Customer Reviews (2)

A good introduction to General Relativity
What is unique in this book is that it has the Gödel cosmological solution to
the general relativity equations. It has a good coverage of Weyl's gauge
equations as well and a discussion of the
topological implications of black holes.
The mathematics is well done and relatively easy to follow.
This text is aclassic text on gravity theory.

My Favorite Book on General Relativity
This second edition of the Adler, Bazin and Schiffer book is nothing short of miraculous. I have read it off and on for 25 years, and I always manage to learn something new from it. Although it cannot compete with the more recent texts on post-Newtonian mechanics, everything is here for the advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate student: tensor calculus; Riemannian and non-Riemannian geometries; tensor applications in electrodynamics; variational methods; Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes; Killing vectors; and much, much more. An entire chapter is devoted to Weyl's gauge-invariant theory and Wheeler's "already unified" field theory. If you have been completely turned off by Misner-Wheeler-Thorne's Gravitation book (along with its somewhat pretentious and totally confusing annotations and sidebar material), and yet you still want to learn a decent amount of general relativity, buy this book while copies are still available. I'm still hoping that a third edition (with a chapter on computer applications) will eventually hit the shelves. ... Read more

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(Imperial College Press) A thorough discussion of group theory and Einstein's theory of gravitation. The first half of the text is devoted to rotation and Lorentz groups, and their representations. The second half is devoted to the applications of groups to the theory of general relativity. A link between field relativity theoreticians and general field relativity theoreticians. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Introduction to Roy Kerr
Most people have heard about black holes but most people do not who Roy Kerr is and how his work has revolutionized the study of black holes. This little book is a welcome introduction to this little known, private genius! Part scientific biography and part introduction to black holes and the state of the current knowledge about them. It has some rare and interesting photographs of the 1962 relativity conference in Warsaw. We need a full length biography of the man dubbed by the NZ press as the "Man of Mystery", but till that time, thanks to Fulvio Melia for writing this small book. Highly Recommended! ... Read more

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A concise, rigorous and fairly thorough exposition
The book divides into three parts.Part I develops the mathematical tools used in the general theory of relativity.This part is very short, but self-contained.Readers who have never studied differential geometry will find the exposition too abstract, in my view.I suggest the reader first study one of a number of good texts such as, W. Thirring: A course in Mathematical Physics, Vol 1 or R. Abraham and J.E. Marsden: Foundations of Mechanics.

In the second part, the general theory of relativity is developed along traditional lines.The coordinate-free language is emphasized.Full use of Cartan's calculus of differential forms is made.The tests of general relativity are discussed.

The last part of the book treats important aspects of the physics of compact objects.Some topics, for example the cooling of neutron stars, are discussed in great detail.

On the whole, the book is rigorous.May I emphasize, the reader need a good background in differential geometry. ... Read more

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This volume from the Einstein Studies Series is based largely on papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on the History of General Relativity, held in Amsterdam on June 26-29, 2002. These contributions from notable experts offer both new and historical insights on gravitation, general relativity, cosmology, unified field theory, and the history of science.

Topics discussed include the prehistory of special relativity, early attempts at a relativistic theory of gravitation, the beginnings of general relativity, the problem of motion in the context of relativity, conservation laws, the axiomatization of relativity, classical and contemporary cosmology, gravitation and electromagnetism, quantum gravity, and relativity as seen through the eyes of the public and renowned relativists.

Contributors: K. Brading; G. Gale; H.F.M. Goenner; J. Goldberg; S. Katzir; D. Kennefick; H. Kragh; C. Lehner; U. Majer; J. Mattingly; E.T. Newman; J.D. Norton; J. Renn; R. Rynasiewicz; J.M. Sánchez-Ron; T. Sauer; C. Smeenk; J. Stachel; M. Wazeck; and D. Wünsch.

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This book offers an alternative to other textbooks on the subject, providing a more specific discussion of numerous general relativistic effects for readers who have knowledge of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, including special relativity. Coverage includes in particular gravitational lensing, signal retardation in the gravitational field of the Sun, the Reissner-Nordström solution, selected spin effects, the resonance transformation of an electromagnetic wave into a gravitational one, and the entropy and temperature of black holes. The book includes numerous problems at various levels of difficulty, making it ideal also for independent study by a broad readership of advanced students and researchers.

I.B. Khriplovich is Chief Researcher, Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, and Chair of Theoretical Physics at Novosibirsk University. Dr. Khriplovich is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the Dirac Medal ``For the advancement of theoretical physics'' by University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and the Pomeranchuk Prize ``For outstanding contribution to the understanding the properties of the standard model, especially for illuminating work on weak and strong interactions of quarks'' by the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia.

Customer Reviews (1)

On Khriplovich's "General Relativty"
The book presents a concise course on theory of gravity. In spite of its limited size of only 116 pages, it covers the main theoretical notions and experimental phenomena. The author does it in a quite instructive way emphasizing underlying physics. Particularly impressive in this respect are chapters on observable effects, spin interaction, gravitational waves and black holes. The book's comparative analysis of radiation of gravitational waves by ultrarelativistic particles versus synchrotron radiation serves, in my view, as a best example.
I enthusiastically recommend the book, both to students who have just started studying the field as well as to established researchers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful, physical book
Sciama gives a mixture of philosophical, theoretical, and observational arguments that Newton's Laws have to be extended and modified into general relativity. He makes heavy use of introductory physics and special relativity, but almost nothing else; he assumes that the reader is careful and attentive, but not a genius. He never gives the full-up equations, because he doesn't allow himself any difficult mathematics, but the equations are fully explained in words, which, in my opinion, is much more useful. It is absolutely the clearest introduction to general relativity I have ever seen, hands down (and I have seen a lot).

One of the most remarkable parts of the book is his use of contemporaneous cosmological measurements to argue that inertial forces (ie, forces that appear in reference frames that are accelerated relative to the reference frame set by large mass at large distance) must scale as 1/r. This use of observations to constrain the possible forms for gravitational theory clearly grounds general relativity in the real and observable. This is followed by an extremely frank (ie, skeptical) look at the observational tests of general relativity available at the time of publication. ... Read more

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A note from the 1920 publication:
Whether it is true or not that not more than twelve persons in all the world are able to understand Einstein's Theory, it is nevertheless a fact that there is a constant demand for information about this much-debated topic of relativity. The books published on the subject are so technical that only a person trained in pure physics and higher mathematics is able to fully understand them. In order to make a popular explanation of this far-reaching theory available, the present book is published.
Professor Lorentz is credited by Einstein with sharing the development of his theory. He is doubtless better able than any other man—except the author himself—to explain this scientific discovery.

This version includes a working Table of Contents for easy navigation ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Poorly written, and suffers as a result.
This text was clearly written in an era when over wording or complex wording was apparently accepted as the norm.It's brief, and difficult to understand, but not because it needed to be that way.The author clearly doesn't know how to make his understanding comprehendable to the average reader.And the only thing I took away from the reading experience was that light can be manipulated by gravity.WooHoo, tell me something that I couldn't have learned from a cheesy sci-fi movie.

The author refers to space as "ether", in an attempt to explain what it is that the earth and other planetary bodies are moving through.In a more modern age, the idea doesn't make sense because space is empty, and Einstein being the genius he was didn't attempted to account for the "ether" while working on his theory.Lest we enter into a conversation about dark matter which is still a theoretical concept.Dark matter is believed to consume space in solar systems (which we've observed) that are too small to actually be a solar system.The idea being that dark matter while being completely invisible adds mass to these solar systems and thus keeps the planets in that system from flying out.So I suppose one could say that "ether" could be referring to an early concept of dark matter.But again, existence of dark matter is still unproven, and it makes me wonder if the astrophysicists who are observing these solar systems are accounting for the distance.After all, just because a solar system appears stable to an observer on earth, it could actually be far from the truth.Since the distance light travels to reach us is only a reflection of a past event, we cannot assume that what we observe through telescopes is representative of what's actually taking place in these distant solar systems.

Long story short, I think I'll check out the Wikipedia page on Einstein's Theory of Relativity.I'm sure it's somewhat comprehendable.Though to be fair, if it's written like the entry on Schrödinger's cat, I'll probably be just as lost.

Good Entry Point
This book is a nice, quick entry point for people looking to learn about Einstein's famous theory.

That being said, this should not be the only source of info you use to learn about the subject. As previously mentioned, this article is about 90 years old so there is newer material to be read. That being said I never see anything wrong with starting from the beginning and working your way forward.

Good Entry-Point Reading
This very short book is sort of an abstract on Einstein's Theory of Relativity.Whether you're familiar, and especially if you are, about Physics and Nature's Laws of Motion, Gravity, etc...this is a worthwhile read for getting to know Einstein's theory as written by a friend physicist.It describes Einstein's theory and quashes your curiosity on the subject matter.

Short and concise, I picked up a few concepts that I was not truly aware of since grade school or high school...when I was actually enrolled in a science class.For instance, I always thought space is enveloped in a vacuum...meaning no air or nothing at all.It was not after reading this book that I was made re-aware of the gas ether as "light's medium"...or what the upper atmosphere consists of, hence the word ethereal (`not of this world).

Read further and you actually grasp the essence of the theory, said in the simplest possible way from a physicist's point of view.Right now though, I'd like to read more on the subject matter at hand...or perhaps more on Einstein himself.This is just good entry-point reading.

wow
I have alway love the theory of relativity. This is the basic from and really want to read more on the subject.A must read or at lest know of the theory. ... Read more

Product Description
When this book was originally published in 1979, the vitality of Einstein's general theory and its impact on other branches of science had never been greater. The unprecedented advances of the previous fifteen years had been stimulated on the observational side by developments in radar and space technology and by the discovery of exotic astronomical objects, which pointed to the existence of very strong gravitational fields, and possibly black holes, in many parts of the universe. Equally striking had been the progress in theoretical understanding, notably of black hole physics, the early history of the universe and the reconciliation of quantum physics and gravitational theory. To honour Einstein's hundredth birthday, twenty-one of the world's leading relativists collaborated on this carefully integrated survey of the state of research. This unique book, which remained a standard for many years, is indispensable to anyone concerned with the profound influence that Einstein's theory has exerted on our notions of space, time and the ultimate nature of matter. ... Read more

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General relativity is now essential to the understanding of modern physics, but the power of the theory cannot be exploited fully without a detailed knowledge of its mathematical structure.This book aims to implement this structure, and then to develop those applications that have been central to the growth of the theory. ... Read more

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This book is intended for students interested in the applications of general relativity in astrophysics and cosmology but who would like to avoid mathematical complications. This volume thus combines relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology in a single volume. It provides an introduction to the subject that will enable students to consult more detailed treatises as well as the current literature. For prospective researchers in these fields, the book includes an appendix on differential forms, and an extensive, though not exhaustive list of references. The book is divided into three parts. The section on general relativity gives the case for a curved space-time, presents the mathematical background (tensor calculus, Riemannian geometry), discusses the Einstein equation and its solutions (including black holes, Penrose processes, and similar topics), and considers the energy-momentum tensor for various solutions. The section on relativistic astrophysics discusses stellar contraction and collapse, neutron stars and their equations of state, black holes, and accretion onto collapsed objects. The section on cosmology discusses various cosmological models, observational tests, and scenarios for the early universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Who is this book for?
For whom was this book written? If you don't know tensor analysis, GR and the rest of that stuff you're sure not going to learn it here. If you do know tensor analysis and the other stuff why are you reading this book? ... Read more

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Introduction Outline Part I. Background from the theory of partial differential equations: Functional analysis The Fourier transform Sobolev spaces Sobolev embedding Symmetric hyperbolic systems Linear wave equations Local existence, non-linear wave equations Part II. Background in geometry, global hyperbolicity and uniqueness: Basic Lorentz geometry Characterizations of global hyperbolicity Uniqueness of solutions to linear wave equations Part III. General relativity: The constraint equations Local existence Cauchy stability Existence of a maximal globally hyperbolic development Part IV. Pathologies, strong cosmic censorship: Preliminaries Constant mean curvature Initial data Einstein's vacuum equations Closed universe recollapse Asymptotic behaviour LRS Bianchi class A solutions Existence of extensions Existence of inequivalent extensions Appendices Bibliography Index ... Read more

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This book presents, in a natural and beautiful way, thegeneral relativity as a scheme for describing the gravitational fieldand the equations it obeys. Starting from physical motivations, curvedcoordinates are introduced, and then the notion of an affineconnection field is added. At a later step, the metric field isadded. One then sees clearly how space and time get more and morestructure, until finally Einstein's field equations logically comeout. Many applications of the theory are briefed and the readers arereferred to a carefully prepared literature list for furtherdetails. However, extra attention is paid to an application ongravitational radiation which may become important in the near futurebut somehow is omitted from introductory text books a bit toooften. This book, authored by a master theoretical physicist, serveswell as a textbook for an elementary course in General Relativity. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: London, Macmillan and co., limited; Publication date: 1920; Subjects: Relativity (Physics); ... Read more

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Publisher: London MethuenPublication date: 1920Subjects: Relativity (Physics)Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more