Despite what one might think seeing the title, the book was very interesting as it traced the discoveries behing the famous equation.

Immensely readable but never with a sense that the author is "dumbing things down" for the audience. I came away from this book with the message that e=mc2 is a fundamentally important equation with applications across so many different areas and pretty much all of us can and should understand what it's about. The clear and understandable descriptions of sometimes very complex science, combined with the fascinating stories of people along the way who've been part of the e=mc2 story, makes for an interesting and engaging read.

it does explain the equation well, though the book is much more than that. 4 stars is a bit generous, I am rounding up. It uses the equation as a spring board for expansion of how the equation applies to both the creation of the bomb and how it applies to astronomical energy...

A customer at work:

"This title is so stupid, who knows that this would even mean, 'e equals mc two. How the hell am I supposed to know what this book is even about?"

ไม่ใช่เรื่องของไอน์ไตน์เพียงคนเดียว แต่เป็นเรื่องราวของนักวิทยาศาสตร์หลายๆคนที่มีส่วนเกี่ยวของกับสมการ E=mc2 ตั้งแต่ยุคแรกของการคิดค้นจนถึงการนำไปใช้งานอย่างจริงจัง

To be honest, this book was good, but not as I expected, that it would be awesome; as I was longing to lay my hands on this books for nearly an year until I found this in my usual bookstore.
And this is truly an amazing biography of the Equation, of which Dr.Einstein would have had only a moderate knowledge.
This book is a collection of stories of different thinkers, from the medieval period to the detonations of nuclear bombs, and how they happened to do it, from our history books. Many of which I had much more insight than what's in the book. This book contains a far little and juvenile scientific approach, which 'might' annoy certain people with a profound knowledge in Physics. But it also gave me many amazing details of certain discoveries.

I enjoyed the book and appreciated the high level overview of events and personalities who shaped the history of modern physics. I did find bits of it a little too "dumbed down" ... But that is what the author set out to do. I recommend it to those who want to gain some insights into Einstein's big ideas.

unique take on the memorable equation. do not know why some of the various stories seemed familiar, but then i do read a bit, i am interested in science, in cosmology, even if it is not like my math is good enough. easy read by focusing on biographical elements of each part of the equation, including some names i had heard before- du chatelet, voltaire, maxwell, hoyle etc- and some new, women mostly, who had been written out of scientific history. long sections to the end, future reading, notes, further adventures of this and that person or idea…

i was really enjoying this, thinking i understood, when my father said he felt he same until he noticed something wrong- or wrongly put- and this confused me, engaged me to wonder what it was, because… he could not remember what it was. i have to take father’s word for it. he is retired university prof in theoretical chemistry. he said he would get back to me next week, and that yes it is a good book anyway. sigh…

dad said it is missing the equation of the Lorentz Transformation, oh well. feel much better. stupid, but better.

review continues: http://www.michaelkamakana.com/favour...

Giving 5-stars to this biographical masterpiece makes me want to lower the rating of every other book I’ve read this year. WOW! This biography of the world’s most famous equation (E = mc^2) is unbelievably enchanting, thrilling and fascinating in all the right ways.

Bodanis ingeniously provides the reader with an unforgettable ‘mini history’ of each component of Einstein’s equation — energy, mass, speed, the equals sign and the exponent. He then broadens the reader’s horizon to view the ‘childhood’ (discovery), ‘adolescence’ (paradigm-shift), and ‘adulthood’ (application) of the equation with simplicity and suspense.

I particularly enjoyed the way Bodanis spends time elaborating the contributions of under-represented and under-appreciated women theoretical physicists to both special and general relativity. Wish more books like this existed :/

WARNING: this book will make you fall in love with math

A brilliant idea to write a biography of the equation. Bodanis' writing skills aren't brilliant, but they don't render the book unreadable, just awkward from time to time, verging on Clank! here and there. My favorite part is the beginning, where he tells the history of the terms of the equation. How did 'c' come to stand for the speed of light, and what's the story of its derivation? Fascinating stuff. He also traces the history of the equation from its publication in 1905 through the development of the first A-bomb in the Manhattan Project, and the potential future of the universe--all based on the truths of e=mc2.

I bought this several years ago as one of those books to sit on my shelf for a while. Then one day I thought "OK it's time to read about the world's most famous equation." It took me a while to finally finish it because I enjoyed it so much that I read it twice. I love science, I love books about the history of science, and I love learning about the people who have a question and don't let it go until they figure it all out. I had no idea who Cecilia Payne was until I read this book. What does SHE have to do with Einstein's famous equation? Read this book and you will come to appreciate her and many others who help us understand the wonders of our universe.

Unlike most books on this sort of thing, Bodanis does an excellent job of hiding how much research he's actually done. This makes the work an excellent introduction to these, and related topics, by focusing on the human side of the key players surrounding the development and application of this most famous, and simple of physics equations. There are a few spots here and there where his prose drifts into romanticizing this or that odd encounter. Sometimes this works, and sometimes this, quite frankly, fails spectacularly. But, these cringe-worthy episodes are spread out enough to make quite an enjoyable read, and Bodanis' prose certainly encourages one to look into the history of the more marginal figures in this historical drama.