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.

Approachable, interesting, entertaining, engrossing . . . And this book is about an equation! Absolutely fantastic. Thank you, David Bodanis!

This is a book of a different sort. I tend to lean more towards short stories and fantasy, but this author proved he could capture my attention with science. The main reason for his success was that this book is not about complicated math and physics only an honor student can comprehend. This book is about the stories of the people who contributed to Einstein's development of his theory. Bodanis takes each portion of the equation "E," "m," "c," "2," and even the "=" and he tells how someone in history thought of it and pushed the world a little closer to Einstein's theory, until ultimately Einstein himself pulled it all together. At the same time Bodanis draws you in to the lives of these contributors; the world around them and why their discoveries were important. You do not have to be a scientist to understand this book, but you will walk away from it with a better understanding of the equation.

Vai että niin.... Mukavahan aihetta oli lähemmin käydä läpi näin jo ennen kuin koulussa päästään edes lähellekään sitä, jollei laske Michael Faradayn mainintaa historiantunnilla. Kirjasta oli kyllä hyötyä.

Ennen en tiennyt muuta kuin että eeonämseetoiseen ja että se hassu einsteinheppu sen keksi ja että siinä vasta komea yhtälö. Nyt tiedän kuitenkin paljon, paljon enemmän ja olen ylpeä siitä (eeonämseetoiseen on nyt mielessäni "energia on yhtä kuin massa kertaa valon nopeus toiseen", ja hirveän paljon kaikkea muutakin opin tottakai).

Nyt pitää vain koettaa pitää kaikki tämä fantastinen tieto päässäni...

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! A must read for anyone interested in learning something (or a lot of things) new - it is truly accessible for anyone. I learned so much about not only the equation, but the history of it's creation and how it's tied to nuclear bombs and even the beginning and end of the universe!

Another Science History book... this one not as good as others. Still it had a lot of interesting notes on renowned science figures. Unfortunately, it seemed to dwell on war history and salacious tidbits which may be interesting to some but not to me.

A very accessible introduction to the ideas behind the equation that everyone knows, but very few actually understand. I love reading science books like this: light on the math and heavy on the anecdotes. Even though I'm familiar with a good deal of the content, and have read about it in a great deal more depth elsewhere, it's great to review such a complicated set of ideas in a new way and the premise (a chapter for each component of the equation) is really fun. It won't do much for the hardcore physics fan, but the layperson or casual science fan will enjoy the read and may even make some surprising discoveries along the way.

This is one of the better explorations of Einstein's work on mass-energy equivalence, especially if you're less interested in the maths and more interested in what E=mc2 actually means. It's very readable, assumes little prior knowledge and does a great job of exploring the meaning of each element of the equation - what are E, m and c? He even explains where = came from.

Bodanis writes well and does as good a job of visualising and explaining some pretty abstract concepts. He wanders a little at times, and perhaps judges Werner Heisenberg a little more harshly than necessary, but it's still an outstanding book in a very crowded genre.

this book is a whole lot of fun. bodanis spreads his arms real wide and grabs a huge of load of knowledge-forming information, packs it all together like neutrons and protons, forms it into a nice little ball and hands it to you on a thin, ceramic plate that had last been used to feed sloppy joes to a ten year old glued to the public broadcasting system.

a millisecond-by-millisecond narrative of the hiroshima bomb's innards as it fell was the most thrilling ten minutes of reading i've had in a while.

Het leukste populair wetenschappelijke boeken dat ik ken. Ik las de vertaling een jaar of tien geleden maar krijg weer zin om het te herlezen. Dat komt vooral door het intro:
'Een tijdje terug las ik in het tijdschrift Première een interview met de actrice Cameron Diaz, waarbij de interviewer aan het eind vroeg of er nog iets was dat zij graag zou willen weten. 'Ja', zei Diaz. 'Wat betekent eigenlijk E = mc2?'

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.

In popular culture, Einstein’s name is synonymous with the word genius. His famous equation of E=mc2 is likewise equally known but admittedly little understood other than in a very fundamental sense. This book offers a chance for the layman to grasp the components of this famous theorem of Albert’s in a very novel and thoroughly entertaining manner.

Each component of this equation is broken down into individual histories, starting with an explanation of the concepts behind the symbol E, representing “energy,” this is then explored throughout its first origins to the latter day expansions upon the idea with short brief bios on the people behind each leap of understanding. Subsequently, each symbol is likewise explored in exacting detail.

In this way the reader could possibly arrive at a clearer understanding of this brilliantly deceptive short equation. Then again, maybe not, as it is often said that the more we know, the less we really understand, especially so when it comes to the field of science. Regardless, the journey of discovery here is amazingly entertaining, as well as surprisingly funny at times, all of which makes this an absolute must read for anyone with an interest in science from the universities to streets.

Here, we learn that a great many mathematicians and scientists were essentially borderline lunatics and their stories are about as intriguing as reading about the inhabitants of an overrun insane asylum. However, aside from this more sensational aspect, the book is genuinely fascinating even when not detailing the crazies and is written in a very accessible manner.

Sir Isaac Newton is attributed to have once said that we are nothing more than “dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants.” The dominant interpretation of this metaphor is that he was essentially belittling the accomplishments of his day, including his own, in comparison to those that went before him. Basically, we all build upon the successes and failures of other peoples work and owe them a debt of gratitude. This book pays tribute to some of these individuals, many of which are little known by the general public due to Einstein’s enormous shadow.

However, rather than a glorified “Great Men” version of history, this books tends to show that more often than not, a great many of the most important discoveries were actually done by mere hobbyist with a serious streak of curiosity or otherwise completely uneducated laymen whose field of study could not have been more outside of the specific field of study of science.

I find this encouraging, as well as very telling in another way. First of all, those giants that Newton referred to were sometimes very small and humble in their day to day life and were no different than you and I. They were simple everyday people, whose only real claim to fame was that they dared to ask why and tried to answer a question that aroused their interests. This is what I find encouraging, if not actually inspiring in this book, for if more of us did our own thinking in the same way without differing to people supposedly more knowledgeable than us then just maybe even more discoveries can be made in a variety of fields, not just in science.

Lastly, what I get out of this book is that sometimes when you look too hard at a problem by studying it from every conceivable angle the answer only gets farther away. We sometimes just need to relax and take a simple bath like Archimedes was made to by his wife in the oft told famous story in order to think of less important things. Then, the answer may miraculously come of its own accord in the process.

Furthermore, not to oversimplify a truth that I’m straining to arrive at here, but sometimes an education hinders the thought process into complete blindness to the heart of the matter one is seeking. Figuratively, it sometimes may take a curious janitor looking over the shoulder of the great man who is slaving away tirelessly over a particular problem to find the solution that is staring him right in the face. A simple illustration showing very clearly that one should always respect everyone’s viewpoint and opinion regardless of their background or profession. It is quite conceivable that they may actually have something to teach you no matter what you think you may know already.