Seven of Albert Einstein’s Favorite Books

Book List
August 15, 2022

There is a famous Einstein quote on the internet: “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the library’s location.” I am not sure if Albert Einstein said those words, but that quote makes sense. Everyone should know the library in their neighborhood!

Einstein was a genius. He was gifted, but there was also another reason why he was so smart; reading a lot of books. He loved getting a book from his large library and reading for hours.

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Albert Einstein, we learned that Einstein preferred mostly philosophical and scientific books, and some books influenced thinking, which was very normal.

What were Einstein’s favorite books?

But what are those books which affected Einsteins’ thinking more? I did some search for you and listed seven of Einstein’s favorite books for you below!

*** If you like Albert Einstein, you should also check “The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein: 15 Beautiful Physics Books.”

Oliver Byrne – The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid

Euclid
2013
4.56

Oliver Byrne - The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid from TASCHEN is more than a math book; it's a piece of art. The visually appealing layouts, fascinating colors, and sketch drawings provide an artistic approach to math....

Albert Einstein, Books for Designers, Classics, Design, Euclid, Featured, Geometry, Math 101, Math History, Mathematics

Ethics

Baruch Spinoza
1677
4.08

The Ethics, published soon after Spinoza's passing, is undoubtedly his best work. It is an exquisite, completely logical cosmology drawn from basic principles that offer a cogent portrait of reality and a definition of what it means to live an ethical life. It defines the nature of God, the mind, the emotions, human bondage to the emotions, and the power...

Albert Einstein

Analysis of Sensations

Ernst Mach
1999
3.71

Mach established an early version of scientific positivism by insisting that sensation serves as the data for all physical and psychological science. As such, it gave Külpe and Titchener an epistemological framework for their developing ideas. Mach also contributed to the foundation for the Gestaltists' eventual acceptance of the phenomenal status of extension and duration by viewing space and time...

Albert Einstein

Number: The Language of Science

Number is a tour de force that is both eloquent and easily accessible, and it illustrates how the concept of number evolved from prehistoric times up until the twentieth century. Tobias Dantzig, a renowned professor of mathematics, demonstrates that the development of mathematics, from the invention of counting to the discovery of infinity, is a profoundly human story that progressed...

Albert Einstein, Classics, Math 101, Math Books for 2023, Mathematics

Don Quixote

"Don Quixote has spent so much time reading stories of chivalry that he has become convinced that he should live the life of a knight errant himself. These adventures blossom in all kinds of wonderful ways when he is accompanied by his loyal squire, Sancho Panza. Sancho develops a certain degree of sagacity and cunning compared to Quixote, who is...

Albert Einstein, Clothbound, Most Translated

The Essential Goethe

The Essential Goethe is the most thorough and complete compilation of Goethe's writings that has ever been made available in English. It makes it simpler than ever for users of the English language to access the most extensive body of work by one of the greatest authors in human history. There is a complete representation of Goethe's work as a...

Albert Einstein

A Treatise of Human Nature

DAvid Hume
1739
3.93

All a person's perceptions can be divided into two distinct categories that I will refer to as IMPRESSIONS and IDEAS. The distinction between them is in the intensity and vibrancy with which they penetrate our thoughts or consciousness and affect our state of mind. We can call the perceptions that come most violently and forcefully impressions. Under this umbrella term,...