Einstein and the time machine

In a genial, approachable voice, entries in the Flashes of Genius series introduce historic scientists and their ideas, along with helpful historical context and lively cartoon illustrations. Each volume is narrated by its subject, and although this necessarily requires some light fictionalization, overall, it leads to an engaging and reader-friendly tone for some complicated concepts. Einstein covers the physicist's life, his earth-shattering discoveries and their implications, and his subsequent campaign against nuclear weapons. Though the humorous, comic illustrations nicely visualize concepts, the artwork is occasionally glib and skates uncomfortably close to cultural stereotypes. Each volume closes with a dictionary, which includes words not covered in the text, but the fairly comprehensive definitions fill in additional information both about the science and the historical period. Full of fascinating, accessible background on iconic scientists, these volumes might also work for casual readers.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2017 Booklist

Gr 3-5-Weaving a tale of physics and family, this biography of Albert Einstein presents a pithy overview of the genius's life while touching on its most potent moments. It is not, as the title would suggest, an examination of Einstein's theory of relativity but rather an exploration of the events of Einstein's life (though the theory does, of course, make an appearance). Growing up, marriage, discoveries, and disappointments are marked with emotion and humor through a first-person narrative. The Quentin Blake-esque illustrations are lighthearted and whimsical. Between chapters, Novelli offers some harder scientific explanations of the work Einstein produced through his life. The prose is at times clunky (like an adult talking to a child in a too-loud, too-slow voice), and the connection of the interchapter science summaries to the main text is not always clear, but the facts are all there, even if the tone sometimes underestimates the intelligence of readers. Especially moving is the reminder that this great scientist sought asylum in the United States during a tumultuous time in history, making the work appropriate for current events discussions. A "Relativity Dictionary" provides some excellent encyclopedic descriptions of terms and topics that pop up throughout the volume. VERDICT A good biographical purchase for libraries where Penguin's "Who Was?" series is popular.-Chelsea Woods, New Brunswick Free Public Library, NJ © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The "most important scientist of the 20th century" (not even "arguably") tells his personal story amid explanations of his contributions to our understanding of how the universe works.Novelli adds comical notes to the first-person chronicle with loosely drawn cartoons of Einsteinsporting his trademark frizzy hair from the cradle on and often with protruding tongue to bootalong with a cat (Schrdinger's, presumably) and other figures. The author also offers interleaved nontechnical third-person descriptions of the great man's insights into light, time, relativity, matter and energy, and other related topics. The uncredited translator is casual with tenses ("I grow up with the spread of electric lighting, which had quite an impact on the first part of my life"), and a publicity photo of Einstein wearing a feathered headdress (recast on an earlier page into an even more offensive cartoon) is, at best, an anachronistic flub. Still, this is an illuminating profile that takes as proper note of the great brain's pacifism as it does of his revolutionary ideas. Co-published in the Flashes of Genius series, Darwin and the True Story of the Dinosaurs likewise combines informal fictive autobiography ("I certainly didn't come this far to goof off") with side notes on his significant ideas and their historical context. Both volumes close with "dictionaries" of appropriate terms and colleagues. Relatively informative, though the change of language and country leave a few rough spots, and there are already more than a few similar profiles available. (Biography. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.