Einstein's Dreams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Einstein's Dreams is a 1992 novel by Alan Lightman. (ISBN 0-446-67011-1)
The novel fictionalizes Albert Einstein as a young scientist troubled by dreams as he works on his theory of relativity in 1905. The book consists of 30 chapters each exploring one dream about time Einstein has during this time. There is also a prelude, interlude, and epilogue.
Each dream involves a non-traditional conception of time. Such scenarios may involve exaggerations of true phenomena related to relativity, or may be entirely fantastical.
An example of the former is created when characters enter a world where time flows more slowly the further one moves from the earth's surface. This is in fact true; a clock at the top of a building will tick more slowly than one at the bottom of a building because it is further from the earth's rotational axis and is thus moving faster. However, in reality, this effect is vanishingly insignificant and must be measured with extremely accurate chronometers. In Einstein's Dreams, the effect is significant enough to prompt the construction of houses on stilts, to slow the aging of their occupants.
Einstein's Dreams was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. It was runner up for the 1994 PEN New England / Boston Globe Winship Award. Einstein's Dreams was also the March 1998 selection for National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Book Club. The novel has been used in numerous colleges and universities, in many cases for university-wide adoptions in "common-book" programs.
[edit] External links
- Synopsis and teacher's/reader's guides - (archive.org copy)
