Einstein seems to be a popular topic for books. I know that I have accumulated four in my collection without even trying. Some of the non-fiction stuff is even more fascinating than the fiction. I probably even have a couple that use Albert Einstein as a minor character. He was definitely an interesting person who had an impact on the world.
I just finished Einstein’s Secret by Irving Belateche. I had purchased it two years ago. That’s the problem with having a Kindle. As I buy new books faster than I can read them, the books I can’t get to get pushed down my “to read” pile.
That’s a disappointment with this book. I found it a fun time-travel story. It begins with Albert Einstein’s death in 1955 and a lost message that he wrote on his deathbed.
Jacob Morgan is a history professor who has been seeking to discover what that lost message was for most of professional career. This obsession has left his reputation in question and his teaching career on the rocks.
However, as he begins a new job at the University of Virginia. Then he gets a break in his hunt for the message that leads to him discovering time travel is possible. He accidentally travels back in time to the 1950s where he sets out to find Einstein’s secret.
Another person more familiar with time travel is hunting him, though, trying to erase any evidence of Einstein’s secret to time travel. This begins to make alterations to the timeline that can change Jacob’s present. If he can’t correct them, he and Einstein might not survive in the new time.
The book moved quickly and I enjoyed the story. It had some surprising twists, which is not uncommon for a time travel story.
My biggest complaint is that Belateche didn’t do more-thorough research. Some of the scenes are set in Cumberland, Md., and I can tell that he didn’t double-check what it was like there in the 1950s. Once I caught a couple of his mistakes with that, I found myself second-guessing some of the other details. This is too bad because it pulled me out of the story every time I wondered about a detail.
I was also a little disappointed in how the antagonist was dealt with. It was satisfying, but I expected more action with it.
Overall, I might give it 4 out of 5 stars.
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