The ethical behavior of man is better based on sympathy, education, and social relationships and requires no support from religion. Man's plight would, indeed, be sad if he had to be kept in order through fear of punishment and hope of rewards after death.
I found this at an estate sale in the neighborhood. Some relative had been a physics professor and there were lots of first editions by physicists. This one lists for anywhere from $90 - $1,000+ but I've had it on ebay for a week and the high bid so far is 99 cents. So I'm one cent behind as I paid a dollar for it. So much for my fortune as a used-book scooper. [Update: My copy sold on ebay for about $30. I think someone got a deal.]
This is not a physics text but rather expresses Einstein's deepest convictions about spirituality, pacifism, and the desire for a Jewish homeland. His basic thesis is that what was needed was a new world religion based on observation rather than superstition. "I will call this the cosmic religious sense. This is hard to make clear to those who do not experience it, since it does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God[...]" (48). The cosmos is wondrous and sublime enough in its own right without having to drag a bunch of fictitious gods--made in the image of man--into the equation.
It is a sad irony that his clarion call for peace, tolerance and ethical inquiry came just before Hitler's rise to power which would soon make of Einstein a political refugee due to his being Jewish. With kooky sects such as Mormons and evangelical Christians on the rise, dogma still seems to have the upper hand 78 years later. Nazis, Mormons, Evangelicals and fundamentalists of other stripes would all find cause to burn this book--which is reason enough to read it.
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Get the new edition from amazon.com.
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