Historical Allusions

• "Einstein's Dreams" - The title of the novel refers to Albert Einstein, as the book loosely chronicles his developing of the theory of time. (Whole book).

• Besso - "Einstein and Besso walk slowly down Speichergasse in the late afternoon" (p.51). This refers to Michele Besso who alerted Einstein to the research by De Pretto on the theory of relativity. So in 1905 Einstein published his own work.

• The Aare - "A boatman on the Aare unties his small skiff and pushes off" (p.5). The Aare is the greatest river which both starts and ends entirely within Switzerland, it's total length, including all bends.

• Marktgasse - "Walking on the Marktgasse one sees a wondrous sight" (p.66). This refers to a street in the old city of Berne, Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland.

• Zurich - "In Zurich, strict laws have recently been approved by the Council. Pistols may not be sold to the public" (p.39). Referring to Zurich, the capitol of Switzerland.