E=mc2 by David Bodanis is a biography of the equation. Oddly enough the book begins with an interview with Cameron Diaz. Yes that Cameron Diaz. Apparently in an interview she said she really wanted to understand what E=mc2 actually meant. The author says this book attempts to explain it to her and everyone else who's interested. Does it succeed? Kinda. I read it in a weekend while travelling. It kept my interest and went by quickly but it's pretty superficial.
The first section has a chapter on each of the five elements of the equation: e, =, m, c, 2. The next section is about early 20th century physics including relativity and the standard model of the atom. The longest section is about the development of the atomic bomb, and the last section is about later work involving stars and black holes. We get a bit of the science but mostly anecdotes about the scientists. I think this was done better in Bill Bryson's A Short History of nearly Everything.
While the paperback is 337 pages, the book is only 219 pages. The rest are appendixes, endnotes, and for further reading. Some find leaving the depth to the end is a good thing. I found it wasn't depth. The appendix is "Follow-up of other key participants" and the notes are sometimes interesting and sometimes chatty, but since they're at the end, they are a pain to read and I found I stopped doing so. 18 pages of For Further Reading felt like reading 18 pages of amazon comments.
If you think you're like Cameron Diaz, read this book. If you're more similar to me, try Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb, at 928 pages it's a lot bigger, but it also won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award among other awards. Actually, either way, read Bill Bryson's book.
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