|
Loading... E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equationby David Bodanis
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  siafl | Nov 27, 2009 |  This book is fascinating. An easy read considering the subject matter. Bodanis makes it easy to understand an intimidating topic. The book goes through each portion of the formula and the scientists and discoveries that moved the theory along. (  ) amy_poppins | Sep 9, 2008 | I've read this book several years ago, so I will not provide a detailed review of this particular book. This is first book by David Bodanis that I read. I have immensely enjoyed all of the David Bodanis books that I have read. I am a working scientist, and I believe that Mr. Bodanis does an excellent job of writing popular science. In this particular book I thought his approach on showing the antecedents of aspects of this equation was excellent, and I learned quite a bit. His books always provide me with ideas or concepts that I will study in more detail. ( ) willyt | Mar 13, 2008 | This book explained to me what no teacher ever did about relativity etc and why it is so important in modern life. ( ) Janzz | Feb 15, 2008 | This book is not only about the equation. It is also about how to apply it in reality. And how that has been done. Interesting and well written. Not least the part describing the Norwegians’ struggle during the blow-up of the factory producing deuterium during World War II. --- Denna bok handlar inte bara om ekvationen. Den handlar också om hur man kan applicera den i verkligheten. Och hur det har gjorts. Intressant och välskrivet. Inte minst avdelningen som beskriver norrmännens vedermödor under sprängningen av fabriken som tillverkade tungt vatten under andra världskriget. (  ) helices | Feb 4, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0425181642, Paperback)E=mc2. Just about everyone has at least heard of Albert Einstein's formulation of 1905, which came into the world as something of an afterthought. But far fewer can explain his insightful linkage of energy to mass. David Bodanis offers an easily grasped gloss on the equation. Mass, he writes, "is simply the ultimate type of condensed or concentrated energy," whereas energy "is what billows out as an alternate form of mass under the right circumstances."Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the "dominion of matter" with "a great stillness"--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening. Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee (retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:55:25 -0500) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English (1)
The part about what each of E, =, m, c, 2 means is a bit excessive I think, and the stuff that comes after Hiroshima drags on a bit, but I had a great time reading it nonetheless. It took only two days to finish. (