- ISBN13: 9780071455459
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Finally, someone is going to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity in layman’s terms, without getting mired in overly heavy discussion or formal mathematics. In Relativity Demystified, key definitions, examples, and results join the trusted exercises that have made the Demystified series so successful in all subject areas…. More >>
#1 by H. Martin on June 27, 2010 - 4:44 am
The five stars are for the CLARITY and EXPLICITNESS of this book, for what the author intends and accomplishes, as opposed to a comparison with other GR books that have different goals.
If you are self-studying GR, this is the book to have, even if you own others. If you are taking a GR course and don’t find GR trivially easy or straightforward then this book will HELP.
While this may not be the very best GR book it is certainly the best for those readers lacking the math skills (or who have forgotten the math) to jump into a ‘graduate level textbook.’
[I am also reading "Gravitation" by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler, along with several other GR books, and "Relativity Demystied" is helping to make that 1300+ page book and others much more readable.]
This book takes the reader step by step through the tensor analysis required to build up the Einstein Field Equations.
Numerous examples are worked in explicit detail, and (doable) excerizes are offered with most chapters. Exercise answers are provided in an appendix.
If you want to go beyond popular accounts of Relativity but don’t have the math background for a ‘graduate level textbook’ then thi s is almost certainly the answer.
This book is also MUCH less expensive than almost every other useful GR textbook so it is tremendous value, even as a supplement to more advanced texts.
Does it make GR easy? No. Does it make GR POSSIBLE to understand? Absolutely.
As Einstein himself reportedly said, “As simple as possible, and no simpler.”
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Herbert L Calhoun on June 27, 2010 - 6:24 am
While this is not exactly the “learning of relativity at the speed of light” the book advertises, unlike many others of the Demystified series, this volume does indeed have its high points.
The lead up to Einstein’s Field Equations — although the notational gymnastics and some of the mathematics was daunting — is nevertheless first class. It gives the reader a very much-needed window into the role the Linear Algebra notion of mathematical mappings and transformations — especially as viewed from the point of view of “basis vectors,” through “one forms,” and on to “partial derivatives of Tensor Calculus” — play in bootstrapping one’s way up from the local Newtonian/Euclidian frame of reference to the more generalized space-time Reimann/Malinowsky frame. And most importantly, it shows by carefully selected examples and exercises how tensor calculus takes over from Linear Algebra in moving from the more local Newtonian/Euclidian frame to the more generalized space-time frame.
In fact, reading between the lines of the book, one could argue that the whole of understanding the mechanics of relativity is grasping fully this single concept: of how to move mathematically from reference frame to reference frame — that is, from inertial frames moving relative to one another in the Euclidian world to doing the same in the Space-time world.
Doing this is not easy either conceptually or mathematically but is a necessity for getting from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics. If the reader learns to appreciate that the heavy-duty mathematics is required only for this task, and only in this light, then the ride will be infinitely easier.
Even in Taylor and Wheeler’s very down to earth treatment of relativity (in their “Spacetime Physics”), this kind of understanding is left in the background for the reader to infer and to ferret out on his own. A great deal of time is save in the earlier chapters of this volume by forcing the reader to understand early on why working ones way gradually up the ladder to the tensor Calculus is necessary: so that he is better able do all of the mathematical heavy-lifting seamlessly, later.
One word of caution to the reader, which also is my only serious criticism of the book: The written dialogue is painfully sparse, so every word must be read carefully, weighed and parsed for its full meaning. It is helpful to read the book three times: First as an overview to see where the author is headed; and then a second time to understand the mathematical content — especially the dizzy array of notations — and then finally to put all the pieces together. That is, read it a third time just to confirm that one understands fully how the larger concepts match up with the corresponding mathematics.
It seems much easier for the authors of physics and mathematical texts to roll out reams of equations than to give just the minimal explanations about how these equations relate to the underlying concepts they are supposed to explain and describe. Why leave such important connections to the reader?
Realizing that this is not a book of prose, still it would be helpful sometimes to give ample and clearly written explanations, with even (god forbid), a little repetition from time to time, just as a guide so that the reader can confirm that he is making the correct interpretations along the way.
Anyway, I am hooked on the Demystified Series and hope this book will be great preparation for the upcoming Demystified volume on String Theory.
Four Stars
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by Paul Quantum on June 27, 2010 - 7:11 am
This book covered a lot of the practical topics in GR. The writing is quite easy to understand. In some places, it seems to be too short. For example, the explanation of the basis in coordinate basis is not very clear. [Just refer to Carroll] However, be careful if you are the first time study in GR. You should get one of the other standard books, like Schutz, Weinberg, MTW(Misner, Thorne, Wheeler) otherwise, you will not be able to move too far in this area. Also, I really hope the editor/author can do a bit more thorough job in proof reading before releasing the book. There are many places where you could find sign errors or the indices placement are not correct. For example, the definition of Christoffel Sympbol in terms of metric and also the definition of symmetrization and also the -ve sign in the proper time definition….If you already know about the subject matter, this is not a bad reference book, just a bit tiring in keeping track of these minor errors.
Rating: 3 / 5
#4 by R. Stephen Wright on June 27, 2010 - 9:04 am
“Learn Relativity at the Speed of Light” is found on the back cover of this book and I think it’s true. It was aproximately 1.23 light years ago when I first purchased this book and I am now on page 208(out of 328 total). My point is that the book is very good but to get through it requires a lot of work; relative to the math and physics background that you possess. I was totally stumped on pages 2 and 3 (Maxwells current-magnetic field equation). It will help to supplement this study with a book on tensor calculus and another relativity book by Hartle or Schutz. The worked examples and chapter quizes were great though and worth the effort.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by Steve on June 27, 2010 - 10:59 am
I’ve purchased a whole book shelf of the Demystified series, though I’ve only just started using them. As a former physics undergrad, these books at least *appear* to offer a level of treatment that I can handle as I wade back into the subject. The one I’ve been using the most is Differential Equations Demystified, and I’ve found that very helpful so far.
*This* book, however — General Relativity Demystified — proved somewhat of a disappointment. Basically, before you can get into the physics, you have to get some handle on the mathematics of Tensors, which is covered in the early chapters, but I simply found the treatment opaque. I’m planning to get some other books on Tensors and study them carefully. Then I plan to return to this book, and see if the later parts of the book — which deal with the physics — prove to be accessible, once I have the tensor math down.
Possibly, if the author rewrote the early part of the book to clarify the tensor discussion, he might still have a hit here. As I say, though, other books in the series look pretty good, and I’m very happy with the DfEQ Demystified book, which I’ve really been working my way through and learning something in the process.
Rating: 3 / 5