Einstein for Beginners

Einstein for Beginners

First edition cover
Author	Joseph Schwartz
Illustrator	Michael McGuinness
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	For Beginners Introducing...
Subject	Albert Einstein Relativity
Publisher	Writers & Readers Pantheon Books Icon Books
Publication date	1979
Media type	Print

Einstein for Beginners, republished as Introducing Einstein, is a 1979 graphic study guide to Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity written by Joseph Schwartz and illustrated by Michael McGuinness. The volume is, according to the publisher's website, "amusing, irreverent, sophisticated and highly accessible," and, "the perfect introduction to Einstein’s life and thought."

"This is," confirms Leonardo reviewer Nan Conklin, "not simply a book explaining Einstein’s scientific work, but a mixture of history, politics and science." In which, according to Science for the People reviewer Professor Paul Thagard, "Einstein's work is related to the rise of electrical industries and the later development of the atomic bomb."

This volume was originally published in the UK by Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative in 1979, following the collapse of this organisation in 1984, in part due to a disagreement over the selling off of the US rights to this title, the book has subsequently been republished in the US by Pantheon Books and in the UK by Icon Books.

Selected editions:

Related volumes in the For Beginners series:

Related volumes in the Introducing... series:

Professor Paul Thagard, writing in Science for the People, describes the book as, "intelligible and entertaining," while Henry McDonald, writing in the Washington Post, describes it as "well illustrated and thoroughly researched".

"Almost half the book," according to Nan Conklin, writing in Leonardo, "is devoted to recounting Einstein’s early life and the influences on him." "Its discussion of the political environment in which Einstein's discoveries were made is." according to McDonald, "informative."