The "For Dummies" books have a schoolbag aura that could prove unappealing to a certain stratum of reader. But when you crack open this tome, written by U.S space agency NASA's senior research scientist Carlos I. Calle, you quickly realise that when it comes to the warping of space-time, maybe you are a bit of a dummy. Relatively speaking.

Consequently, Calle starts with a quick lesson on the accepted beliefs in physics before Einstein dipped his oar in. There's a summary of Galileo's contributions and a terrific chapter on the work of J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford and Max Planck to warm you up for quantum physics.

It's intriguing to see Einstein's mind at work, as his simple "thought experiments" offer up amazing insights. Hard concepts are helped along by simple diagrams, plain language and interesting sidebars. And there is no mathematical notation, apart from E = mc2.

In his 'miracle year', 1905, Einstein was 26, a father and working in a patents office. His job was not demanding and he wrote five papers, including two on relativity. His general theory of relativity, which took into consideration acceleration, was a much harder nut to crack and came in 1917. When its importance was quickly realised, The New York Times ran the headline: "New Theory of the Universe. Newtonian Ideas Overthrown." You don't see that every day.

Slowly coming to grips with Einstein's work is only part of the reward here: Calle also tells the stories of young Albert being introduced to science and philosophy by a poor Russian student the family would feed once a week, an uncle who made algebra fun for the boy by turning it into a game of cat and mouse where "x" was the prey, the difficulties Einstein encountered during and after university, the women in his life and his profound thoughts on religion.