Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Wings Books (1988), Edition: 15th edition, 188 pages
Description
Time's 'Man of the Century', Albert Einstein is the unquestioned founder of modern physics. His theory of relativity is the most important scientific idea of the modern era. In this short book Einstein explains, using the minimum of mathematical terms, the basic ideas and principles of the theory which has shaped the world we live in today. Unsurpassed by any subsequent books on relativity, this remains the most popular and useful exposition of Einstein's immense contribution to human knowledge.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mrfalljackets
Diminished my presumption of my own supreme intelligence. Completely inaccessible somewhere around chapter 9 but then again I probably wasn't his intended audience. I have zero scientific training. Loved how he used phrases such as "the observer will immediately notice..." or "the reader will
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obviously infer from the following...". I found very little either immediate or obvious. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This book is subtitled "A clear exlanation that anyone can understand". Unfortunately, I found that to be untrue, although I must admit I have no science training at all. For me, though, this book made a nice companion piece to the biography on Einstein I'm reading, and the Einstein for Dummies
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book (which does provide a clear explanation that anyone can understand). It was nice to read Dr. Einstein's own words. Show Less
LibraryThing member Borg-mx5
No. Without a decent math and physics background, you will not understand this. It does help to grasp one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. This attempt fails to easily impart a good understanding of the theory, but it does give someone the sense of the enormity of the
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discovery itself. Show Less
LibraryThing member figre
Let’s face it. If you think you want to read this, then you may as well go ahead and dive in. The surprise…it is relatively easy to read. (Last time for that word, honest) I have slogged through a number of books trying to get a grasp of the concepts within Einstein’s theories. Every time I
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feel like I make some headway, but it feels like some of it is always out of my grasp. With the promise that Einstein himself was the best to explain it, I dove in. The good news is that he does try to take it down to our level. The bad news is he uses some math in doing so. Accordingly, at the end of it all, I have made more headway, but I still can’t get my head around gravity being just a bend in space. (Or maybe, that isn’t what it is, and that shows the ignorance I’ve still got to overcome.) Bottom line, you really can’t beat the primary source. Maybe if I read it one more time…. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmccamant
I abandoned this to re-read Hawking after an uninspiring start. I think relativity is most interesting with a little more time and cosmology under out collective belt.
LibraryThing member Snakeshands
Not what they'd call "popular" today, but it's written at exactly the level that if I squint and focus my brain real hard, I can follow the arguments despite not having done a real math or physics (intro astro or Fractals for Nonmajors don't count) class since high school.A few of the suspicions
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and conclusions are a wee bit corrected since the time (quantum happened, Unified Field Theory didn't so far), but this book is really good at giving you a deeper look at the _why_ of relativity, the parts that always get glossed over or oversimplified ("oh yeah, space is curved") for people who can't do the math on their own. His sentences on this stuff aren't luminously obvious, but he never pulls his punches either. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
The rating doesn't reflect the importance or quality of thinking of this book. It's relative... and subjective. It reflects rather how much I understood and enjoyed it, and at that is overated, although I gave it as high as I did because I'm glad I tried and might come back to it. In Einstein's
So, did I learn anything by tackling this? I was able to squeeze out some knowledge after banging my head repeatedly on my desk reading (and rereading) such chapters as "The Principle of Relativity." Einstein does try to illustrate some of the ideas by using everyday examples such as a moving train on an embankment, pans on a stove and a man tethered to a chest. I learned:
1) Special relativity deals with electromagnetic forces; General Relativity deals with gravity.
2) Given the speed of light is a constant, the addition of velocities of moving objects according to classical mechanics fails because it would indicate that the speed of light would be diminished by the velocity of an object. (I think.)
3) Space and time are not absolute in position but relative to the observer; they are not independent of each other but influenced by the distribution of matter (gravity).
4) The theory of general relativity unites the principles of the conservation of mass and of energy.
5) Since college my brain has turned to mush. Maybe I should try to get through a physics textbook? Probably not... (See above on lack of patience and force of will.)
I got this book because Einstein's The Meaning of Relativity was on a list of 100 Significant books. I've since learned that what I bought (and am reviewing here) isn't the same book. Relativity was originally published in German in 1916. The Meaning of Relativity was based on a series of lectures given at Princeton University in 1921. I'm not sanguine I'd do any better with that book given a review quoted from Physics Today says it's "intended for one who has already gone through a standard text and digested the mechanics of tensor theory and the physical basis of relativity." Bottom line, unless you're willing to do some homework to ground yourself in physics you're better off reading more...well dumbed down books by the likes of Asimov, Sagan or Hawking. Incidentally I also recently read Darwin's Origin of Species. That book I found easy to comprehend. Oh well.
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preface to the 1916 book he said he wrote it for the general educated reader--college graduates--even though it would require "a fair amount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader." The front cover of my edition calls it "a clear explanation that anyone can understand." I am a college graduate (and beyond). I don't think I'm stupid. And the equations that are in the book (and the book is littered with them) don't even require college mathematics. We're not talking calculus here--just algebraic equations. So, did I understand the entire book given "patience" and "force of will." No. Maybe I didn't have enough of both. It's a very short book, only 157 pages--but by God, it's not an easy one. Did I understand most of it? No. Some of it. Well, yes. But I suspect my American education in universities in the 1990s isn't the equivalent of German college graduates in 1916. It's not the mathematics--it's the physics. In my American high school biology and chemistry was required. Physics wasn't even offered. To graduate college I had to take some science courses--but the requirement could be fulfilled by "soft" sciences such as biology and anthropology. I have a friend that protests that there's a difference between "verbal" and "mathematical" gifts and people like us shouldn't be forced to take those hard, meanie sciences. I'm not convinced that on the contrary we haven't been short changed. I'd love to know if someone who took at least one course on physics had a different experience with this book.So, did I learn anything by tackling this? I was able to squeeze out some knowledge after banging my head repeatedly on my desk reading (and rereading) such chapters as "The Principle of Relativity." Einstein does try to illustrate some of the ideas by using everyday examples such as a moving train on an embankment, pans on a stove and a man tethered to a chest. I learned:
1) Special relativity deals with electromagnetic forces; General Relativity deals with gravity.
2) Given the speed of light is a constant, the addition of velocities of moving objects according to classical mechanics fails because it would indicate that the speed of light would be diminished by the velocity of an object. (I think.)
3) Space and time are not absolute in position but relative to the observer; they are not independent of each other but influenced by the distribution of matter (gravity).
4) The theory of general relativity unites the principles of the conservation of mass and of energy.
5) Since college my brain has turned to mush. Maybe I should try to get through a physics textbook? Probably not... (See above on lack of patience and force of will.)
I got this book because Einstein's The Meaning of Relativity was on a list of 100 Significant books. I've since learned that what I bought (and am reviewing here) isn't the same book. Relativity was originally published in German in 1916. The Meaning of Relativity was based on a series of lectures given at Princeton University in 1921. I'm not sanguine I'd do any better with that book given a review quoted from Physics Today says it's "intended for one who has already gone through a standard text and digested the mechanics of tensor theory and the physical basis of relativity." Bottom line, unless you're willing to do some homework to ground yourself in physics you're better off reading more...well dumbed down books by the likes of Asimov, Sagan or Hawking. Incidentally I also recently read Darwin's Origin of Species. That book I found easy to comprehend. Oh well.
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LibraryThing member hcubic
This was one of the first opportunities for Americans to read about relativity.
LibraryThing member defrog
For research purposes only. And I only understood about 20% of it. But I got the basic gist (even if I could have gotten it from Wikipedia).
LibraryThing member trilliams
Came for the technical exposition, stayed for the unexpected simplicity, and then Appendix V dropped a bomb on everything. Great, quick read.
LibraryThing member iSatyajeet
For me, the best part was the paradoxes. Einstein uses lot of paradoxes to explain his ideas, and they are strikingly amazing!
Translator did a good job in making it readable for people who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.
A must read I'd say.
Translator did a good job in making it readable for people who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.
A must read I'd say.
LibraryThing member awesame
It's remarkable to read about physics in Einstein's own words. He has a wonderful way of communicating his insights in simple terms, building up from first principles toward complex ideas. There is still much about this theory that I fail to grasp, but I got more from reading his prose than from
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most other sources I've found on the subject. I encourage anyone curious about relativity to engage with this primary text. Show Less
LibraryThing member JVioland
Very easy to understand.
LibraryThing member scottjpearson
“The universe of these beings is finite and yet has no limits.” – Albert Einstein, in chapter XXXI
So says one of the great thinkers – perhaps, the great thinker – of the twentieth century in explaining his general theory of relativity. While there was much mathematical in its derivation,
I once took theology classes at a seminary on Mercer Street in Princeton, just down the street from where Einstein used to live. Stories about his commonness yet uncommonness still filled the town. He amazingly had the gall to claim that the universe was circular or elliptical – and then attempted to prove it. He did so by clear thought, not by experiment as he was a theoritician, and this book contains an accessible version of those thoughts. For that reason alone, the curious reader is encouraged to dwell deeply within this record of his understanding.
Like mathematics, physics is a field full of geniuses whose ingenuity is common with respect to each other. I am not a physicist, and I will not attempt to comment on the science presented. From what I understand, some of Einstein’s formulations have been questioned by contemporary experiments, and string theory (though still unproven) attempts to generalize even further. To me, neither of these discredits Einstein’s accomplishment with regards to relativity. Of course, his annus mirabilis (“miracle year” of 1905) included other important findings like Brownian motion, and for better or for worse, his legacy will forever be bound with the Manhattan project and its atomic bomb.
Thumbing through a work like this and dwelling on the beauty of its contents surely provide one of the greatest experiences humans can have. Only a handful of works, like those by Immanuel Kant or Isaac Newton or Augustine of Hippo, reach the heights like this. As such, anyone with any inkling of interest in physics should attempt to study these theories, and who better to read than the author of them himself? I enjoyed my time reading this work immensely. The translation is clear and scientific, but reading still is a little difficult due to the complex subject matter. Nonetheless, being a dog eating the crumbs from Einstein’s table still provides quite a treat!
So says one of the great thinkers – perhaps, the great thinker – of the twentieth century in explaining his general theory of relativity. While there was much mathematical in its derivation,
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Einstein explains it in common language to the educated reader in this short work. He also explains the special theory of relativity here. While such things are hard to digest (at least at first), they are certainly able to be digested in this format. That this presentation exists in such clarity at all bespeaks to Einstein’s genius.I once took theology classes at a seminary on Mercer Street in Princeton, just down the street from where Einstein used to live. Stories about his commonness yet uncommonness still filled the town. He amazingly had the gall to claim that the universe was circular or elliptical – and then attempted to prove it. He did so by clear thought, not by experiment as he was a theoritician, and this book contains an accessible version of those thoughts. For that reason alone, the curious reader is encouraged to dwell deeply within this record of his understanding.
Like mathematics, physics is a field full of geniuses whose ingenuity is common with respect to each other. I am not a physicist, and I will not attempt to comment on the science presented. From what I understand, some of Einstein’s formulations have been questioned by contemporary experiments, and string theory (though still unproven) attempts to generalize even further. To me, neither of these discredits Einstein’s accomplishment with regards to relativity. Of course, his annus mirabilis (“miracle year” of 1905) included other important findings like Brownian motion, and for better or for worse, his legacy will forever be bound with the Manhattan project and its atomic bomb.
Thumbing through a work like this and dwelling on the beauty of its contents surely provide one of the greatest experiences humans can have. Only a handful of works, like those by Immanuel Kant or Isaac Newton or Augustine of Hippo, reach the heights like this. As such, anyone with any inkling of interest in physics should attempt to study these theories, and who better to read than the author of them himself? I enjoyed my time reading this work immensely. The translation is clear and scientific, but reading still is a little difficult due to the complex subject matter. Nonetheless, being a dog eating the crumbs from Einstein’s table still provides quite a treat!
Show Less
LibraryThing member colinkh
Definitely not an easy read, but worth the effort.
LibraryThing member hcubic
A very early explanation by its author of the theory of relatively. In German, an offprint (Sechste Auflage)
LibraryThing member mykl-s
Einstein, with all his insights and all his flaws, was alas a good writer.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1916
Physical description
188 p.; 8.29 inches
ISBN
9780517029619
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