Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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Someone gave me a copy of this book last week, just after I had finished the previous book (Excellent timing!). Einstein’s Dreams is a short book which explores different concepts of time. It’s filled with short vignettes, each 1-2 pages long, describing an alternate universe where either the rules of physics are altered so that time proceeds differently, or humans perceive time in different ways. The book is framed as being a collection of dreams of Albert Einstein in 1905 as he develops his theory of relativity - there are short interludes where Einstein discusses his theories with his friend Michele Besso.

I enjoyed the different time concepts and how they were presented. The prose is precise and elaborate, filled with detail despite the short length of each vignette, exploring the lives of the people living in each portrayed universe. The book is fairly short, the copy I got was only 60+ pages long (I believe there are 30 “dreams”) so I finished it in 3 days. Easily recommended for anyone who enjoys timey-wimey stuff.

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