The author, Gary Berger, was familiar with Einstein from an early age but not being a scientist he, like most of us, couldn't really make sense of black holes, bending light, quantum physics and the general theory of relativity. Berger, though, felt a connection to this great mind of the last century and started to collect photos of Einstein. These weren't just any old photos but, rather uniquely, ones that were signed by Einstein. There are fifty-one, mostly portraits arranged historically with brief messages and signatures either written on the photo or the card they were mounted on. An additional fifty-three photos show covers of German scientific magazines with articles by Einstein and letters he wrote over his lifetime.
The book is, quite stunningly, a beautiful photo biography of Einstein, his life story and discoveries accompany the photos and other graphics. The publisher has gone the extra mile to celebrate his life. The book is large and printed on thick semi-matt paper (with a two hundred screen for the images) several pages with Einstein's face are printed with silver ink and frequently these have large type quotes printed on tracing paper. Excellent typography throughout the pages enhance the large photos.
I must admit that I'm none the wiser about Einstein's theories but the words and photos about this humble, remarkable man made him come alive for me.
