Here's a chance to become more intimately acquainted with an exceptional life that straddles both world wars, a biography that introduces the reader to the histories of England, Germany, Switzerland, England, Israel, Italy and Japan in relation to both conflicts .

The pre & post war economies, businesses, and careers possible as described here seem a world away from today. Seeing them from the perspective of Einsteins life, his family's ups and downs , and the way they separate colleagues, couples, siblings, parents and children forces the reader to consider the wars as more than a VE Day vignette .

More than a history of 20th century physics, here is also an in depth look at the personalities who shaped the way we look at today's universe and the concepts they entertained, pursued, and developed.

This bio shows many of the false starts and might have beens as Einstein sought entrance at school, later tried and failed to gained teaching posts, and a gainful occupation. His romantic and family life were similarly a series of trial and error, pleasure and sorrow.

But, perhaps most remarkably here too is a celebration of music, a life that intersects with politics and academia, with loves great and small for sailing, tobacco, the comforts of home.

In the end it's images of small things like a knife in a lakeside cottage in Germany that I will remember about this remarkable man and his unusual life.