E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation

This book could be used to explain to Cameron Diaz the meaning of the famous equation. I think what readers should expect from this work is to have an " idea " of the meaning of the equivalence of mass and energy, but not more. Inaccuracies are everywhere but who cares ? This is not a book for physicists.

THis book is a really entertaining historical account of the way this equation came about, and has a short commentary on what it has done since, and what it may bring later. It was an eye opener on some of the implications of what the equation really means. Very readable, not a thick text book.

Even though I like math & science subjects, I do not normally put math, science and fascinating all together in the same sentence. E = MC2 is such an interesting story, mostly because it brings "life" into the process. The analytical work was well described for each of the respective persons, along with their human side. Excellent! I will read more by this author!

I originally wrote this review for the hardcover edition, but I actually read the paperback. The pictures in the paperback are not on glossy paper and are therefore not very high quality, but I do not know if this is enough of a drawback to prompt one to buy the hardback instead. I saw the PBS program that was based on this book, so I purchased it hoping to get a more detailed treatment. All in all, I liked the film better, but this is not to say that this book is not worth reading. The book is, as the title describes, a biography (discussion) of the famous Einstein equation. The author goes into detail describing each term (including the = sign). While I have an advanced science degree, I found that there was much of the story that I did not know. Bodanis goes into the personal relationships of all the players and puts their contributions into a social and political as well as a scientific context. I am very familiar with Michael Faraday, but did not appreciate his relationship with Maxwell. I did not realize exactly why Lavoisier was beheaded, or of the contributions of his wife. The author highlights the many overlooked contributions of women scientists. While I was well aware of the work of Lisa Meitner, I had never heard of Emilie du Chatelet and of her very important contributions to 18th century science. The book gives a brief but non-rigorous derivation of the equation itself. It is physical and logical and gave me a very good idea of how Einstein was able to equate energy and mass. Unfortunately, I think that it is a bit of a fudge, and was not the way that Einstein actually derived the formula. Nonetheless, it did let me see that the equation is a logical outgrowth of the special theory of relativity. Bodanis does this in a very readable manner and you definitely do NOT need a science background to understand and enjoy this book. The book covers more than just the famous equation. The book goes into the Manhattan project, Nazi science and their quest for the atomic bomb, the persecution of German Jewish scientists and applications of the equation beyond the atomic bomb. As I said, I liked the film better, but this book is a very useful and entertaining companion to it, as well as a good stand alone read. I would recommend this book to those who want to know more about; the equation itself, the personalities who were involved with the various terms that make up the equation, some of the history of science (particularly as it pertains to women in science), the history of the making of the atomic bomb and a bit of cosmology. While not a complete discussion of these topics the book does give a very useful and entertaining snapshot of them.

I loved this book. It is a first rate physics primer that reads like a great mystery. David Bodanis ( author of The Secret House and The Secret Family, which I also recommend )has a way of ending chapters with intriguing statements or questions that make it difficult to stop reading. His treatment of the Allied Forces' attempts to sabbotage the heavy water facility at Vermork, Norway during WWII is a lot like a short Ken Follett novel. Since finishing the book, I find myself looking for ways to bring up E=mc2 topics in conversations ( "...speaking of smoke detectors, did you know that they derive the power to generate their smoke-sensitive beams from the radioactive decay of americium?" or "...just imagine, the glare from the explosion over Hiroshima would have been viewable from Jupiter" ). This is popular science writing at its best.