Please, Mr Einstein

Description

A young woman enters a building in a nameless contemporary European city. She walks into a waiting room where a dozen other people, with briefcases or sheaves of documents, are gathered. Ushered into a large office, she meets Albert Einstein, who is engaged in trying to figure out the equation that explains the universe. He is charmed by her, and agrees to answer her questions. Einstein and the young woman begin discussing the concepts of time and space. He explains his theories about relativity and his responsibility in the creation of nuclear weapons. Einstein also talks about the problem of being famous, about his life in Nazi Germany and how his dreams of worldwide peace were shattered. He appears bright, witty, hugely sympathetic, but also tormented and dreamy.

Jean-Claude Carriere is a writer, playwright and screenwriter. He is notably the co-author of Conversations About the End of Time (with Stephen Jay Gould, Umberto Eco, etc.). He recently collaborated with Michael Haneke on his award-winning film The White Ribbon and he has worked with many of the twentieth century's great directors including Peter Brook, Milos Forman, Luis Bunuel and Jean-Luc Godard.

A thought-provoking introduction to Einstein and quantum theory -- John Williams * Mail on Sunday * Carriere's humane sensibility makes him the ideal man to humanise Einstein -- Peter Forbes * Independent * Since the 1960s, Carriere has had his finger on the pulse of Europe's imagination...In Carriere's story...undecidability and doubt have leached out of science and into ethics -- Lisa Jardine * The Times * [A] coruscating, yet gently whimsical, tour ...Carriere...has an impeccable pedigree in science publishing...There are some sharp incidental pleasures and some witty reflections to be enjoyed -- Victoria Neumark * Times Educational Supplement *