Booklist
The anno mirabilis was 1905, when an obscure patent examiner published several papers. This volume consists of translations of Einstein's revolutionary papers that year, with introductions by physicist Roger Penrose and others that explain why these papers are among the most important scientific documents of this century--if not all time. As a group they are notable for bridging mechanical theories of physics--particles whizzing around--and the relativistic view. In the former category, Einstein figured out the sizes of molecules, and that their bombardments kept microscopic particles in motion, both mysterious matters hitherto. The relativity papers announce the two things everyone knows about Einstein besides his iconic appearance, that energy and mass are equivalent and that time is not absolute. That the soul of this book is Ph.D.-level mathematics doesn't disqualify it from public libraries: mightn't some wunderkind of the future fondly remember in her memoirs the day she discovered Einstein's actual equations in the stacks? Gilbert Taylor
Review
In these excellent new translations of Einstein's papers, the economy and freshness of Einstein's style come through with undiminished force. . . . To re-read these papers is to relive perhaps the most dramatic year in the history of physics.
