Understanding Einstein's Theories of Relativity: Man's New Perspective on the Cosmos

By Stan Gibilisco

Book Overview

"The style is very clear and concise, and the treatment is authoritative throughout." -- "Choice"Relativity remains a topic of crucial interest for scientists grappling with its implications for physics, astronomy, cosmology, and other disciplines. Laymen, too, are fascinated by relativity theory, which overturned the classical order of Newtonian physics and postulated ideas about space and time that often seem to contradict common sense.The present work is a very clear, concise, and authoritative exposition of both the special and general theories of relativity. Intended for nonscientific readers with a knowledge of high school math, the book offers illuminating coverage of such topics as the speed of light, simultaneity, time distortion of space and mass, journeys to the stars, dimension and hyperspace, the theory of general relativity, anomalies in space, and the structure and evolution of the universe.Readers with an inquisitive bent for cosmic affairs will enjoy this mind-stretching journey into the mysteries and majesty of the physical universe, where they'll share the author's explanations and speculations about why the speed of light is the speed of time, whether it may be possible to travel backward in time, how black holes are formed, how it is possible that space is curved, and much more. For anyone curious about the nature of the universe and how relativity theory continues to help scientists unlock its secrets, this accessible popular treatment is an invaluable companion and guide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486266591
• ISBN13: 9780486266596
• Release Date: April 1991
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good for middle schoolers

My sons both used this book to help them understand relativity, and they found it easy to read. Chapter 2 (dealing with clocks and simultaneity) is a little difficult, but you can understand it if you read it twice! The rest of the book is fun and informative. Maybe it will motivate my oldest son to become an astronomer and work in the neutrino observatory they hope to build in the old gold mine!

A Mathematician's View

I have owned this book since 1984, when I purchased the original edition from TAB Books. I found the approach unique, apparently written from a mathematician's point of view. But I was led to wonder about the accuracy of some of the material in the book, particularly of thought experiments that cannot be done in real life and which therefore cannot be positively verified or denied experimentally. For example, who is going to put clocks all over the solar system and then go to every planet to check their readings? But then, other books do the same thing, for example, asking the reader to imagine riding on a train travelling at eighty percent of the speed of light.After looking at various mentions of this title around the Web (as a phrase in Google advanced search), I have found mostly positive comments, including one from a mathematician (!) in Alabama and another from an educational association in Arizona. These experts have recommended this book as good reading for their students. One fellow dismissed the book because he turned to a page and found some mention of UFOs, but confessed that he hadn't actually read the book yet.Gibilisco's approach differs rather dramatically from most other relativity books because it is neither highfalutin nor silly. The style is, for the most part, clear. I think the explanations of simultaneity are a little hard to understand and could be misleading to some readers. Gibilisco could do a better job of explaining the relativity of simultaneity among objects in relative motion. It would be nice to have more discussion about paradoxes associated with Special Relativity. An updated edition could clarify some of these issues and also address the question, "Can anything travel faster than the speed of light in free space?"