My Thoughts on a Biography of E=mc²

 

The book that I am writing about is E=mc²: a biography of the world’s most famous equation by David Bodanis. It is about the equation E=mc². Written as a biography, the book focuses solely on the equation. It gives very little attention explaining the other parts of special relativity (“those little trains or rocketships or flashlights that are utterly mystifying,” as the author puts it). I found it quite interesting.

The book is written as a biography, not of Albert Einstein but of the equation itself. Much like a regular biography, it proceeds in roughly chronological order through the “life” of the equation, including an entire group of chapters about the origin and meaning of the symbols E, m, c, =, and ² (did you know that some printing houses once promoted using [; for what we use = for?). I found this take on explaining the equation novel and interesting. It took the abstract concept of energy and mass being equivalent and made it concrete, showing how it can affect the world as we ordinarily see it.

As the book tells the story of E=mc², it also tells the stories of many people that it encounters. It doesn’t limit their stories to the parts that are strictly relevant; it gives lots of context, presenting their personal and professional struggles (e.g., women being hampered by sexism) as well as their achievements. It was this clever and engaging storytelling that really made it a good book; the singular focus on E=mc² and the biography format were already interesting, but the storytelling was the finishing touch that made it truly shine.

Overall, this was a great book. The combination of a novel take on an interesting topic with exceptional storytelling and random little details made it an engaging and smooth read. It did a good, albeit non-technical, job of explaining E=mc²’s meaning and significance. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in science (or anyone, really; it’d be at least mildly interesting even if you aren’t into science).

-Nibaw