New nonfiction

"Einstein on the Road," by Josef Eisinger. (Prometheus, $25, 280 pages.)

The author is a professor emeritus of molecular biology at New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "At the height of his fame, Albert Einstein traveled the world ... keeping travel diaries in which he recorded his impressions of people and events... Those fascinating records ... are the basis for this engaging personal portrait of Einstein the man."

"Powering the Future: How We will (Eventually) Solve the Energy Crisis and Fuel the Civilization of Tomorrow," by Robert B. Laughlin. (Basic Books, $24.99, 304 pages.)

Laughlin is a physics professor at Stanford, a Nobel laureate (1998), and the author of two previous books, including "The Crime of Reason." In "Powering the Future," he "supplies a highly readable, reassuring glimpse into the possibilities succeeding generations will exploit to power life on earth."

"A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos," by Dava Sobel. (Walker, $25, 288 pages.)

Sobel is the author of several books, including "Longitude." Here, she "dramatizes the series of critical events hat led Nicolaus Copernicus to finally complete and publish his radical treatise on a sun-centric cosmos - forever changing mankind's understanding of our place in the universe."

"The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True," by Richard Dawkins. (Free Press, $29.99, 272 pages.)

Dawkins was, until recently, a professor at Oxford University and is the author of several books, including "The Selfish Gene" and "The Ancestor's Tale"

This book "is a frame-by-frame look at the infinite beauty behind everyday phenomenon that will challenge children and adults, whether they are atheist, agnostic, or religious, to expand their view of reality."