For a long time, I have been trying to break the monotony of reading business literature and venture into something entirely different. I am glad that I picked up David Bodanis' "E=mc² - A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation". The significance of the equation notwithstanding, there are not many authors, I believe, who have endeavored to lift the shroud from over this equation. David Bodanis, I must say, has done a commendable job of deciphering the world's most famous and most tantalizing equation. I mentioned tantalizing because this is by any yardstick, the easiest equation to remember yet only a few can explain the scale of its ramifications. What Bodanis has successfully achieved through this book are a couple of things. Firstly, he makes the equation and its implications far more fathomable for ordinary folks. Secondly, in addition to educating the readers about the equation, he also shines the spotlight on a host of figures and events that were pivotal to the formation and the subsequent recognition of E=mc². He digs into the annals of history and comes out with short, biographical stories of notable scientists like Michael Faraday, Laurent Lavoisier, James Clerk Maxwell, Ernst Rutherford, Robert Oppenheimer and not to mention, Albert Einstein.  By synthesizing the achievements of these and many other scientists, Bodanis manages to build a coherent block called 'E=mc2'.

Taking on Einstein's most coveted work is no modest task and one can only presume that prior to committing himself to this book, Bodanis would have thought a lot about the challenges he would face. The most important of those challenges could be to hit the high spots and at the same time, inhibit himself from dumbing down the technical subject matter. And I must say, in the end, Bodanis manages to walk the tightrope quite exquisitely. E=mc2 is an easy to read book peppered with several short biographies of many eminent personalities, who were all in one way or the other relevant to Einstein's equation. Author starts off the book by explaining each constituent of Einstein's equation: 'E' for energy, = for equals, 'm' for mass, 'c' for celeritas (speed of light) and even the square that sits pretty atop 'c'. Going forward, he turns the focus of readers from year 1905 to the WWII events such as one-upping between the US and Germany towards building world's first atom bomb. By the end of WWII, Einstein's equation had fully come of age.

Some of the other important and highly intriguing accounts depicted in the book include Ernest Rutherford and James Chadwick's discovery of protons and neutrons respectively, Otto Hahn and Lisa Meitner's work on radioactivity and nuclear fission, Werner Heisenberg's role in Germany's Atom bomb project,  Robert Oppenheimer's contribution in the Manhattan project and Cecilia Payne's discovery that sun mainly consists of Hydrogen. The intelligible manner in which Bodanis connects these dots pertinent to the equation is laudable.

Author has made a conscious effort to simplify much of the scientific content of the book so that an average intellectual could also imbibe the basics to the best of his ability. However, there is only a thin line between simplification and oversimplification. And evidently, many a time, even the sincerest of efforts to simplify things can lead to inaccuracies and deviations. Since this book was first published in year 2000, there are a number of reviews available online. I decided to study what others had to say about this book. And, not much to my surprise, where it has struck the chord with a majority of readers, apparently, this book has failed to impress the purists. Bodanis' example in context of mass-energy equivalence that an object gains mass when its speed approaches the speed of light has come in for most criticism from many perfectionists who call it a popular misconception. Author also appears to have a strong bias against Heisenberg whom he almost paints as an Evil genius. Evidence on Heisenberg's real motives has been, however, quite conflicting. Some say he deliberately led the German establishment on. Author's treatment of Otto Hahn also borders on the harsh.