FROM THE PUBLISHER

"What holds the sun and planets in space?" "I want to know what is beyond the sky. My mother said you can tell me." "One question I would like to ask is if you make any mistakes?"

We are often amazed by the wide-eyed innocence and boundless curiosity of children and the questions they ask. And letters to and from children are always appealing, especially so when they are written to someone famous. In Dear Professor Einstein, Alice Calaprice has gathered a delightful and charming collection of more than sixty letters, most never published before, from children to perhaps the greatest scientist of all time. Obviously, Einstein could not respond to every letter written to him, but the responses he did find the time to write reveal the intimate human side of the great public persona, a man who, though he spent his days contemplating mathematics and physics, was very fond of children and enjoyed being in their company. Whether the children wrote to Einstein for class projects, out of curiosity, or because of prodding from a parent, their letters are amusing, touching, and sometimes quite precocious.

Enhancing this correspondence are numerous splendid photographs showing Einstein amid children, wearing an Indian headdress, carrying a puppet of himself, and donning fuzzy slippers, among many other wonderful pictures, many published for the first time in this book.

Complete with a foreword by Einstein's granddaughter Evelyn, a biography and chronology of Einstein's life, and an essay by Einstein scholar Robert Schulmann on the great scientist's educational philosophy, this wonderful compilation will be welcomed by teachers, parents, and all the young, budding scientists in their lives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Scientific Thoughts "I have started to write before many times, only to tear the letter into bits. For you are such a brillant [sic] person... I am just an average twelve year old girl in the 7A at Eliot Junior High School... You and my uncle, who is in the Coast Guard, are my heroes." So begins one of the many touching missives on everything from the theory of relativity to a comic book about atoms in Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein's Letters to and from Children, edited by Alice Calaprice (The Quotable Einstein). Includes a thumbnail biography, an introduction by Einstein scholar Robert Schulmann and a foreword by the physicist's granddaughter, Evelyn Einstein. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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