Product Description
Since Einstein first described them nearly a century ago, gravitational waves have been the subject of more sustained controversy than perhaps any other phenomenon in physics. These as yet undetected fluctuations in the shape of space-time were first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but only now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, are we on the brink of finally observing them.Daniel Kennefick’s landmark book takes readers through the theor… More >>
Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves
Tags: brink, einstein, fluctuations, general theory of relativity, gravitational waves, landmark book, space time, theor, theory of relativity, twenty first century
#1 by Roice Nelson on June 30, 2010 - 9:40 pm
I felt the single review of this book highly underrated it, and since it almost scared me away from purchasing it, I wanted to offset it with a positive one. I would have missed out if I had listened to it! I absorbed this book in just a few days, really enjoying the historical account presented and learning a number of interesting things about gravitational waves along the way.
While Kennefick’s work does include references to some technical terms, they are given definitions and in some cases enlightening explanations. I found it pleasant to follow the story in any case by simply not letting myself get bogged down from not having a deep, graduate level, mathematical understanding of general relativity. I am proof that is not required to appreciate this book.
One particularly positive aspect is the overall focus on the role of analogies in science. The first chapter was a gem for this reason, but the intriguing theme of differing personal approaches to using analogies is woven throughout the entire book.
Overall, I would say that if you enjoy historical biographies of science/math personas where technical discussion slips in here and there, you would have a good chance of liking this work.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by V. F. Ho on June 30, 2010 - 11:42 pm
Beware, this is not pop science book. In my opinion, “…introduces readers…” and “accessibly written…”, as indicated in the marketing comments, are not accurate representations of the level of this book. The fact that no equations are given in the text should not lead to you think this is easy reading.
Instead, this is a scholarly historical analysis, where knowledge of concepts such as “unimodular coordinates”, “metric tensor”, “linearized approximation of general relativity”, just to name a few, are taken for granted as no introduction is given of them. Not even the concept of “gravitational waves” is introduced. Graduate level training of Special and General Relativity is a requirement.
I believe this is a great contribution to the historical analysis of this subject, but the target audience needs to be stated correctly.
Rating: 2 / 5