Einstein Lived Here

These 11 essays, articles and pastiches of interviews are assembled by a physicist who is arguably Einstein's best interpreter; his biography of Einstein (1879-1955), Subtle Is the Lord , won the American Book Award in 1983. Pais's rigidly organized approach in that book served Einstein's science well but constricted the various, random views of ``Einstein the man'' collected here. Several of the essays have an unedited, dictated quality; many of the articles appeared in American Scientist in the late 1980s; two sections are reprinted from Subtle Is the Lord . A charming three-page selection, ``Dear Dr. Einstein,'' contains letters addressing the scientist as though he were Ann Landers. The great figure in 20th century science that Pais depicts here seems more his own personal icon than Einstein the man. Photos. (May)