{"title":"David Bodanis","description":"DAVID BODANIS taught a survey of intellectual history at the University of Oxford for many years and is the author of several books, including Electric Universe, The Secret House, and the bestselling E=mc2. Originally from Chicago, Bodanis lived in France for a decade and currently lives in London, England.","products":[{"product_id":"passionate-minds-emilie-du-chatelet-voltaire-and-the-great-love-affair-of-the-enlightenment-paperback","title":"Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emilie du Châtelet, a beguiling--and married--aristocrat who would one day popularize Newton's arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein's theories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any serious schooling, this twenty-seven-year-old's nimble conversation and unusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, to wonder, \"Why did you only reach me so late?\" They fell immediately and passionately in love.Through the prism of their tumultuous fifteen-year relationship we see the crumbling of an ancient social order and the birth of the Enlightenment. Together the two lovers rebuilt a dilapidated and isolated rural chateau at Cirey where they conducted scientific experiments, entertained many of the leading thinkers of the burgeoning scientific revolution, and developed radical ideas about the monarchy, the nature of free will, the subordination of women, and the separation of church and state. But their time together was filled with far more than reading and intellectual conversation. There were frantic gallopings across France, sword fights in front of besieged German fortresses, and a deadly burning of Voltaire's books by the public executioner at the base of the grand stairwell of the Palais de Justice in Paris. The pair survived court intrigues at Versailles, narrow escapes from agents of the king, a covert mission to the idyllic lakeside retreat of Frederick the Great of Prussia, forays to the royal gambling tables (where Emilie put her mathematical acumen to lucrative use), and intense affairs that bent but did not break their bond.Along with its riveting portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerable romantic, Passionate Minds at last does justice to the supremely unconventional life and remarkable achievements of Emilie du Châtelet--including her work on the science of fire and the nature of light. Long overlooked, her story tells us much about women's lives at the time of the Enlightenment. Equally important, it demonstrates how this graceful, quick-witted, and attractive woman worked out the concepts that would lead directly to the \"squared\" part of Einstein's revolutionary equation: E=mc2.Based on a rich array of personal letters, as well as writings from houseguests, neighbors, scientists, and even police reports, \u003cb\u003ePassionate Minds\u003c\/b\u003e is both panoramic and intimate in feeling. It is an unforgettable love story and a vivid rendering of the birth of modern ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365901304031,"sku":"9780307237217","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/iCeUzUzkiB9780307237217.webp?v=1789073682"},{"product_id":"electric-universe-how-electricity-switched-on-the-modern-world-paperback","title":"Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eE=mc2\u003c\/i\u003e weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through an account of the invisible force that permeates our universe\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003eelectricity\u003c\/b\u003e--and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders--complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eElectric Universe\u003c\/i\u003e, the great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine--what we know as the computer--was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to \"cure\" his homosexuality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, \u003ci\u003eElectric Universe\u003c\/i\u003e is a mesmerizing journey of discovery.\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his bestselling E=mc2, David Bodanis led us, with astonishing ease, through the world's most famous equation. Now, in \"Electric Universe, he illuminates the wondrous yet invisible force that permeates our universe--and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets. \u003cbr\u003eFor centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders--complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals. \u003cbr\u003eA superb storyteller, Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthroughs. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine--what we know as the computer--was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to \"cure\" his homosexuality. \u003cbr\u003eFrom the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, \"ElectricUniverse is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"From the Hardcover edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379083018463,"sku":"9780307335982","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/V98EOzaOLV9780307335982.webp?v=1789268519"},{"product_id":"einsteins-greatest-mistake-a-biography-paperback","title":"Einstein's Greatest Mistake: A Biography - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"What Bodanis does brilliantly is to give us a feel for Einstein as a person. I don't think I've ever read a book that does this as well . . . Whenever there's a chance for storytelling, Bodanis triumphs.\" --\u003ci\u003ePopular Science\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Fascinating.\" --\u003ci\u003eForbes\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his general theory of relativity and helped lead us into the atomic age. Yet in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, and his ideas were opposed by even his closest friends. How did this happen? \u003cp\u003eBest-selling biographer David Bodanis traces the arc of Einstein's life--from the skeptical, erratic student to the world's most brilliant physicist to the fallen-from-grace celebrity. An intimate biography in which \"theories of the universe morph into theories of life\" (\u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e, London), \u003ci\u003eEinstein's Greatest Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e reveals what we owe Einstein today--and how much more he might have achieved if not for his all-too-human flaws. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379099271391,"sku":"9781328745521","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/H1HeXI8cXm9781328745521.webp?v=1789268562"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/david-bodanis.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}