A review by jammasterjamie
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

3.0

I first read this book about twenty or so years ago and I remember loving it, although I never really considered it a novel - More a string of collected prose-poetry vignettes filled with interesting concepts and lovely language. Now, having just re-read it for the first time since then, I found the experience to be a little deflating and non-sensical; yes, there are some both beautiful and soul-shaking experiences in this book, but like the dreams they represent I found my mind wandering to other places throughout, and that it was difficult to pay attention to what I was reading because there wasn't a lot to hold my mind - It is a good book to read if you want your mind to go off on tangents of inspiration, but for me at least it doesn't hold up very well as a story. It's the kind of book you can pick up and just turn to any random chapter, and get the exact same experience as you would if you were reading the book from beginning to end - Maybe better, even, because you wouldn't be distracted thinking of what you'd just read before.