Herr Doktor

Isn't he cute? Ladies, don't you just want to throw yourself at him? Me neither. What was the charm of this little German? I thoroughly enjoyed this book about him. It debunks a lot of old Einstein Tales. No, he didn't flunk out of grade school. He was always precociously bright.

This is what I gathered about him. He never thought like other people. He always approached problems by visualizing them in some way. I was just talking to my brother in D.C. Eric asked how I could listen to this book? How do you see the equations? I said I see them like Einstein did, in my mind (I'm not a genius, it is easy to do that with this book.) Eric said, "Ah, elevators." Yep. That's it. If you don't know what that means, you'll just have to read this book.

I also gathered that he was a man who lived totally inside his own self. He was sociable and humourous and it wasn't a trial to do that. But he only did that on his own terms. He loved women and loved being with them, but only on his own terms. He didn't appear to cater to their needs at all. He dealt with the scientific and political community on his own terms. He'd have been a lousy politician. There was no compromise in him, no politness to please another. Poor you if you weren't on is agenda.

He would have been an interesting man to know anyway. Edward Herrmann read this book. He has a wonderful voice. This could have been deadly dull, read by the some readers I've listened to. Not so here. I was never bored in the 23 hours of listening. But I did have to take breaks. This book is three segments long. Between each, I listened to a Paul Temple mystery.

These are transcriptions from an old BBC radio show. This one is from 1957. Kind of like the old "B" movies made around that time, they are full of melodrama. What could be more different from that old German Physicist, Einstein? I won't describe them. I wouldn't even recommend them unless you like this Nick and Nora kind of banter, by Jiminy.

It looks like I may be traveling before I leave The Times. Nothing is official on anything pertaining to my leaving. It appears that I will be leaving on 12/21. Nothing in writing yet. It appears that Bill and I will be traveling to the East Coast to visit four of our sister papers. Nothing in writing yet, nor a date. And finally, it appears that Harriet and I may travel to India. That is totally not official, so there is no date. Yippee, more interesting pictures of interesting place. Oh, I will be traveling on a cruise with my brother and sister-in-law in June. They are going to Alaska and have asked me to join in on the fun. That should be interesting. I'll be in D.C. then and flying out here. How cool. :)