Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

Einstein's Dreams

Alan Lightman

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Paperback · November 9, 2004

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence. “A magical, metaphysical realm ...

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Who it’s for
A slim, cerebral set of time-centered fictions that reward patient, curious reading.
Genres
Short Stories (Single Author), Time Travel Fiction, Visionary Fiction
Published
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, November 9, 2004

About this book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence. “A magical, metaphysical realm ... Captivating, enchanting, delightful.” —The New York Times Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics.

Continue reading

As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.

Time, Reconsidered

A slim, cerebral set of time-centered fictions that reward patient, curious reading.

Come here for

  • time, handled as an idea; fiction with a thinker’s aftertaste
  • compact, layered pieces

Expect

  • short-story form
  • literary-scientific crosscurrents

Where it sits

Visionary Fiction65%
Time Travel Fiction59%
Short Stories (Single Author)49%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Historical Fiction
  • Literary Fiction
  • Time Travel Fiction
Authors
Alan Lightman
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published
November 9, 2004
Format
Paperback
Reading lane
Historical Fiction