Book Review: The Other Einstein (OT)(physics, Nobel, women scientists, historical fiction)

The Other Einstein, by Marie Benedict (Sourcebooks, 2016, 319 pages, $16.99)

By the Author of The Only Woman in the Room

We were so entranced by The Only Woman in the Room (the Hedy Lamarr story) that we decided to read all the other books by attorney Marie Benedict. Fortunately we only purchased The Other Einstein.

You will love the romantic old-fashioned style where the woman, even if brilliant, is constrained by society’s norms. Do not fear: you will not have to wade through explanations of physics and math: this book reminds me of an intermediate French course I once took in that the instructor, rather than talking in French, talked about French.

This is a world of curtsies, and calling people Mr. Einstein and Miss Grossman, and long train rides, and in-law problems, and long skirts, and children born out of wedlock, and anti-Semitism even then. And early 20^th century (emotional) spouse abuse. However, keep in mind that this is historical fiction.

After a hectic day, you may enjoy a slow, rhythmic book to lull you to sleep. Einstein is that book. Even relaxing.

Did you know that Albert Einstein’s wife (first wife, a cripple) met him when both were undergrads at a Polytechnic and that she was also brilliant and may have been the brains behind the theory of relativity and the Nobel Prize? Although this is historical fiction, the conversations seem quite believable, as does the fact that we are a result often of the times we live in.

In the early 1900s, a woman spent her entire day cooking and cleaning with little time for physics and mathematics conversations until after the children were in bed. And the papers these women wrote were better accepted by the scientific community with their husband’s names as senior authors or even as sole authors as may have been the case with the Einsteins. And the Nobel Prize. . . You will recognize so many names: Planck, Curie, Haber, Nernst, Rutherford, Poincare – perhaps the Golden Age of Physics.

Add to that, a marriage that separates, a sick child or two, and you have a mesmerizing tale, if you can see beyond the female intellect stifled, shut out by the times and her husband who actually depends upon her for daily life and for her prolific mind.

Bohemian, Philistine, Bourgeoisie – Which Is It?

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Caveat: This book was purchased for review.

Also by Benedict, Carnegie's Maid: A Novel