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E=mc2 (pb): A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
 
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E=mc2 (pb): A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation (Paperback)

by David Bodanis (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Pan; 6 edition (3 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330391658
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330391658
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 28,451 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #11 in  Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Relativity
    #76 in  Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

E = mc2. Just about everyone has at least heard of Albert Einstein's formulation of 1905, which came into the world as something of an afterthought, but far fewer can explain his insightful linkage of energy to mass. David Bodanis offers an easily grasped gloss on the equation: mass, he writes, "is simply the ultimate type of condensed or concentrated energy," whereas energy "is what billows out as an alternate form of mass under the right circumstances."

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are less well known than Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the "dominion of matter" with "a great stillness"--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well: namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--and a view that would change the world.--Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

'Bodanis himself seems like an intellectual thermonuclear explosion, a kind of Jonathan Miller on speed... This is an outstanding introduction to relativity by a gifted practitioner of popular science1 Independent
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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
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 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Expanding spaceships and other stories, 22 May 2004
By C. M. Weeks "chris-weeks" (Maidenhead, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a very enjoyable ride through the story of the world's most famous formula. It's classed as popular science but it could just as easily be classed as popular history. The pure science content is firmly set in its historical context and against the personal foibles and character of the principal protagonists. This makes for a highly digestible blend of learning and anecdote.

The book's great strength is in its use of accessible examples to illustrate the science. I've struggled with descriptions of the theory of relativity before and lost them about the time that the train starts stretching as it passes the stationery observer. David Bodanis builds up visual examples with easy to follow logic. He has an instinctive understanding of the layman's instinctive 'difficult' questions that block their understanding and he does not shirk them.

I picked up on this book following its namecheck in Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". Their styles are similar and if you liked that you will like this.

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27 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Very poor and misleading - minus 5 stars if allowed, 19 Jan 2003
By Paul Griffin (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This is one of the worst science books I have ever read. It has so many flaws it is hard to list them all; the biographies in many places are completely inaccurate and biased. Heisenberg is damned with no references what-so-ever to any saving graces, even though any science historian will tell you that this is no simple matter. There is no mention of the trivial errors that Heisenberg made in calculations which would have speeded up the German atom bomb and which Heisenberg claimed later were deliberate. All the biographies are completely one-sided and with no depth.
The science is wrong in many places. Continually he writes that kinetic is given by, E=mv^2 when the correct answer is half that. His so-called derivation of this formula is that some scientists measured that E=mv was too small so they tried E=mv^2. A useless explanation of an interesting and fundamental point. On the point of using mv (momentum) or mv^2 ((twice) kinetic energy) in calculations, he misses the point that momentum has direction and energy doesn't. A trivial, but very insightful point completely missed.
His thorough and clear explanation (ha!) of the speed of light being an absolute limit is misleading also. Apparently somehow light 'squirts' out elctric and magnetic waves and therefore must always go at the speed of light! ... as a professional physicist this explanation is laughable and is in no-way helping to understand what actually happens.
A further annoying point was his constant reference to his own website for further details. I know that I can find information on the internet, but here I decided to read a book. If I wanted to search the net, then I would have done so. If the website contains relevant information, then put it in the book.

Basically I hated this book. It's explanations are often wrong and always awkward, which is especially annoying as there are many good books out there (e.g. books like 'Science Matters'). His biographies are glancing and one dimensional and again so often wrong and misleading. Do not buy this book.

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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A friendly introduction to the Great man's equation!, 11 Nov 2001
By A Customer
A well written "biography" of the well known and often quoted equation presented in a clear style. Not a deep mathematical wade through the complexities but a history of the events leading to the equation being born. The book takes the reader through the gestation period, childhood and adult life. Finishing with it's death in the form of the universes demise. A really entertaining read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars spot on
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1.0 out of 5 stars If you think the the cover is awful, try the content.
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5.0 out of 5 stars simple and clear
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1.0 out of 5 stars Badly written, patronising and fundamentally confused
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