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Summary: Science all around you
Review: We've all heard of it, can recite it but most of us couldn't explain it. And rather than explaining it directly, Bodanis shows us a bit where Einstein was coming from, and how science came to view the various component of the equation. These history lessons give the reader what he or she needs to understand what the equation is trying to say and then are shown the equation is action here at home and in the cosmos. This book is surprisingly well written and accessible to the reader and never makes him or her feel stupid. This is probably the most lucid explanation of the theory of relativity, and introduction to some basic physics that I have seen. You won't be ready to tackle that college physics lab after reading this, but you may have something to talk about at the next cocktail party. Well worth the reader's time.
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Summary: Hard Science it isn't, but its a great book
Review: It was a very enjoyable read. I had a lot of fun with it. If you expect to FULLY understand E=mc2 after reading this, you'll be disappointed. But, you will have a much better understanding of the equation and can almost follow the stream of thought that got Einstein there and past it. I really enjoyed this book. If you liked "longitude," you'll like this book.
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Summary: Physics for the rest of us :)
Review: I really lucked into finding this book. It's one of those books I recommend to everyone--in fact, four of my friends are reading it right now because I've been raving about it. :) As a word person, math and science have always made me nervous. But David Bodanis has a real gift for taking complicated concepts and using real-world examples to make them easy to understand and entertaining to read. The storytelling approach he uses to show how discoveries by different physicists contributed to E=mc2 is fabulous. His grasp of human nature and motivation is amazing. I loved his characterizations of everyone, from Voltaire to Faraday to Einstein himself. This book is captivating and compelling reading, even for those of us who never got higher than Cs in Chemistry. :)
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Summary: Excellent History of Einstein's Famous Equation
Review: Thoroughly enjoyable. This book is targeted at those who would like an intuitive understanding of Einstein's equation - not those who are looking for a mathematical treatment.Bodanis does an outstanding job of weaving the history of this equation into the story making this a very entertaining book. The descriptions of the personalities involved are very rich. I was impressed by the several female scientists who made important contributions along the way. I related these stories to my teenage daughter which helped spark her interest in physics.
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Summary: A primer on the theory of relativity for the rest of us
Review: David Bodanis is the college teacher we all dreamt to have but never did until now! His book actually walks you letter by letter into understanding the full equation of the theory of relativity. As we all know, the equation is short, but the ramifications behind each of the letters are rather intense. Actually, I have read some place that this equation is the most encompassing with Newton's law of gravity. They are both short and apparently simple equations, yet they do a good job of explaining powerful and pervasise laws that apply throughout our universe, and do a good deal of explaining it. Another characteristic of this book, is the excellent personality development of all the luminaries throughout history whose incremental knowledge lead to Einstein's development of his theories. After reading this, you realise that Einstein's ideas, although extraordinary, did not emerge in vacuum. His predecessors had developed the major building blocks. It took Einstein genius to assemble the blocks together.
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Summary: ...kept me awaken into the wee hours of the morning...
Review: In the last 20 years or so, I have nurtured a deep love and respect for physics, quantum physics, quantum mechanics - you name it - for I saw it in the same way I saw spirituality. I saw that physicists do the same thing spiritualists do - they imagine what the universe is all about, what makes it tick and what our specific place in it must be. They look for a unified theory to understand and explain everything, because to just accept things for what they appear to be, in it's most linear and logical form, is to limit our true potential and possibilities. If you approach spirituality and mysticism through the eyes and mind of science you'll find you'll meet yourself at the same place therefore. The latest book I picked up that feeds my physics heart is E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation. Author David Bodanis kept me awake into the wee hours of the morning and then nestled with me before the morning light, when my questioning mind woke me. He's a superb storyteller and unfolds Einstein's special theory of relativity with immense humanity and knowledge. Some of my other all time favourites? About 10 years before Gary Zukav wrote The Seat of the Soul, he wrote the ambitious The Dancing Wu Li Masters, making physics (or quantum mechanics) accessible to anyone. I remember reading it in the summer of 1980, along side Shirley Maclaine's first eye-opener Out on a Limb. The 'coincidence' that connected mysticism and science to me back then was quite apparent. Others? Fritjok Capra's classic The Tao of Physics is still a 'bible'. Equally thought provoking is Ken Wilbur, especially in The Marriage of Sense and Soul. I can't get enough of Michio Kaku, and have devoured his three titles: Beyond Einstein, Hyperspace, and Visions. Brilliant. And even more specific titles like Synchronicity by Peat help to converge with Jung's theories and how it connects so perfectly with quantum theory.
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Summary: Fluffy but not filling
Review: It is lightly written and easy to read but the title was a little misleading. While it was deeply appreciated not to be presented another cartoon depicting a white and bushy-haired gentleman situated upside down in a coordinate system, the folksy style, a little forced, was not that endearing. Bodanis is obviously very knowledgeable about the topic and especailly its history. Still he does not come accross as a good teacher. It was misleading because he mostly describes the consequences of mass-energy equivalence rather than the biogrophy of the specific equation. The book is full of historical tid-bits that are so much better treated in many other places. It is not as if the characters and topics are that well connected either, as he misses more important events and names altogether. Given his deep knowledge of history, his description of Heisenberg's activities was more than just dissapointing. He completely misrepresents the fact that there was hardly a German Bomb project to speak of. It mostly existed in the paranoid minds of numerous European scientists, who had the misfortune of witnessing Nazi horrors first hand. They also had a healthy respect for Heisenber's genius. Heisenberg got some support for mostly scientific experiments, and this was mostly for the purpose of energy generation which Germany needed desperately. It never went beyond basic investigation, did not even reach the engineering phase let alone industrialization. They could not even boil a cup of water. It turns out they were quite off in their yield estimations in any case and that's why they did not think a bomb was feasible. Oppenheimer was only competing against himself we now know. By the way, the excellent play "Copenhagen" by M. Frayn is not fictitious, it is based on the excellent biographical work by Thomas Powers. There are also some, maybe interesting but unrelated detours. What is the relevance of the lengthy psychological profile of General Groves? The anatomical description of the equation in question is no substitute for an explanation or derivation. Detailed description of "square" function makes very little contribution. It would have been rather simple to get to the relationship as Einstein did, by exploting the wave nature of matter, photon momentum and conservation rules. This is another key concept that is so central but completely missing. It is possible that a casual reader will encounter for the first time some of the interesting characters and events surrounding Einstein, which are well known to the scientifically oriented, otherwise the book falls well short of the claim on its cover.
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Summary: Relativity made relatively simple
Review: Bodanis has written a fun-to-read and concise guide outlining the history and impact of the world's most famous equation. He opens with an inspired conceit: Cameron Diaz once said, quite seriously, that she wish she knew what the equation meant, and he wrote this book for the curious, intelligent reader who, like Diaz, has little or no background (or even interest) in science and wants to understand Einstein's discovery. Any book about physics and math that has such an audience in mind risks--indeed, requires--oversimplification. The prose is often so folksy that those of us used to reading more scholarly material will find it a bit annoying, yet even these passages show that the author is truly enjoying his material and wants to convey that enjoyment to his readers. Similarly, nitpickers are sure to have a field day finding inaccuracies and omissions. For example, Bodanis states that an object swells, or gains mass, as its speed approaches the speed of light; in a very lengthy note he admits that this description is only metaphor (and a misleading one at that). Yet, if he had avoided this metaphor and included the more accurate description contained in the note, he certainly would have lost his audience. In this case, I think, Bodanis has made the right decision: a vague or incomplete understanding is certainly better than no understanding at all. In spite of its intentional simplicity, the book relates a number of interesting biographical tidbits that were unfamiliar to me, particularly about Voltaire's lover, Emile du Chatelet, and the unjustly neglected Lise Meitner, who, by fleeing Nazi Germany, was ultimately robbed of a Nobel Prize. Bodanis makes science, with its back-stabbing egos and generous celebrities, come alive. In addition, unlike many other histories of science, Bodanis does not overlook the importance of religious beliefs in stimulating (and occasionally blinding) scientists, especially Faraday and Einstein. This book also contains a much-needed and concise answer to Heisenberg's apologists. Make no mistake: Heisenberg was a brilliant scientist and he clearly realized later in life that he was on the wrong side, but it seems incontrovertible that he collaborated with the Nazis. The book to read, as Bodanis notes, is "Hitler's Uranium Club"; its transcripts of secret recordings of Heisenberg's own words belie his later claim that he was trying to thwart the Nazi attempt to create the bomb. Bodanis's appendix includes a sample of the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence against Heisenberg. (Heisenberg's sympathizers often praise "Copenhagen." This play, by Michael Frayn, describes a meeting between Heisenberg and Neil Bohrs that both men recalled years later in conflicting accounts, and it consists entirely of imagined dialogue. Although an indisputably brilliant dramatic work, "Copenhagen" is in essence a work of fiction, since nobody knows for sure what was said or even why the two men really met--as Frayn himself notes in his postscript to the published play. In addition, "Copenhagen" is based on Thomas Powers's biography of Heisenberg, which appeared before the publication of "Hitler's Uranium Club.") These stories, details, and debates are just a small part of the wealth of information David Bodanis has managed to pack into a slim volume. The appendix, notes, and suggestions for further reading, which amounts to a full third of the book, are not to be missed: not only do they clarify many points covered cursorily in the text, but they are often quite amusing and will surely spur readers to investigate further a number of topics.
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Summary: Enjoyable
Review: A Sunday stroll through the world of Einstein's relativity with a dose of other sciences and small biographies thrown in. Bodanis' book makes Einstein's concepts easy to understand, even if there are still moments of head scratching. Drink coffee and ingest this one on weekend mornings. If I have any complaint about this book, it is that even though there was some head-scratching, oftentimes the book seemed too simple. But it is still a great read compared to many of the other pop-sci books out there.
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Summary: Fun, but tabloid
Review: David's scientific explanations are not as lucid as one could find elsewhere, and in many cases are downright inaccurate. For instance, he propagates the myth that "the equation" is manifested in the release of nuclear energy to the exclusion of other types of energy such as chemical or thermal. This is simply false. The historical aspects of the book are entertaining, but his speculations concerning the motivations of key characters need to be taken with a grain of salt.
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