A Rare Copy of “The Universe and Dr. Einstein”, Signed and Dated 1949 by Albert Einstein

This is our first ever copy of this book signed by Einstein

In the many decades since the publication of the special theory of relativity, there remained a tendency to venerate Einstein’s genius without actually understanding his achievement. To correct this situation, author Lincoln Barnett wrote a book, “The Universe and Dr. Einstein”. Einstein himself was so impressed that he wrote the forward to the book, which was published in 1948. This book offers the opportunity to truly comprehend the workings of one of humanity’s greatest minds, and remains among the clearest and most readable expositions of relativity theory. It also explains the problems Einstein faced, the experiments that led to his theories, and what his findings reveal about the forces that govern the universe. The concepts of relativity and the fourth dimension unfold with all the vivid excitement of research into the unknown.

Barnett wrote that Einstein “is endeavoring now to formulate a set of universal laws that will encompass both the boundless gravitational and electromagnetic fields of interstellar space and the tiny, terrible field inside the atom. In this vast cosmic picture the abyss between macrocosmos and microcosmos—the very big and the very little—will be bridged, and the whole complex of the universe will resolve into a homogeneous fabric in which matter and energy are indistinguishable and all forms of motion from the slow wheeling of the galaxies to the wild flight of electrons become simply changes in the structure and concentration of the primordial field…” –

Einstein lauded the book in the Forward, saying “Lincoln Barnett’s book represents a valuable contribution to popular scientific writing. The main ideas of the theory of relativity are extremely well presented. Moreover, the present state of our knowledge in physics is aptly characterized. The author shows how the growth of our factual knowledge, together with the striving for a unified theoretical conception comprising all empirical data, has led to the present situation which is characterized—notwithstanding all successes—by an uncertainty concerning the choice of the basic theoretical concepts”.
The book “The Universe and Dr. Einstein”, New York: William Sloane Associates, 1948. Octavo, original cloth, likely first edition. A rare copy signed and dated 1949 by Einstein.