ไม่ใช่เรื่องของไอน์ไตน์เพียงคนเดียว แต่เป็นเรื่องราวของนักวิทยาศาสตร์หลายๆคนที่มีส่วนเกี่ยวของกับสมการ E=mc2 ตั้งแต่ยุคแรกของการคิดค้นจนถึงการนำไปใช้งานอย่างจริงจัง

Extremely technical and science forward. Wouldn’t read it again but there were some interesting facts and history.

I know next to nothing about physics but found this to be super engaging. It’s more so a collection of short historical stories on various scientific discoveries that culminated in and branched from Einstein’s E=mc^2.

E.g. the discovery of energy, then mass, then the role E=mc^2 had in creating the atomic bomb or the beginnings of the earth etc.

While the detour into atomic bomb creation was pretty long winded, I loved the ‘biographic’ approach to an equation and thought the science explanations to be mostly comprehensive.

Definitely recommend!

This book is absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed it even more when I realized that there were additional notes at the end of the book - I highly recommend following up on them at the end of each chapter.

Anyway, the book: I loved how Bodanis managed to make all the "science stuff" understandable and interesting without ever feeling like it was "dumbed-down" or patronizing. The best part is the Bodanis is a great storyteller. I felt bogged down a bit with all the names, but it was really interesting to realize how much politics, religion, romance, wars, and family relationships played into some of the most incredible discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries.

I recommend this book to readers of all ages and backgrounds, and will definitely be reading it again.

It sounds like a book about physics, but it's really more about the lives of the scientists that revolved around this famous equation. Some of them -- Faraday, Lavoisier, Maxwell -- laid the foundations leading up to Einstein's pivotal theory. Some of them -- Oppenheimer, Chandrasekhar -- follow up on it. Bodanis acknowledges as well the accomplishments of women like Emilie du Chatelet, Lise Meitner and Cecilia Payne, all of whom faced additional challenges because they were women doing serious, sometimes crucial, work in a "man's world." The overall treatment creates a history, rather than a physics text. Bodanis explains basic theory in terms simple enough that you don't need a math or physics background to get the gist of it. And that's fine, because the focus here is on the progress (for good or ill) of the human species and our understanding of the universe.

An accessible explanation of the scientific history that led to this equation. Some of the analogies didn't quite hit the mark for me but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. The challenge is to get non-scientific people to read these books to develop of better appreciation of science. May there be more books like this.

What struck me about this book was that it allowed me to understand the science behind, and the evolution of Einstein's E=mc2 equation. Broke down the theories and sciences in a fairly easy way to understand, and highlighted how Einstein's work was completed on the shoulders of many others who came before him, and was continued by those who followed. Whether you have a particular interest in science or not, this is a fascinating read. A tad dry in places, but the amazing connectivity in our world that Bodanis describes kept me at it.

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.

Call it 2.5 stars.

This book falls somewhere in no-man's-land for me. It simplifies science for accessibility, but in doing so it loses much of the power to awe that science has. The author starts by giving definitions for each part of Einstein's famous equation, telling what it is and its role in the formula. Then the middle third of the book goes into great detail about the development of atomic weapons: the first human-based application of the concept of turning mass into energy. The final section covers (very briefly) the main examples of nuclear fission and fusion in the natural world, from radium's discovery to smoke detectors to medical isotopes to the sun's awesome energy.

Unfortunately, these latter portions of the book are told with such simplicity that they fall flat. In his attempt to keep concepts simple, the author misses the chance to emphasize how really amazing E = mc^2 is. The wonder of science is stripped away, rather than accentuated by the tale being told.

I say the book falls in no-man's-land because, although accessible to any reader at any age or level of scientific knowledge, those interested in the subject and the science can surely find a better, more lively explanation and discussion of the subject elsewhere. It's not a bad book per se--it's just not a great one, either.

I just sat at Dean & Deluca reading this through. It was a book I had stolen from a guest (not very nice, I know, but I had to read it once I saw the title. I'm working on a new art piece based partly on physics.) It is a really interesting book on the history of the science behind the equation and then how it has been used since. It's partly a little lesson in physics for us non-scientist types. (I do seem to know a lot of physicists so it's useful information for parties.) And a little heartning (for me) to know just how many phyicists aren't that great at math. The big ideas seem to come about by looking at a problem from a different direction than the accepted one (then having that idea stolen by the same people who said your ideas were crazy.)
Speaking of which, it also made me realize how many women of science go unrecognized. Those who made really outstanding discoveries let alone all the turn-of-the-century spinsters in the backrooms of Harvard used as early "computers" They did the tedious job of measuring the distance to the stars but were not allowed to take more advanced math classes or even marry if they wished to keep their jobs. (Poor spinsters, they always seem to get the short end of the stick!)

Good suggested reading list which I will now become obsessed with. Have I found another WWI?

I so enjoy science histories, and this is a good one, amply demonstrating that geniuses are people, too, with all their conceits, deceits, and prejudices. As advertised, one need not be scientifically inclined to understand the World's Most Famous Equation. This is an easy read, and, if the author may swing a little wild with some of his examples and philosophizing, he manages to get his points across with room to spare.

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.