Alan Lightman's book, Einstein’s Dreams, is absolutely my favourite book. Considering that he is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it is amazing that his writing is so imaginative and coherent. Here is some of the content of the book. I did a project called  'suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world repeats itself, precisely, endlessly. ‘These words come from this book. I am also a combination of an emotional and rational person, although I am more emotional than rational. If you asked me to define my interest in this book, I would say that it tells the whole Truth, not only the real Truth.

Lightman,A.(1994) Einstein’s Dreams.New York: Time Warner Company.

-        At some time in the past, scientists discovered that time flows more slowly the farther from the center of earth. The effect is minuscule, but it can be measured with extremely sensitive instruments. Once the phenomenon was known, a few people, anxious to stay young, moved to the mountains. Now all houses are built on Dom, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, and other high ground. It is impossible to sell living quarters elsewhere. Many are not content simply to locate their homes on a mountain. To get the maximum effect, they have constructed their houses on stilts. The mountaintops all over the world are nested with such houses, which from a distance look like a flock of fat birds squatting on long skinny legs. People most eager to live longest have built their houses on the highest stilts. Indeed, some houses rise half a mile high on their spindly wooden legs. Height has become status. When a person from his kitchen window must look up to see a neighbor, he believes that neighbor will not become stiff in the joints as soon as he, will not lose his hair until later, will not wrinkle until later, will not lose the urge for romance as early. Likewise, a person looking down on another house tends to dismiss its occupants as spent, weak, and shortsighted. Some boast that they have lived their whole lives high up, that they were born in the highest house on the highest mountain peak and have never descended. They celebrate their youth in their mirrors and walk naked on their balconies.

-        Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world repeats itself, precisely,endlessly. For the most part, people do not know they will live their lives over. Traders do not know that they will make the same bargain again and again. Politicians do not know that they will shout from the same lectern an infinite number of times in the cycles of time. Parents treasure the first laugh from their child as if they will not hear it again. Lovers making love the first time undress shyly, show surprise at the supple thigh, the fragile nipple. How would they know that each secret glimpse, each touch, will be repeated again and again and again, exactly as before?

Alan Lightman is a physicist, and writer born in Memphis, Tennessee on November 28, 1948. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of the international bestseller Einstein's Dreams. He was the first professor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in the science and the humanities.
Lightman's father was Richard Lightman, a movie theater owner, and his mother, Jeanne Garretson, a dancing teacher and volunteer Braille typist.

This is the Burj Arab, Dubai, which people call the 'world's tallest building'. We can check out the news about Dubai, such as it is an oil-rich country with unbelievable architecture. In Alan Lightman's words, 'Height has become status. When a person from his kitchen window must look up to see a neighbour, he believes that neighbour will not become stiff in the joints as soon as he, will not lose his hair until later, will not wrinkle until later, will not lose the urge for romance as early.' It is a real pity that people's power needs to be proved by their height. The world's values have already changed to  real vanity.