The Merely Personal

by Jeremy Bernstein

""Ever since I began studying science," Jeremy Bernstein writes, "I have been struck by its human characteristics. Yet in his autobiography, Einstein said that he took up science precisely as an alternative to the merely personal. In fact there is no alternative to the merely personal, as Einstein's own life demonstrates."" "Thus the title of Mr. Bernstein's sparkling new collection of essays, which represents much of his work over the past ten years.". "In The Merely Personal, his essays range from an attempt to explain the quantum theory through the use of Tom Stoppard's play Hapgood, to a critical review of recent books on Einstein. They describe Mr. Bernstein's encounters with such people as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Hans Bethe, Bobby Fischer, W. H. Auden, and Richard Feynman. Readers will find an explanation of the origin of Newton's contention that he stood on the shoulders of giants; a description of a surreal encounter with the logician Kurt Godel; a discussion of computer chess;