's time was less "bulldoze Palestinian homes" and more "hey wouldn't be cool if there was a place Jews could go to not get massacred".

It seems his support came after the creation of Isreal. At any rate, he always supported cooperation with the Palestinians. "Should we be unable to find a way to honest cooperation and honest pacts with the Arabs, then we have learned nothing during our 2,000 years of suffering." source

My post was based on my recollection of Einstein's biography by Isaacson, so any inaccuracies are due to my bad memory. As for the biography, it's light reading and entertaining: http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Life-Universe-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1442348062.

I just finished reading this biography of him. I definitely recommend it. Biographies have a way of humanizing people more than quotes ever could.

>Einstein was always deeply guided by experimental data from other researchers and previous theories, especially on the interferometry experiment and Maxwell's equations.

I'd point you to the Special Theory of Relativity, which he wrote away from scientific instrumentation in a patent office and which was published when he was the age of 26.

Math is largely a deductive field. All this means is that it relies on theorems and axioms to prove things about the world. It doesn't strictly rely on empirical observation, though many of its postulates can be rejected when evidence shows otherwise.

Interesting enough, the author of this biography argues quite forcefully that Einstein's ToR was heavily influenced by Ernest Mach's philosophy.