Rating: 4 out of 5
Einstein in Kafkaland is a Graphic Comic by Ken Krimstein. It’s one of the 12 non-fiction books I’ve committed to read this year in pursuit of the motto:
Live like today is the last day of your life; Learn like you will live forever.
This is not the first graphic novel I’ve read, but it is the first non-fiction one. The other two I’ve read are The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. It’s like a 10 volume collection and is excellent. The other is The Watchmen by Alan Moore which is most excellent as Bill and Ted would say.
The Story
The main plot of the story: Albert is trying to figure out how to merge Gravity into his Theory of Relativity.
Albert and family traveled to Prague for his new position at German University in Prague on April 1, 2011. They departed back to Zurich July 25, 2012.
While in Prague he meets Franz Kafka.
The book’s author believes Albert formulated his General Theory of Relativity in Prague. His 1911 paper was correct in theory but the equations were not correct. It took him until 1915 to perfect the Theory which was published in 1916.
In Albert’s own words:
In the quiet rooms of the Theoretical Physical Institute of the Prague German University in the Vinicna ulice I discovered in 1911 that the equivalence principle demands a refraction of the rays of light at the sun of a sum that can be observed without knowing that more than a hundred years before a similar conclusion out of the Newton mechanic in connection with Newton’s emission theory of the light was drawn. Also the still not really confirmed consequence of the red shift of the spectral lines I discovered in Prague.
From the preface he wrote in the Czech edition of his book The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity
The book contained a few interesting characters. I’ll end this review with the list:
Characters
Albert
Our hero along with Franz.
He thinks up stuff about how the Cosmos works
Franz Kafka
An insurance agent that will soon become a great writer.
He is working on his breakout book during this period he wrote The Judgment which is considered his breakout work. He also worked on The Metamorphosis which may be his most well know work during this period
Max Abraham
Out to prove Albert’s theory of relativity is hogwash. Of course he could not.
Mileva
Albert’s wife
Bertha Fanta
Throws a “Salon” where Albert and Franz meet.
They had “Salons” back then where people got together and talked and sometimes played music and maybe sang and did other stuff.
Issac Newton
Comes from the grave to discuss his discovery of gravity with Issac and Franz.
Skeleton
Our story’s narrator – He has graced the astronomical clock in Prague since 1410.
Paul Ehrenfest
Another Austrian physicist visits Albert and gives him some ideas concerning gravity and space-time.
Euclid
Another visitor from the grave, Euclid visits Albert to warn him of shattering the current laws of Physics.
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