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Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?) |  | Authors: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
Publisher: Da Capo Press
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $13.97
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Seller: pbshop
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 730
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 264
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0306817586
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.11
EAN: 9780306817588
ASIN: 0306817586
Publication Date: July 13, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The most accessible, entertaining, and enlightening explanation of the best-known physics equation in the world, as rendered by two of today’s leading scientists. Professor Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of 21st century science to consider the real meaning behind the iconic sequence of symbols that make up Einstein’s most famous equation, E=mc2. Breaking down the symbols themselves, they pose a series of questions: What is energy? What is mass? What has the speed of light got to do with energy and mass? In answering these questions, they take us to the site of one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted. Lying beneath the city of Geneva, straddling the Franco-Swiss boarder, is a 27 km particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider. Using this gigantic machine—which can recreate conditions in the early Universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang—Cox and Forshaw will describe the current theory behind the origin of mass. Alongside questions of energy and mass, they will consider the third, and perhaps, most intriguing element of the equation: 'c' - or the speed of light. Why is it that the speed of light is the exchange rate? Answering this question is at the heart of the investigation as the authors demonstrate how, in order to truly understand why E=mc2, we first must understand why we must move forward in time and not backwards and how objects in our 3-dimensional world actually move in 4-dimensional space-time. In other words, how the very fabric of our world is constructed. A collaboration between two of the youngest professors in the UK, Why Does E=mc2? promises to be one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity in recent years.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 Wonderful, readable and enlightening. November 17, 2009
C. Jacobs (Melbourne, Australia)
This book is approachable by anybody with a keen interest in science and nature, and not afraid to put a little effort into understanding. Most importantly, the authors' enthusiasm for the subject matter shines through, and they effectively communicate the excitement and wonder of gaining insights into the weird and wonderful universe. The focus is on the broad and surprising results, not on the mathematical details.
I can contrast this with modern physics teaching. I have an honours degree in astrophysics, which includes studying postgraduate general relativity and tensor calculus. If I had read this book before embarking on those studies, and had the subject framed in this accessible and exciting way, I'm sure I would have been able to navigate the details better, and also maintain the enthusiasm for the subject material that is so crucial for academic success. I was still able to reach new insights into the nature of the universe from reading this book that I missed in all those years of physics lectures and mathematical textbooks. I get mad just thinking about that!
In short, if I had this book a few years ago I think there's a good chance I'd be a professional physicist now. Alas, it's too late for me. But any thoughtful and curious person can get something out of this little tome.
Relativity made relatively clear November 15, 2009
Bill Petillo (Portland, OR)
Every few years I read a book on physics written for the lay person. Most of them are pretty good, but make the mistake of covering too much ground i.e. relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory. This book focuses on relativity and the most famous equation in scientific history E = mc2. As the title suggests, the book does an admirable job in making the theory accessible and also delivers on the promise of explaining why we should care. It is the only book of its type to take the mystery out of why the speed of light should be related to energy or mass. I am not giving much away by revealing that the speed of light is somewhat of a red herring. "C", it is explained, is the cosmic speed limit. It also happens to be the speed of light because it can be derived that it is the speed of a massless particle. The writing is witty and engaging. The small amount of math presented does not go beyond basic high school trigonometry.
An excellent ride... November 2, 2009
Sarah Black (St. George, UT)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My husband is a math guy and has read books about relativity for fun. I'm not so keen on math myself, but have a master's degree in organic chemistry (I can do math, sure, I just don't do it for fun). I bought this book so that we would have something to read together - I keep buying him books as gifts, and they often collect dust.
It turned out to be a great idea. We have often forgone watching TV in order to read more about E = mc2. We read, stop, discuss, and try to wrap our brains around the ideas. I think I have come to understand more of the underlying ideas briefly presented in my physics classes, and in an environment of no stress and no time limit! I am not in a position to critique the physics itself, but I have found no errors or issues that suggest a problem.
However, as much as the author's try to make the subject accessible, I am fairly certain my non-math and science family members would have been lost after the first few chapters. Without some experience in thinking in equations, it's just hard to wrap your brain around the ideas.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone with at least a basic math or science background who is interested in understanding something fundamental that hardly ever gets explained outside of an upper level physics course, or someone without a math or science background who is interested in really stretching their brain.
 "Getting better all the time": Beatles October 30, 2009
Burned my credit cards (USA)
0 out of 47 found this review helpful
I have only read a few pieces of the book and what some have said about it. I'd say it's the best layman's book on Physics currently out but wonder how many people really care about E=mc2 and what it means. What if E=mc2 was real. What's missing in physics to connect the dots? A post on Korg's web site in the technical forums on CERN says the reality of E=mc2 is beyound public acceptance. What if it was true?
Einstein was a fluke. He made a radical statement about reality far beyound saying the Earth revolved around the Sun changing matter into energy yet he was not burned at the stake as too often happens when religion's toes are stepped on. Timing is everything. Instead Enistine was embraced and supported. Even Ohm's was "wrong" and paid a negative price for his simple gift to mankind. So what if water flows faster out of a bucket if you make the hole bigger? You would think saying the bucket was made of the same energy that made the water might be a little more controversial. What is so obvious about V=I/R? We now see Ohm's math contribution working within the DNA's structure where someone changed the name in acquiring patents. The fact that the laws of reality create the rules that control the Atom bomb saved Einstein who was persecuted in Germany. Hitler did the US and the World a great favor sending the guy our way if E=mc2 doesn't get us all killed.
We see it on car bumpers: "Gun's don't kill people. People kill people". We can only get rid of both problems by educating people as Einstein tried to do. Who knows what the politicians using deception controlled by greed and hate supporting ignorance will do next practicing for the coming wars and misfortune they create without understanding the cause of it and why our actions will always find us in our own seperate lifetime.
We need to remember to leave them their sunglasses in case they want to remember the past and invite a few friends over for drinks and set off a few just for fun to prove E=mc2 is real since some still beg to differ. One thing is for sure, they will continue to pretend they know what they are doing and this book like many others shows they don't. They feel safe because they only know what Albert Einstein showed them, not the reality of why. The scientists we rely on are making guesses about Life trying to figure out unification and find out where the Higgs mass is located just to start a list that includes the graviton and dark matter. We need to remember what the Great Professor said about war regarding E=mc2 as much as anything else.
Of course I have not read the book so cannot say what Brian's take on E=mc2 is. I have noticed answers are usualy hidden in the questions asked. I look forward to reading it.
John^^
basic physics October 4, 2009
D. Spence St Aubin (Ancaster, Ontario Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A very lucid and plain explanation of a relatively complex subject.
The book requires close attention ans at least two readings to fully capture the meaning of the text but the time is well worth the amount spent
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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