* * * 1/2

How does one write the "biography" of an equation? Sure, it's "born" whenever the person invents it, but equations can't exactly grow up, marry and die, at least not in the way living things can. David Bodanis's approach to biography is to first explain each part of the equation (E, =, m, c2) and the scientific developments that led to these elements being used in common scientific parlance, and then to trace the history of the whole equation, from when Einstein first developed it to how the universe will eventually end, in keeping with the principles of the equation.

This was a very satisfactory book. I learned a lot about some of the early French scientists, like Lavoisier, Emilie du Châtelet (who was great! people need to know about her) and Henri Poincaré, as well as some other unsung female scientists such as Cecilia Payne, whose sexist thesis advisor made me want to go back in time and smack him. There was even a WW2 commando raid! I love when those show up in unexpected places in my reading. In this case it was on a heavy water plant in Norway, which was part of the Germans' effort to build an atom bomb.

From a scientific standpoint, the most memorable chapters were the one where Bodanis explains in subatomic detail exactly how the bomb dropped on Hiroshima wrought its horrific damage, and the one where he explains how the universe will end. The latter is probably not the best thing to read right before bed, because it's kind of depressing.

So the question is, how much scientific background do you need to appreciate this book? Well, there is a certain amount of detail when he explains the physics behind the equation, but overall I'd say if you were fine with the physics/Big Bang part of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, this would be a good follow-up.

Excellent book! This really helped pull things together for me, such as what we read about in Feynman's "Six Easy Pieces" and what "heavy water" is. The book is set up as a biography, so it goes through the history behind the pieces of the equation--even the equals sign!--and then through the life of the equation itself. Along the way, Bodanis includes stories about the people involved (Lavoisier, Faraday, Einstein, and many others) that really add color and interest.

The author explains the scientific concepts clearly, even for my less-scientific mind. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who reads. You'll feel much more informed when you finish it!

Starting with each of the letters and symbols in the famous equation, the author tracks down the origin of each. Having explained those, he then charts the path of the individuals and breakthroughs that led to the the first atomic bombs. While that latter part is a little hard to read, knowing the tragedy and death that will follow the development of the bomb, overall this is an enjoyable and informative read. It provided the clearest explanation of the atomic chain reaction that creates the mushroom cloud I've ever read. It's so good, I had to share it with others. "Hey, do you know..." Completely worth your time.

Way too much focus on World War II and so much unnecessary detail and commentary that could have been cut. And too much focus on too many people's lives (I'd forgotten who most of them were when their names were mentioned again). And generally not very good explanations of the physics.

I did not learn much from this book because it was so boring that I didn't process much of the information. And I am pretty interested in physics so it should not have been so boring. I think this only got such a good rating on here because everyone else just stopped reading the book (I would've if I didn't need to finish it for school).