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Review - Albert Einstein & his inflatable universe - Mike Goldsmith

There is little doubt that Einstein was the famous scientist ever, pipping even Newton (who turns up, very peevish, in this book) to the post. It means he's one of the few scientists that has proved interesting to the public in his own right - and this book provides a good balance of the man, his life and times and his science.

Just occasionally this grates slightly. The unremittingly jokey approach of the Scholastic children's science books sounds a bit uncomfortable when describing the break-up of Einstein's first marriage, or the complexities of Nazi Germany and the Second World War. On the other hand it often works very well to explain some of Einstein's key contributions to science. After all, he wasn't hugely happy about maths himself for much of his life, which means there are few scary equations.

A couple of other slight concerns. The regular 'scary science warnings' are supposed to tell you the next bit seems a little tricky, but is quite possible to cope with - but could equally make you feel that the next bit is too hard to bother with. And there a couple of moments of factual iffiness, such as when the sun is described as being made of gas, and most particularly in the explanation of Einstein's realization that light travels at a constant speed. The argument used is effectively circular, while Einstein's real argument was based on the nature of light as electromagnetic radiation, and isn't even mentioned (though there's a strange, coy reference to James Clerk Maxwell).

This apart, however, there is a good explanation of special relativity and its consequences, an reasonable attempts at general relativity and the photo-electric effect, though Einstein's resistance to quantum theory could be better handled.

All in all, it might be the conclusion you come to is that it's worth waiting until the reader can cope with a grown-up book on Einstein, like Gribbin & White's Einstein, a Life in Science, and to look out for the moment for a children's book on relativity (we'll link to one as soon as we've got one reviewed) or light (like Frightening Light), rather than taking the approach of this book. There's nothing really wrong with it - as always in these series, the cartoons are often a great help - but it just doesn't click the way some do.

Kid's review to follow...

* Our age range recommendation is an estimated guide, but individual readers outside the range could still enjoy the book!

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