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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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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
IMHO this book achieves exactly what it sets out to, which is to provide an enjoyable background to Einstein's most famous work. Skipping between key points in Einsteins life, light-weight physics and the social-life of certain noteable physicists the book is always entertaining even if some of the physics is flawed. Despite these flaws the book provides a very readable introduction for the layman and the physics coverered (such as it is) will be more than sufficient for 90% of people. The remaining 10% (those with a physics background) shouldnt be reading this book, the rest will come away knowing more than they did before!
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read
Superb book, makes a normally dull subject very interesting with a great insight into the characters behind one of the greatest scientific discoveries.
Published 23 months ago by Mr. C. J. P. Zisimides
Excellent book for bringing this most famous of equations to everybody
I read a lot of science books, and my background and training is all in science as well. And I love this book! Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2010 by MweaG
At Last, I understand!
What an amazing book. It leads you through the 300 year maze of scientific thought and theories with humour and insight and suddenly you can see the picture of why Einstien was... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by Mr. A. Cardash
Accessible insight, for the rest of us...
Very interesting book. Fortunately for those of us who do not have any genuine matehematical / physics background, we are able to easily graps the basic concepts and key ideas that... Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2007 by H. Cox
spot on
This is the kind of book that makes science interesting. Bodanis knows what the regular reader is wondering, and responds in an easy, accessible way. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2006 by chapstick
If you think the the cover is awful, try the content.
If you want to understand e=mc2, and all it implies, there are many good books out there, this isn't one of them. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2006 by Mr. John B. Franklin
simple and clear
This is one of the best science books i have ever read. It was fascinating to learn the history of each componant of the formula. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2005 by Mavikaya
I did not undestand the equation after reading this book!
Agree with frure's comments below. This book is so generalized and simplified that I didn't understand anything. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2005 by B. Chandler
Where's the editor
The most interesting content of this book was completely spoiled for me by the evident lack of a decent editor. Any editor at all in fact. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2003 by pilgarlick
Very poor and misleading - minus 5 stars if allowed
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. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2003 by Frure
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