Einstein’s Mental Chalkboard



Albert Einstein’s image is everywhere, adorning posters in college dorms, advertisements on the Web, T-shirts and coffee mugs. Time magazine anointed him Person of the Century, and just about anyone can cite his most famous equation. For all this brand recognition, though, it’s safe to say that comparatively few people know what Einstein theories of relativity actually describe. In Einstein’s Cosmos: How Albert Einstein’s Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Norton, $23), City University of New York physicist and accomplished science writer Michio Kaku skims through the biographical and anecdotal details of the great scientist’s life – topics exhaustively covered in Einstein’s numerous biographies – and focuses instead on how he thought.

More specifically, Kaku explores the visual metaphors Einstein used while devising the special and general theories of relativity. In doing so, Kaku enables the reader to see and think as Einstein did, leading us to a simpler, more complete understanding of several of the most important scientific ideas of our time. GREGORY MONE.


In the text, Einstein’s popularity is contrasted with the number of people who

A) recognize the scientist’s image.

B) can cite his famous equation.

C) identify him as Person of the Century.

D) review the scientist’s work.

E) understand his theories well enough.​