this would have earned four stars if it was as accessible as the authors seem to think it is. at times, they painstakingly explain concepts that the general reader probably already has an idea about, other times their explanations fall very short and their analogies make no sense whatsoever. my final impression is that, if someone were to ask me why does E=MC squared I would have to answer the same way I would have before reading the book: I don't know. I found this book both frustrating and riveting. I'm abysmal at maths, so portions of the book that were heavy on the mechanics of the equations mentioned left me a little bored when I couldn't completely follow (not to mention depressed about not being good at adding). But then the non-math heavy parts were very engaging and it was hard to not get caught up in the enthusiasm of the authors. There were places I wished for more of an explantion and things I found would have been useful if they had been mentioned earlier, but overall I was very glad I stuck with the book. I got a sense of what went into that one small equation that says so much about the universe. It's pretty awe-inspiring.Also, a million points to any book that makes you stick your hand in the air and smile as you imagine heaps of neutrinos passing through your thumb. Very cool.
What do You think about Why Does E=mc2? (2009)?
Fantastic, easy-to-understand explanations of the physics of time and space. Fascinating!
—cviolet123
brian cox, putting basic undergrad physics into an easily understandable form
—eyrichj
