Final Theory
A Novel
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4.0 • 42 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A science professor on the run must find a lost Einstein theory—and keep it from those who might use it to destroy the universe. Don’t miss the “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) doomsday thriller that Booklist calls “a strikingly sweet-natured yet satisfyingly barbed high-tech, high-stakes adventure” in a starred review.
David Swift is called to the hospital to comfort his dying mentor—a renowned scientist who’s been brutally tortured. David is shocked when the old man dies after wheezing “Einheitlichen Feldtheorie.” The Theory of Everything. It was Albert Einstein’s lifetime quest to pin down a unified set of equations that incorporated both relativity and quantum mechanics, combining the physics of stars with the laws of atoms. But Einstein never achieved this goal. Or did he?
In the next two hours, David’s attacked by a Russian assassin, arrested by the FBI, and nearly killed three times. Someone is clearly trying to get their hands on the supposedly failed theory. But why?
As David runs for his life, he’ll team up with his old girlfriend (who happens to be gorgeous, brilliant, and living in Einstein’s old Princeton house), another eccentric disciple of Einstein, and an autistic teenager addicted to video games, in order to work out what Einstein’s theories could possibly be worth to the powers desperate for it—and if the world is even ready for their consequences.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alpert's exciting debut takes the premise that Albert Einstein succeeded in discovering a unified field theory, but hid the result, fearing it could lead to weapons far more powerful than the atom bomb. In the present day, several contenders the U.S. government, a savage mercenary bent on revenge, various scientists all scramble to uncover the theory. Theoretical physicist Hans Kleinman, once one of Einstein's assistants, is tortured by an intruder who demands he divulge the theory. Columbia University professor David Swift is at Kleinman's bedside when the old man makes a few cryptic statements, imparts a string of numbers and then dies. Soon David is off and running for his life, as all the theory seekers give chase. David stays one step ahead with the help of the beautiful Monique Reynolds, another physicist. Alpert, a Scientific American columnist, sticks to proper thriller structure while imparting interesting and accessible science. The relentless action, including one giant twist and plenty of smaller ones, builds to a pulse-pounding conclusion.
Customer Reviews
Ultimately my favorite book ever!
I first came across this book when I was about 15 yrs old. I knew nothing about string theory. I began to fall in love with science. I soon fell in love with metaphysics as of recently. I am now 22 and this book, amongst all of Mark Alpert's books, remained my favorite. His books are basically about what Einstein had said about imagination, "intelligence having fun."