From Publishers Weekly
Veteran science writer Panek's pairing of the dual icons Einstein and Freud, whose labors were in widely disparate fields, is both natural and inspired. He uses his formidable writing skills to illuminate two of the 20th century's most notable accomplishments, the theory of general relativity and the discovery of the unconscious, weaving them into an informative and interesting history of the scientific method. Panek's explanation of Einstein's theory of relativity is excellent, and readers will with pleasure understand this counterintuitive concept. He is equally good at describing how Freud developed his theory of the unconscious. Panek also describes how the two rejected the 19th-century scientific paradigm, which held that the more accurate measurement of physical aspects of the universe would unravel its secrets. As Panek (Seeing and Believing) states, "...Einstein and Freud wound up venturing where their contemporaries did not because at a certain point, they didn't investigate. They thought. They reconceived the problem." Besides providing valuable biographical detail about both Freud and Einstein, Panek demonstrates a wide-ranging knowledge of the development of scientific thought and philosophy, as well as the major developments in both cosmology and the study of human anatomy. There is a remarkable amount of information in this short book, and Panek's valuable thesis—that the triumph of 20th-century science was the discovery of the invisible workings of the universe and ourselves—is well made. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Scientific American
A less likely pairing emerges in this book--Einstein and Sigmund Freud. Although they met just once and didn't know what to make of each other's work, Einstein and Freud became the foremost proponents of research on the frontier of the invisible, the search for the next level of scientific data--evidence we can't see.

Editors of Scientific American

From Booklist
Packing Einstein and Freud together, science journalist Panek considers the philosophical aspects of each thinker's speculative leaps. Panek thinks their departures from pure empiricism are worth comparing because the success of Einstein's theory of general relativity contrasts with the failure of Freud's theories about the subconscious to be accorded the status of a science. Approaching matters historically, Panek discusses the limits of measurability that physics and physiology were bumping up against when Einstein and Freud, a generation apart, were starting their careers. As the author states, relativity had been part of physics since Galileo, but Einstein boldly intuited, without solid contemporary evidence, that relativity must knit together mass, motion, and electromagnetism. Also without proof, Freud vaulted from the 1890s state of knowledge about neuroanatomy to the idea that the psyche could be broken into analytical parts. The difference between each man's venture into the "invisible," as Panek's title puts it, is that Einstein has been vindicated whereas Freud has not. Readers drawn to philosophies of science will be Panek's best audience. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Book News, Inc.
At first glance, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud seem to share little common ground in their respective scientific endeavors. Yet, for science reporter Panek, they are both representative of a revolution in science, in which observation and experimentation made room for evidence of the invisible. He tells the parallel stories of how both men reached impasses into their inquiries into physics and the mind, how they formulated new methodologies to address the impasse, and how they gave birth to the two new sciences of cosmology and psychoanalysis.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Boston Globe
Allows us to see in a different light a history that was in front of our eyes all along.

Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams
A gem of a book. Elegant, informative, provocative, and beautifully written.

The New York Times
The Einstein section is brilliant: it is the finest nontechnical presentation of general relativity I have ever read.

The Los Angeles Times
An enjoyable blend of theories and personalities, anecdotes and explanations.

New Scientist
A better presentation of the essence of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity than any number of popular books.

Nature
Both [Freud and Einstein] would have been pleased.

Book Description
Though they met just once, and even then didn’t know what to make of each other’s work, Einstein and Freud had more in common than they might have imagined. Each ran out of evidence using the traditional scientific methods that had worked well since the dawn of the scientific revolution and each adopted new scientific methods that opened up unprecedented intellectual landscapes—relativity in Einstein’s case, the unconscious in Freud’s. In this brilliant, elegant book, renowned science writer Richard Panek traces the creation of two new sciences—cosmology and psychoanalysis—that have allowed us for more than a hundred years to explore previously unimaginable universes without and within. Like a nonfiction version of Einstein’s Dreams, Panek’s The Invisible Century is a story of a revolution in thought that altered not only what or how much we see, but also the very nature of seeing.

About the Author
Richard Panek regularly writes about science for The New York Times and Natural History, where he has served as a monthly astronomy columnist. He has also written about astronomy and cosmology for Esquire, Outside, Discover, World Book Encyclopedia, and National Public Radio. His previous book is Seeing and Believing: How the Telescope Opened Our Eyes and Minds to the Heavens.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Though they met just once, and even then didn't know what to make of each other's work, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud had more in common than they might have imagined. Each had explored the foremost problem in his field, and each had found himself confronting the same obstacle: a lack of evidence - or at least evidence as science then knew it. In this narrative, Richard Panek joins them on the parallel journeys of discovery that altered forever not only what or how much we see, but the very nature of seeing itself.

SYNOPSIS

At first glance, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud seem to share little common ground in their respective scientific endeavors. Yet, for science reporter Panek, they are both representative of a revolution in science, in which observation and experimentation made room for evidence of the invisible. He tells the parallel stories of how both men reached impasses into their inquiries into physics and the mind, how they formulated new methodologies to address the impasse, and how they gave birth to the two new sciences of cosmology and psychoanalysis. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

David Gelernter - The New York Times

[Panek's] innovation is a striking thesis about ''invisibility": Einstein and Freud did not revolutionize intellectual history by interpreting evidence as good scientists are supposed to. To start, they barely glanced at the evidence. They discovered their astonishing new truths by running thought experiments and introspecting … The Invisible Century is illuminating to read and fun to shout at.

Publishers Weekly

Veteran science writer Panek's pairing of the dual icons Einstein and Freud, whose labors were in widely disparate fields, is both natural and inspired. He uses his formidable writing skills to illuminate two of the 20th century's most notable accomplishments, the theory of general relativity and the discovery of the unconscious, weaving them into an informative and interesting history of the scientific method. Panek's explanation of Einstein's theory of relativity is excellent, and readers will with pleasure understand this counterintuitive concept. He is equally good at describing how Freud developed his theory of the unconscious. Panek also describes how the two rejected the 19th-century scientific paradigm, which held that the more accurate measurement of physical aspects of the universe would unravel its secrets. As Panek (Seeing and Believing) states, "...Einstein and Freud wound up venturing where their contemporaries did not because at a certain point, they didn't investigate. They thought. They reconceived the problem." Besides providing valuable biographical detail about both Freud and Einstein, Panek demonstrates a wide-ranging knowledge of the development of scientific thought and philosophy, as well as the major developments in both cosmology and the study of human anatomy. There is a remarkable amount of information in this short book, and Panek's valuable thesis-that the triumph of 20th-century science was the discovery of the invisible workings of the universe and ourselves-is well made. Agent, Henry Dunow. (On sale June 21) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Two of the most bankable subjects in popular science writing are Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. Although a tome examining ostensibly new aspects of one or the other is published every couple of years, this book may be the first to have both names in the title. Panek, who writes about science for the New York Times and Natural History magazine, examines Einstein's and Freud's careers to show that many of their era's epochal insights required a leap of faith beyond what could be demonstrated through empirical experimentation. Panek is best at discussing the many ways the search for the unseen manifested itself. Did Einstein and Freud embrace and advance this idea? Certainly. But Panek might just as well have focused on, say, Marie Curie and Carl Jung to make the same point, albeit with the loss of some celebrity-name recognition. Finally, the text would have profited from some editing; the chapters are long, continuous narratives, and some pacing and segmentation would have helped. Optional for public and undergraduate libraries.-Gregg Sapp, Science Lib., SUNY at Albany Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews