The Soul of Genius: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and the Meeting that Changed the Course of Science

This is a delightful and illuminating book! Jeffrey Orens brings to life so many of the famous names of science. He conveys their brilliance, their human qualities, their trials, and their flaws with stories from an amazing period of discovery.The storytelling is excellent and compelling. Orens skillfully sets the context of the times so we can appreciate the importance of the events in the era when they occurred. He also connects those events with our situation today, with astute insights about what has changed and what should have but has not. He has a keen eye for the irony of situations, the consistency and the surprises of people, and the sometimes-unintentional humor and tragedy that results.The book is very well conceived and organized. The research that went into it is astounding and well-documented, but never bogs down the stories. The book moves along quickly and the science is always explained in plain English that is understandable by anyone. The Soul of Genius should be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about people involved in science, key discoveries, and the bumps in the roads to them.Quite an accomplishment and highly deserving of this strong recommendation.

This is an excellent history of a unique scientific meeting in 1911 which brought together some of the greatest scientific minds at the time, including a young Albert Einstein and a more established Marie Curie, to debate the limits of classical physics and the new ideas of quantum physics that had been proposed by Einstein but had not yet been established. You do not need a scientific background to read this book. Instead, if you have an interest in understanding the people involved in moving science forward, the determination and perseverance entailed, and the external challenges they faced as they followed their ideas to find scientific truths, you will enjoy this book.

As an engineer, I've always been fascinated with Einstein's discoveries. Very much enjoyed reading about how the Solvay Conferences came about, and the great minds that came together to discuss new thoughts and discoveries about the world of physics - especially quantum theory. The author also provided comprehensive research and details on the personal lives of Einstein and Madam Curie, and wove in details of the other great minds involved in these conferences. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Learning how scientific progress happens -- the battles fought, the sexism Marie Curie overcame with her eyes focused on discovery. I found it suspenseful and impressively told!

This book tends to promise more than it delivers. Despite the title, there is not much about the actual "relationship" (intellectual or otherwise) between Einstein and Curie. In addition, the reader needs to already be familiar with the lives of both, since this book gives only basic information about their life stories. Finally, there is not enough in this book about the famous meeting of scientists mentioned in the title. Overall, I found this book to be a poor execution of a very promising concept.