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Podcast: New Books in Biography & Memoir
Episode: Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams" (Vintage, 1992)
Description: Einsteinâs Dreams (Vintage, 1992) by Alan Lightman, set in Albert Einsteinâs âmiracle yearâ of 1905, is a novel about the cultural interconnection of time, relativity and life. As the young genius creates his theory of relativity, in a series of dreams, he imagines other worlds, each with a different conceptualization of time. In one, time is circular, and people are destined to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, time stands still. In yet another, time is a nightingale, trapped by a bell jar.Translated into over thirty languages, Einsteinâs Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musi...