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LIMITED EDITION SIGNED BY EINSTEIN. First edition, number 629 of 760 numbered copies signed and dated by Einstein. This important volume contains Einstein s autobiography, specially written for the book, and itself an important scientific contribution. It also includes a bibliography of his works, twenty-five scientists discussions of Einstein s work and achievements, with Einstein s response in his Remarks Concerning the Essays Brought Together in this Co-Operative Volume . Contributors of essays include Niels Bohr, Max Born, Wolfgang Pauli, and Kurt Gödel. Nobel laureate Isidore Rabi s review hailed this as a most important and significant volume: "It is most difficult to get scientists to write simply and clearly about the fundamentals of their science and the leading philosophical ideas that guide them. Yet these very attitudes, preferences, and tastes are the fundamental ingredients which give quality, differentiation, and individuality to scientific creation and discovery" (Science 3 (1950), pp. 409-410). The book begins with Einstein s Autobiographical Notes . "Everyone who knows Professor Einstein personally is all too well aware of his extreme shyness and his honest and forthright humility. I do not believe that there would have been one chance in ten thousand that the world would ever have secured an autobiography from the hand of Professor Einstein, if the unique nature of the Library of Living Philosophers had not finally convinced him of the worth-while-ness and significance of such an obituary , as he calls his autobiography. Einstein s Autobiographical Notes in themselves assure, therefore, the unique importance of this volume" (Preface, p. xiv). Perhaps the most famous contribution other than by Einstein himself is Bohr s Discussion with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics "Bohr s account of his discussion with Einstein has been called one of the great masterpieces of modern scientific reporting. According to Abraham Pais nowhere in the literature can a better access to [Bohr s] thinking be found " (Jammer, Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, p. 136). There is also Gödel s A Remark about the Relationship between Relativity Theory and Idealistic Philosophy, a seminal paper on the concept of time, which "appears to be the only published piece by Gödel that deals with philosophical issues not directly concerned with mathematics" (S. Feferman, Introductory note, Gödel s Collected Works, Vol. II, p. 199). In Hans Reichenbach s The Philosophical Significance of the Theory of Relativity, the "argument over the nature and role of conventions in science … reach[ed] its highest level of sophistication … The question is whether the choice of a geometry is empirical, conventional, or a priori" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). "In this book there is played out a great scientific drama of the last two decades. The central theme is not a matter which is strictly scientific. It is not whether quantum mechanics is correct in the sense that it gives a true or false description of physical phenomena. It is agreed that quantum mechanics has been extraordinarily fertile in predicting new phenomena which have been verified by experiment and that it has reconciled a whole host of seemingly contradictory experimental results. "The sole question is whether quantum mechanics is satisfactory from the philosophic and aesthetic point of view, and whether it is a good point of departure for a more profound understanding of physical phenomena. "The book starts with an intellectual autobiography by Einstein himself. He satirically calls it his obituary. It is a singularly moving and charming document. I know of no other to compare with it. Neither Newton nor Maxwell nor any of the other great giants of physics had his Schilpp to catalyse such an effort. After reading Einstein s article one realises the great loss this is to scientific culture. "Einstein traces the development of his scientific attitudes.
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