The Curvature of Spacetime: Newton, Einstein, and Gravitation

by Harald Fritzch and Harald Fritzsch

Book Overview

The physicist Harald Fritzsch explains the meaning and implications of the general theory of relativity and other mysteries of modern physics by presenting an imaginary conversation among Newton, Einstein and a fictitious contemporary particle physicist called Adrian Haller. In this account of relativity, Newton serves as the sceptic and asks the questions a modern reader might ask. Einstein himself does the explaining while Haller explains the new...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231118201
• ISBN13: 9780231118200
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 341 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The Curvature Of Spacetime: Newton, Einstein, And Gravitation

Although this book is a general public level presentation in the fields of special and general relativity, it reads like a novel, presents many historically accurate facts about the lives of two famous individuals - Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton - and presents the material in an extraordinarily understandable manner. A good comparison would be the popular work of Stephen Hawking, albeit with a little more math than most of Hawking's. All in all, an enjoyable read and an easy way to increase one's comprehension of several difficult concepts. John Brady

Conversations About Curvature

In general, I am not particularly fond of books that explain physical concepts in this format. Through coversations with Newton, Einstein, and a fictional physicist named Haller we are given the priviledge of learning the basics of newtonian gravity, the special and general relativity, the standard model, and cosmology. Once I started reading the book I could not put it down. The real gems are found in passages that explain the concepts of the metric and spacetime cuvature. I also found the chapter on the origin of mass particularly interesting. I rate this material five stars because the conversational style of Dr. Fritzsch's book worked eceptionally well in this case. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.