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General Relativity from A to B
"This beautiful little book is certainly suitable for anyone who has had an introductory course in physics and even for some who have not."—Joshua N. Goldberg, Physics Today
"An imaginative and convincing new presentation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. . . . The treatment is masterful, continual emphasis being placed on careful discussion and motivation, with the aim of showing how physicists think and develop their ideas."— Choice
"An imaginative and convincing new presentation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. . . . The treatment is masterful, continual emphasis being placed on careful discussion and motivation, with the aim of showing how physicists think and develop their ideas."— Choice
233 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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258 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 8, 2013
You can tell that the author of this little book is a brilliant mathematical physicist. The ideas are coherent, concisely presented, but without allowing unnecessary rigor to come in the way of explaining them in a meaningful but precise way.
As Geroch himself admits, this is not just a beautifully simple and highly geometrical explanation of general relativity, but it's also a text about what it means to be a physicist and how do physicists go about constructing and exploring their theories.
As Geroch himself admits, this is not just a beautifully simple and highly geometrical explanation of general relativity, but it's also a text about what it means to be a physicist and how do physicists go about constructing and exploring their theories.
July 17, 2019
I wouldn't say this book is easy–I'm not sure any book on this subject could be–but through this book, Robert Geroch makes a complex subject accessible to those with patience, even if they have a limited background in math and physics. This book not only describes the basics of the general theory of relativity, but it also describes how physicists think about and approach the problems they aim to solve. Despite the difficulty of the subject matter, I found Geroch's explanations fairly easy to follow, and his wit and subtle humor throughout gave life to explanations that otherwise would have been quite dry.
November 17, 2020
Such a great well-written book and the best parts about this is its analogies that literally lighten the idea up in your mind like a candle .Yes General relativity without its notorious mathematics is a bit off but yet the author managed to give the reader a general idea on what “general relativity” could be from a different non-mathematical viewpoint . Definitely worth a five star
February 19, 2014
Verbal Description of General Relativity
The author presents fundamental ideas of theory of relativity in a non-mathematical form using conversation approach to readers with little science background. The book is highly descriptive and the reader is bound to get bored since this is a discussion of about basic ideas about space and time using two-dimensional space-time diagrams. The first part of the book describes the notion of space and time in terms of Aristotelian and Galilean view points. The second half describes how the idea of spatial distance and elapsed time (interval) are incorporated into space time as geometrical entity. The author uses a general framework in this book for explaining general relativity. This is done by describing an event and assemble them into space-time (in a space-time diagram) and describe what is going-on in the physical world in terms of collection of events, and relationships between events is evaluated using measuring instruments such as light pulses and clocks. The intrinsic relationship between two events is described by interval (measured by physical experiences of observers). From the interval, one determines how light goes and how clock move and tick. The author eventually explains how equating intervals leads to relationship between `real' physical measurements. The interval is a sort of misty thing that stands in the background and integrates into space-time. In the final chapter the author discusses an application of general relativity to understand the properties of blackholes: It is here that the readers appreciate the importance relativity. The reader must have patience to read this book and he/she must be prepared to read chapters 5 and 6 second and perhaps third time to understand the underlying concept. If you do not have patience you will be lost and you will dislike this book
The author presents fundamental ideas of theory of relativity in a non-mathematical form using conversation approach to readers with little science background. The book is highly descriptive and the reader is bound to get bored since this is a discussion of about basic ideas about space and time using two-dimensional space-time diagrams. The first part of the book describes the notion of space and time in terms of Aristotelian and Galilean view points. The second half describes how the idea of spatial distance and elapsed time (interval) are incorporated into space time as geometrical entity. The author uses a general framework in this book for explaining general relativity. This is done by describing an event and assemble them into space-time (in a space-time diagram) and describe what is going-on in the physical world in terms of collection of events, and relationships between events is evaluated using measuring instruments such as light pulses and clocks. The intrinsic relationship between two events is described by interval (measured by physical experiences of observers). From the interval, one determines how light goes and how clock move and tick. The author eventually explains how equating intervals leads to relationship between `real' physical measurements. The interval is a sort of misty thing that stands in the background and integrates into space-time. In the final chapter the author discusses an application of general relativity to understand the properties of blackholes: It is here that the readers appreciate the importance relativity. The reader must have patience to read this book and he/she must be prepared to read chapters 5 and 6 second and perhaps third time to understand the underlying concept. If you do not have patience you will be lost and you will dislike this book
October 3, 2024
A NON-TECHNICAL EXPOSITION OF RELATIVITY, AND THE BACKGROUND WHICH LED TO IT
At the time this book was written in 1978, Robert Geroch was a professor of physics. He wrote in the Preface, "This book grew out of the lecture notes I gave, in 1975, to nonscience undergraduates at the University of Chicago. It discusses an area of physics, but it is also intended as a statement of the sort of material in science which I feel those outside this field would find most useful and most interesting... it is my hope that there is here a glimpse of how physics actually works, and how working physicists think about the world in which we live."
He says in the first chapter, "The notion of an event is a basic building block of the theory. It will dominate all that follows. By an event we mean an idealized occurrence in the physical world having extension in neither space nor time. For example, 'the explosion of a firecracker' or 'the snapping of one's fingers' would represent an event. (By contrast, 'a particle' would not represent an event, for it has 'extension in time; 'a long piece of rope' has 'extension in space.')" (Pg. 3)
He adds, "Relationships between events--that is what we are after. Virtually everything we say hereafter can be resolved, directly or indirectly, into some statement of such a relationship. We wish to discover the 'correct' theory of the relationship between events." (Pg. 5)
After giving illustrations of the "time dilation" effect in Einstein's theory, he observes, "A says that B's watch is speeded up by 50%, while at the same time B says that A's watch is speeded up by 50%, Who is right? Who is really speeded up and who isn't? The answer to this question is that there isn't any 'really'--in relativity or in physics... The idea that someone must be 'really' speeded up and someone must be wrong is a holdover from the Galilean (or even Aristotelian) view." (Pg. 128)
He states, "physics never finds any final explanations or real reasons. Rather, some things are merely related to other things, and those to other things, and so on. One aims for a conceptual simplicity and some feeling of an understanding of how the world works. One does not, as a physicist, know how to do better; one becomes accustomed to accepting gratefully those small glimpses into the workings of nature that one is able to glean." (Pg. 134)
About a hypothetical emitted particle, he states, "Einstein's equation again provides dynamical information about how the particle moves in space-time... On imposing Einstein's equation, one loses his former right to specify both the space-time geometry AND the world-line of the particle (or, what is the same thing, the mass density associated with the particle) at will. Rather, these two things must be connected via Einstein's equation. The result of this connection is that that dynamical behavior of physical phenomena is now tied down to space-time itself." (Pg. 179)
He summarizes, "It seems to me that 'theories of physics' have, in the main, gotten a terrible press. The view has somehow come to be rampant that such theories are precise, highly logical, ultimately 'proved.' In my opinion, at least, this is simply not the case... If the above is really the case---if one is not concerned with proving the theory---what, then, do relativists do with their time? This is a difficult question to answer... One major area of activity could be summarized under 'trying to figure out which model, if any, corresponds to our physical world as we see it.'" (Pg. 183)
Including a substantial amount of discussion about the historical background that led up to Relativity, this book will be helpful to most readers seeking a non-technical introduction to the subject. [Other "introductory" books include Einstein's 'Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, and Bertrand Russell's and 'The ABC of Relativity'.]
At the time this book was written in 1978, Robert Geroch was a professor of physics. He wrote in the Preface, "This book grew out of the lecture notes I gave, in 1975, to nonscience undergraduates at the University of Chicago. It discusses an area of physics, but it is also intended as a statement of the sort of material in science which I feel those outside this field would find most useful and most interesting... it is my hope that there is here a glimpse of how physics actually works, and how working physicists think about the world in which we live."
He says in the first chapter, "The notion of an event is a basic building block of the theory. It will dominate all that follows. By an event we mean an idealized occurrence in the physical world having extension in neither space nor time. For example, 'the explosion of a firecracker' or 'the snapping of one's fingers' would represent an event. (By contrast, 'a particle' would not represent an event, for it has 'extension in time; 'a long piece of rope' has 'extension in space.')" (Pg. 3)
He adds, "Relationships between events--that is what we are after. Virtually everything we say hereafter can be resolved, directly or indirectly, into some statement of such a relationship. We wish to discover the 'correct' theory of the relationship between events." (Pg. 5)
After giving illustrations of the "time dilation" effect in Einstein's theory, he observes, "A says that B's watch is speeded up by 50%, while at the same time B says that A's watch is speeded up by 50%, Who is right? Who is really speeded up and who isn't? The answer to this question is that there isn't any 'really'--in relativity or in physics... The idea that someone must be 'really' speeded up and someone must be wrong is a holdover from the Galilean (or even Aristotelian) view." (Pg. 128)
He states, "physics never finds any final explanations or real reasons. Rather, some things are merely related to other things, and those to other things, and so on. One aims for a conceptual simplicity and some feeling of an understanding of how the world works. One does not, as a physicist, know how to do better; one becomes accustomed to accepting gratefully those small glimpses into the workings of nature that one is able to glean." (Pg. 134)
About a hypothetical emitted particle, he states, "Einstein's equation again provides dynamical information about how the particle moves in space-time... On imposing Einstein's equation, one loses his former right to specify both the space-time geometry AND the world-line of the particle (or, what is the same thing, the mass density associated with the particle) at will. Rather, these two things must be connected via Einstein's equation. The result of this connection is that that dynamical behavior of physical phenomena is now tied down to space-time itself." (Pg. 179)
He summarizes, "It seems to me that 'theories of physics' have, in the main, gotten a terrible press. The view has somehow come to be rampant that such theories are precise, highly logical, ultimately 'proved.' In my opinion, at least, this is simply not the case... If the above is really the case---if one is not concerned with proving the theory---what, then, do relativists do with their time? This is a difficult question to answer... One major area of activity could be summarized under 'trying to figure out which model, if any, corresponds to our physical world as we see it.'" (Pg. 183)
Including a substantial amount of discussion about the historical background that led up to Relativity, this book will be helpful to most readers seeking a non-technical introduction to the subject. [Other "introductory" books include Einstein's 'Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, and Bertrand Russell's and 'The ABC of Relativity'.]
January 15, 2023
I had hopes for this book as being a bridge between the many popularised accounts on relatively and a more textbook-like treatment. It delivered on that premise.
With little more that easy-to-read forumulas and space-time diagrams, the reader is treated to a very deliberate and hand-held journey from basic concepts of time and motion to understanding relativistic effects and even black holes. It really is unlike any other book I’ve read and I finished the entire thing in two 2-hour sittings.
The only reason I dropped a star is that for a book that purports to be about general relativity, it is mostly about special relativity and the insights in gravity come right at the end. It almost felt like the GR bit was rushed. But still, a highly recommend from me.
With little more that easy-to-read forumulas and space-time diagrams, the reader is treated to a very deliberate and hand-held journey from basic concepts of time and motion to understanding relativistic effects and even black holes. It really is unlike any other book I’ve read and I finished the entire thing in two 2-hour sittings.
The only reason I dropped a star is that for a book that purports to be about general relativity, it is mostly about special relativity and the insights in gravity come right at the end. It almost felt like the GR bit was rushed. But still, a highly recommend from me.
February 6, 2018
If you understand some physics and can follow basic formulas this is a great little introduction.
January 2, 2023
An incredibly elegant, mostly non-mathematical presentation.
June 19, 2024
not an easy book to read but i feel intellectually empowered in every way. first philosophy book ive read and my mind was actually increased in size from this
May 13, 2011
Even if you do know the proper mathematical formulation of general relativity, this little book gives a very cute mechanism that accurately presents some interesting results of the theory in a very simple layman's fashion. Great read.
May 16, 2008
this made general relativity comprehensible to me.
March 21, 2009
Absolutely terrific little explanation of the fundamentals of space-time.
Read
August 6, 2011Aikamoinen antikliimaksi,tuntui ettei kirjoittajakaan tiennyt mitään aiheesta.Tai sitten piti lukijaa tyhmänä.
January 27, 2012
I ended up skimming through half of this book. It was boring and either the translation is abysmal or the source text is really written this way, but I didn't like it at all.
March 6, 2016
I'm giving this book four stars for its concise delivery of a complex subject, however it is not clearly written and requires a fair measure of focus to comprehend.
Read
February 1, 2017Great introduction taking you from Aristotelian view trough Newtonian to the modern concepts for the world. It was new and fascinating for me that "cone" model of the event spread trough space-time.
Want to read
January 19, 2014General relativity - for when you get really serious
Want to read
January 27, 2019General relativity — to get intuition for the subject before tackling the details
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews