THE INVISIBLE CENTURY: Einstein, Freud, and the Search for the Hidden Universes
Richard Panek, . . Viking, $24.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-670-03074-3
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 (
Reviewed on: 05/03/2004
Genre: Nonfiction
Hardcover - 258 pages - 978-1-84115-277-6
Paperback - 258 pages - 978-0-14-303552-7