Gives an intuitive understanding of General Relativity

books:


	• Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity Edwin F. Taylor, John Archibald Wheeler Benjamin Cummings, 2000 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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Gives an intuitive understanding of General Relativity

This book sidesteps the hard work needed to motivate and develop the Einstein field equations, and goes directly to one of the most important solutions of the equations, the Schwarzschild solution, which gives rise to the concept of a black hole. By exploring what observers in different parts of space-time would experience along their different trajectories (whether falling into a black hole or watching from a safe spot far away), Taylor and Wheeler manage to convey an intuitive understanding for such typical GR "paradoxes" such as the fact that the same "event" (the crossing over of an object through the event horizon) can be seen to take 15 minutes, or forever, depending on who's watching it.

Because of what it omits, this book is not a complete presentation of GR. It does present the most fun part of GR, however, in a way that is mathematically accessible.

Along the way, a few side questions are adddressed, like "How painful would it be to be squished/torn apart as I fall into a black hole?" A lot of time is also spent explaining how the weird trajectories of light within the event horizon will transmogrify what is seen by the observer.

This is a great book and a lot of fun. I am also left with a greater motivation to go back to a more complete presentation, to be convinced that "this is where you have to end up". Although much longer, this book is a worthy successor to the original output of this dynamic duo, "Spacetime Physics".

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Amazing Introduction to a Very Esoteric Subject

Einstein's general theory of relativity is perhaps one of the most mathematically intense areas of research any physicist or astronomer could undertake. However this book takes the subject and turns it into a joyous romp through curved spacetime.

By avoiding the field equations and focusing on their solutions the authors impart to the eager student an overview of general relativity and set the stage for a more rigorous approach to be undertaken later. This book is the perfect introduction to the subject.

The book is well suited for advanced undergraduates who have had several hours of physics and mathematics. It is likewise suited to serve as a introductory text for graduate students that are studying astrophysics and astronomy. In the latter case the text serves well as an overview of what general relativity is, many of its findings, its predictions, and its relevance to observational astronomy.

If you have a basic understanding of calculus and have studied the special theory of relativity in some detail then this book is well suited to your needs.

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A Breakthrough in Undergraduate Texts

A book I really wouldn't have thought could have been written. There are a lot of books on general relativity at the superficial level, call these books 'mathless.' There are monumental tomes aimed at the graduate student level, call these books 'tensor calculus.' Here is a book exquisitely positioned between these others. The student will need to have had differential calculus, and perhaps a bit of basic physics, and with these he will get a pretty good, introductory understanding of General Relativity.

The real key to this book is that it explains a lot, but then it open up a bunch of other questions, questions that we really haven't answered yet -- things like dark matter, dark energy, accelerating expansion of the universe, and more.

The book ends with: 'How can physics live up to its true greatness except by a new revolution in outlook which dwarfs all past revolutions? And when it comes, will we not say to each other, Oh, how beautiful and simple it all is! How could we ever have missed it so long.'

That's just the awe, the vision, that we want new and budding physicists to have.

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Good book if you like mathematics!

This is the best book about General relativity ( GR ) that I have ever read. Instead of trying to explain GR with words the author is using mathematics to to illustrate some of the consequences of GR. This means that some mathematical knowledge is required ( but not knowledge about tensors and dfferential forms ) and that the reader need to spend some time with paper and pencil to truly understand the text. The examples is concentrated on what is happening around black holes but the advance of Mercury's perihelion and the slowing of light around the Sun is also described. A very good book!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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