The special and the general theory by albert einstein, einstein. Written in the late 1930s, it explores the life of mr. Wolfgang rindler, introduction to special relativity. Everything is very carefully and clearly derived and a lot of advanced topics are also included. The main characters of this science, non fiction story are. General relativity fall, 2012 the theoretical minimum. Special relativity is loosely based on the tried and tested course at oxford, where extensive tutorials and problem classes support the lecture course. This is reflected in the book in the large number of examples and exercises, ranging from the rather simple through to. A walk on the train, relativistic dynamics, mass and energy, energy and momentum in lorentz transformations, transforming energy into mass and how. The general theory is principally concerned with the largescale effects of gravitation and therefore is an essential ingredient in theories of the. Motion mountain relativity of the adventure of physics. Which is the best special relativity book with proper mathematical.
The aim of this book is to introduce people without a strong physics or even scientific background to the special and general theories of relativity and now i want to read other similar scientific books. The best book on special relativity that i have read is by a. It really brings electrical field and magnetic field together, and this is the very purpose of me looking into special relativity. Max borns book is a gem and if you can get around the mild distractions and focus on the ideas then you may even get around the paradoxes in relatively, where common sense is a distraction. Notes on special relativity pdf 78p this note covers the following topics. This is the most important finding not just one of the most in the history of human beings.
Naber, the geometry of minkowski spacetime, springer, 2010. An introduction with 200 problems and solutions by michael tsamparlis. The authors are best known for their book gravitation which is. Special relativity is a featured book on wikibooks because it contains substantial content. The first edition of the novel was published in 1916, and was written by albert einstein. In 1905, albert einstein published the theory of special relativity, which explains how to interpret motion between different inertial frames of reference that is, places that are moving at constant speeds relative to each other.
Einstein does a reasonably good job of communicating the postulates and impacts of special and general relativity. Maxwell and special relativity princeton university. This book quickly gets to the issue of why there even needs to be a theory of special relativity. For a fun, easy nonmathematical read that will give you an intuitive grasp of special relativity, i would recommend mr. First, the book introduces special relativity in a simple way. Woodhouses comparatively short special relativity is a pleasure to read and therefore qualifies right off as a good source to use for learning about special relativity on your own. Please continue to improve it and thanks for the great work so far.
Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Special relativity wikibooks, open books for an open world. Discover the best relativity physics in best sellers. The 17 best special relativity books recommended by phil plait, such as geometry, why does emc2 and special relativity.
My favourite books on special relativity, both advanced and with a strong geometric flavour, are. Youre the author of a biography of albert einstein called einstein. Max born succeeds one of the best popular books on relativity. Introduction to special relativity, by wolfgang rindler, oxford u. This is a book with great quantities of words, and figures, trying to explain.
The ground that albert einstein gained in relativity is well demonstrated in this book. A first course in special relativity there are tons with that name e. It truly teaches the reader where all the ideas from special relativity come from. Frames of reference and newtons laws, the speed of light, michelsonmorley experiment, special relativity, the lorentz transformations, time dilation, adding velocities. My daughter read this book and when i asked her about it, she said the story was good and was intrigued to find that general relativity was special and special relativity was general. Although the final form of the theory came to use minkowski spaces and metric tensors, it is possible to discuss sr using nothing more than high school algebra. He wanted to provide an introduction to the ideas that even. This will help you make the connection between sr and gr tensor notations, etc since deeper then. General relativity generalises special relativity and newtons law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, or spacetime.
This maybe makes it lose points from the standpoint of brevity and aesthetics. Im not a total beginner, i have a degree in math and used to be a high school math and physics tutor, but ideally i would want to read a book that explains the concept as intuitively as possible, even if that means taking out most of the math. Hello everyone, im studying physics as an undergraduate and im currently taking the course special relativity. Special relativity practice problems a textbook based on this website is now available from cambridge university press. One of the best recommended books to begin learning the subject. While lorentz failed to discover this relativity due to his belief in newtons. A lot of very nice material is touched on in its pages, presented in natural sequence consonant with history, and is not improperly belabored. As one of the great physicist, lorentz deducted the lorentz factor by which time, length and relativistic mass change for an object while the object is moving.
So i was wondering what are the best books you know of regarding special relativity for undergraduates. Mcdonald joseph henry laboratories, princeton university, princeton, nj 08544 may 26, 2014. Relativity is generally regarded as his greatest achievement and it comes in two forms. The first completely geometric approach to relativity theory, based on the spacetime geometries of loedel and brehme.
As a matter of fact, the last chapter is the most interesting. Please continue to improve it and thanks for the great work. They both require a nonbasic knowledge of linear algebra. The special and general theory dover books on physics. Rindler is the classic intro to special relativity. Einstein expanded the special theory of relativity into a general theory completed c. The best books on albert einstein five books expert. For the man on the street, einstein and relativity are prob ably epitomized by this result.
There are a lot of good books about relativity, but most have been targeted at a high level of understanding, bennett told. The author spends incredible time trying to explain difficult ideas in a fashion that is as clear as possible. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of pages and is available in paperback format. So i was wondering what are the best books you know of regarding special. Isbn 97818996304 the book walks the reader through the development of the special and general theories of relativity and the supporting theories they were built upon. A listing of technical books for general relativity. General relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by albert einstein in 1916 and the current description of gravitation in modern physics. It clearly explains what postulates are unwavering and why and then proceeds to show how the other generally accepted physics concepts, which appear at first to be at odds with each other, can in fact coexist. This is the best book on special relativity that i have ever come across.
Theory of relativity, theories of science, books barnes. By far the best introductory text on special relativity has to be spacetime physics by taylor and wheeler. He begins by sharing an overview of special relativity, including its history, principles, and. The following edition is a good translation with the diagrams included. Tapei cheng 2015 a college course on relativity and cosmology oxford university press. List of books and articles about theory of relativity. What are good books for special relativity physics stack exchange. This book presents special relativity sr from first principles and logically arrives at the conclusions. Topics include time, space, lorentz transformation, electricity and magnetism, form invariance, experimental evidence, much more. This is an introduction to einsteins theories of special and general relativity. A fine, physicallybased introduction to many of the details of special relativity. Quantum field theory and the hunt for an orderly universe by frank close another historical book about the development of the standard model. The geometry of special relativity by tevian dray then there are more advanced books like special relativity. It might look a bit hokey, but its full of fabulous insights.
Speckled with illuminating examples, this book is the best out there. This popular book is downloaded over 40 000 times per year and guarantees to be captivating and surprising on every page. Most modern books include it as a subset of general relativity. Introduction to special relativity low level but good for conceptual understanding woodhouse special relativity nice brisk mathematical treatment of sr. Einstein explained that when two objects are moving at a constant speed as the relative motion between the two. System upgrade on tue, may 19th, 2020 at 2am et during this period, ecommerce and registration of new users may not be available for up to 12 hours. Frey leads readers on a fascinating journey in this book that seeks to prove that albert einsteins theory of special relativity is all wrong. Whats a good beginners book for learning special and general relativity. I will begin with saying that this book deserves its spot on the list of top 25 science books of all time.
Whats a good beginners book for learning special and. Some gifted people can write and explain well the most complex ideas some cannot. Special relativityintroduction wikibooks, open books. There will be simple diagrams and some thought experiments. Special relativity is a featured book on wikibooks because it contains substantial content, it is wellformatted, and the wikibooks community has decided to feature it on the main page or in other places. See also woodhouses general relativity book for a continuation wolfgang rindler introduction to special relativity. Spacetime physics introduction to special relativity. But sadly im not too big a fan of the book we are using for the course. A hundred years of relativity that was republished this year to coincide with the centenary of the theory of general relativity. If the book could extend a bit more in fourvectors, that would be great.
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