Einsrin\'s Dreams by Alan Lightman

Einstein's Dreams

Alan Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams presents various notions about time that apparently came to Albert Einstein in his dreams. Lightman calls his work a novel, although that characterization can be argued. Novels feature characters. Action takes place, usually through a sequence of events. Lightman's prose is more like thought than a story. He makes interesting and provocative declarations about the way things are. He poses questions of his readers, designed to make them think. Einstein's Dreams is a unique work of fiction and enjoyable to read, but it lacks all the elements that typically are found in novels.

People experience time differently. Older people often say that time passes more quickly the older one gets. Time seems to pass quickly when a person is having fun, and much more slowly when doing something unpleasant or tedious. One of the stories shows people living in the moment, while another shows them repeating their lives over and over. Both feel as though they have some truth in them. People often feel the most joyous when they are totally open to what they are experiencing at that moment, without getting weighed down by the past or worrying about the future. On the other hand, it is possible we return to this world for many lifetimes, although the religions that have this idea as part of their creed hold that people are supposed to return in order to do things differently and to learn from their mistakes, rather than make exactly the same ones. This point is emphasized in the story dated 10 May 1905, where Lightman observed, "Individual people become stuck in some point of their lives and do not get free."

In the story dated 28 April 1905, Lightman states, "Those of religious faith see time as the evidence for God. For surely nothing could be created perfect without a Creator." This line seems to refer to Genesis, which is the story of creation that supposedly took place in seven days. It makes sense that if God created the world and everything in it, time is a part of that creation. Another reference to God as the creator of time is in the Interlude. In a conversation between Einstein and Besso, Einstein remarks, "I want to understand time because I want to get close to The Old One." It is interesting that Einstein does not use the name "God." The reader knows what Lightman is talking about and is thus free to interpret time with an understanding of his or her own God.

Love and time are also topics of some of the stories. One of these is dated 19 April 1905. A man is unsure about a woman he is seeing, and he has an opportunity to try each of three scenarios to see how the relationship will work. Almost anyone would welcome such an opportunity, as it would be some assurance against later heartache!

All the stories are fantasy, and some are not even logical. In the story dated 26 April 1905, Lightman describes houses in the mountains, some of which are built on stilts half a mile tall. It is not logical. There is only one building in the world that is approximately half a mile tall, and it was completed in Dubai in 2009. The cost of such tall houses would be prohibitive; almost no one could afford to live in them. People could not easily go in and out of their houses and they could not easily buy supplies. Travel up and down these great heights would be impractical. Another story that defies logic is the one dated 8 May 1905, which discusses the end of the world. If the world truly ended, as it did in the story, no one would be left to write the story.