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Here are my favorite reads from the past week:
I listened to E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation
The book is broken up into three sections.
In the first section, the author takes each part of the equation and explains what it is and why it is important. When was the last time you wondered why we use the equal sign? Did you know that this particular symbol was not a foregone conclusion?
After he goes through each piece, I finally realized that E=mc2 is really a sentence and not an algebraic formula. Other scientists figured out the conservation of energy and the conservation of mass already, but Einstein figured out that at close to the speed of light, energy and mass can become each other. Energy can turn into mass and mass can turn into energy—still in direct proportions.
This section of the book has me glued to my earphones.
The second part of the book tells the story about the development of the first atomic bomb, man’s first major success at realizing the potential of this equation.
As Germany and the United States raced each other to find the key scientific breakthroughs, there is intrigue enough for the most unbelievable of spy thrillers. As a history buff, Bodanis detailed people and military missions that I have never heard of.
The final chapters of the book tell about how the equation is in use today. Did you know that the illuminated Exit signs in buildings depend on radioactivity?
And the end chapters also go through Einstein’s theory of general relativity. (E=mc2 is his theory of special relativity.)
You may think that all of this is far too dense for the general reader. I don’t think that is true at all. I can’t say that I understood everything he explained, but Bodanis is able to find real-world examples to model what is happening in the microcosm or macrocosm.
For example, I’ve read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time
David Bodanis created an entertaining, educational, and accessible book that is a very worthwhile read.
Faith.
That’s all Buffy fans need to know right? The second volume of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
In my post about the first five issues, I said that I was confused at times at how disjointed the story appeared to be. That’s not a complaint for this second collection. With the exception of the final comic book issue within this graphic novel, everything else is mainly a continuation of one plot.
This book contains significant moments in Buffyverse canon because the reader realizes that the decision made by Buffy at the end of the television run may not have been the glorious one that it appeared to be at the time.
The moral dilemmas are ratcheted up, and easy conclusions are nowhere in sight.