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Remember when you first learned the concepts of space and time? It all seemed so incomprehensible and yet wonderfully fascinating. Suddenly you were pondering all of these "what ifs" -- what if we could move back in time? Or what if we could leap forward? The notion of alternate realms was fantastic, the imagination overrun with possibilities.

Balancing the exuberance and creativity of youth with the wisdom of adulthood, Alan Lightman has taken some of these questions and expanded their possible answers into a singular novel entitled "Einstein's Dreams."

The book is set in Switzerland in 1905, where a young Albert Einstein is working as a patent clerk. Lightman's elegant, brilliant conceit is to create a journal of Einstein's dreams during those pivotal months before he finished creating his theory of relativity. In each dream Einstein imagines a world in which time has a different definition and possesses characteristics contrary to our own -- and, ultimately, his --concepts of time.

"Einstein's Dreams" is a short novel, and each of the dreams takes only a few pages -- hardly enough space to fully delve into all of the aspects of each imagined world or to sufficiently discuss the intricacies of time and all its implications. Nonetheless, Lightman is effective in creating alternate concepts of time that are at once entertaining and intriguing; he creates questions for readers to ponder on their own.

In one fascinating dream, Lightman imagines a world in which scientists have discovered that time flows more quickly the closer one gets to the center of the Earth. As a result, the entire population, save a few, has moved into the mountains, and every house is built on stilts in an attempt to move as far away as possible from the Earth's core.

The belief is that the higher up you reside, the longer you will live, even though the difference in the flow of time is so small it's barely detectable. Those who live on the ground are shunned, while those in the mountains become obsessed with remaining forever young. As a result, they deny their bodies certain necessities, and, ironically, "the populace... become thin like the air, bony, old before their time."

In one dream Lightman creates a world in which the flow of time is reversed. In this realm we are born old, with all of our memories of life, and as time moves, we become younger and younger. Lightman describes a man standing at the gravesite of his friend. A sad scene becomes a moment filled with hope: The man looks forward to when his friend will be alive and they will be young, drink ale and talk again.

Another dream challenges us to define how we would live if we knew time was finite -- if, for example, we knew the world would end very soon and we knew the exact day and time. Perhaps the world would be in chaos and would break out in anarchy. Or perhaps, as described in the dream, people would quit school and work in order to spend time with loved ones. People would forgive each other, hearts would mend, wounds would heal and strangers would take the time to get to know each other. Instead of a world filled with insanity and despair, it would be a world filled with talk and laughter.

Lightman is a writer of remarkable creativity and ingenuity. A professor of physics and writing at MIT, this 1993 book is his first work of fiction. He beguiles the reader with his accessibility, yet provokes a good deal of thought. Like Ray Bradbury, Lightman spins whimsical science fiction, devoid of wars or aliens. "Einstein's Dreams" is clean, simple and challenging. Take the journey -- there's no time like the present.

《爱因斯坦的梦》
　　　　
　　阿兰.莱特曼（A.Lightman,1948－ ）出生在美国的田纳西州，先在加州理工学院和普林斯顿读书，后在哈佛和麻省理工学院教书。他是位科学家出身的小说家。
　　莱特曼本来就具文学才性，所从事的工作又是很形而上的理论物理。那个领域中的爱因斯坦，我们都知道，是喜欢把物理和哲学、艺术相提并论的。所以，舞文弄墨在他势有必至。莱特曼最初为一些杂志撰写科普文章。《宇宙起源》、《时间旅行》、《劈开原子》等等即是。需要指出的是，他的这些作品比一般的科普科幻作品有着更浓厚的人文色彩。
　　到了《爱因斯坦的梦》（Einstein’s Dreams），科学原理越发缩小为一种寓言的材料。在这篇小说中，莱特曼信手拈来一些物理学上的说法，搭起三十个时间世界。平日惯见不见的真实摆到这些不寻常的布景前，变得异样的清晰夺目，冻结在读者心中的各种尘世悲欢，也像遇到了春风，开始如诗如画地流淌。有些评论家舍弃不下莱特曼的科学家身份，称此书“探讨了相对论的潜意识温床”，而且还认真核对了有关的物理学假说。这种解梦，就像身世派或索隐派的读《红楼》，不仅拘泥而且穿凿。用莱特曼自己的话说，科学只提供了起跳点，他跃入的，仍是人海。
　　莱特曼生活在一个已磨合好的资本主义商业社会。我们是不好指望他笔下出现风云血火牛鬼蛇神的。学院的环境又为他提供了从口粮到功名几乎一切人生的必需和奢侈品，文学创作对他不过锦上添花。这倒使他在“玩票”或“兼业”时能享受到某种自由：他可以一仍本心，行所欲行，止所宜止，而不必汲汲戚戚地同职业作家们扭作一团。《爱因斯坦的梦》想象的高远，描绘的精微，在很大程度上得力于这种从容不迫的步调、悠闲自如的态度。此书行文简淡而蕴含感情，仿佛明月松间，清泉石上，那种自然而然的境界为一般争奇斗艳的文士所难达到。
　　《爱因斯坦的梦》为莱特曼头一部虚构性小说，一九九二年一问世便赢得评论界交口称赞，还荣登《纽约时报书评》畅销书榜。一九九四年他又出版了一部虚构性小说《好样的贝尼脱》，反响似乎不及《爱因斯坦的梦》。莱特曼年届知命，来日方长，以他的眼界、情怀和笔力，再写出一两部上乘的小说，是有可能的。
　　读其书而慕其人。可惜我们只知道莱特曼如今在大学里除了物理还教写作，并负责着一个人文项目；他谈吐诙谐而不动声色，大概属于美国人说的“英国式幽默”；爱抽烟。有回靠在椅上，用一只老辈子留下的烟斗吞云吐雾，有形无状，似是而非，使他恍惚不辨今世何世，此身谁身，于是发心弄起了文学。