- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; Reissue edition (17 Sep 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0691023522
- ISBN-13: 978-0691023526
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 12.7 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,875,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
The Meaning of Relativity (Routledge Classics)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1921, a young Albert Einstein travelled to America to give four lectures at Princeton University, paving the way for a more complete acceptance of his theory of general relativity. These lectures are published together as The Meaning of Relativity, and were revised with each new edition until Einstein's death. Despite Einstein's profession that he thought without using words, his examples and descriptions of the relativistic world he perceived are clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately for non-technical readers, his presentation requires deep diversions into mathematics often enough to break up the flow of his narrative and they may find this rough terrain. But for the mathematically sophisticated or the devoted scientific historian, these lectures are profoundly illuminating-- Einstein's bright, quiet genius shines through in the simplicity and economy of his writing. Two appendices follow the lectures: The first covers advances and experimental verifications after 1921; the second, "Relativistic theory of the non-symmetric field", was Einstein's last scientific paper. The Meaning of Relativity documents a revolution in progress and yields to the careful student deeper truths than those found in physics textbooks. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com
Review
A condensed unified presentation intended for one who has already gone through a standard text and digested the mechanics of tensor theory and the physical basis of relativity. Einstein's little book then serves as an excellent tying-together of loose ends and as a broad survey of the subject. -- "Physics Today
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THE theory of relativity is intimately connected with the theory of space and time. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THE theory of relativity is intimately connected with the theory of space and time. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Dear Sirs
It is obvious that this in one of most elegant mathematics books ever written by men, it is quite a milestone for humanity, and of how we understand the Universe, Princeton science library edition donated by me to Prof Dr Teresa pena, Prof Dr Orfeu Bertolami of the Lisbon's Instituto Superior Tecnico-[...], and Professor Doctor Paulo Crawford of the Faculdade de ciencias de Lisboa- Lisbon faculty of sciences-[...], was obviously better this one, that seems to have a few "cats" on this mathematical equations mainly on the ones of the fundamental theory of the non symmetric gravitational field- Einstein last postumuos paper, this book is also available in portuguese as the "O significado da relatividade", originly by Armenio Amado publishers of Coimbra and then by Lisbon's Gradiva [...], it was a number of years divulged by me and it is perhaps the largest sucess of the scientifical book in Portugal.-Fundamental reading
P. Rose/ M. Lapa
It is obvious that this in one of most elegant mathematics books ever written by men, it is quite a milestone for humanity, and of how we understand the Universe, Princeton science library edition donated by me to Prof Dr Teresa pena, Prof Dr Orfeu Bertolami of the Lisbon's Instituto Superior Tecnico-[...], and Professor Doctor Paulo Crawford of the Faculdade de ciencias de Lisboa- Lisbon faculty of sciences-[...], was obviously better this one, that seems to have a few "cats" on this mathematical equations mainly on the ones of the fundamental theory of the non symmetric gravitational field- Einstein last postumuos paper, this book is also available in portuguese as the "O significado da relatividade", originly by Armenio Amado publishers of Coimbra and then by Lisbon's Gradiva [...], it was a number of years divulged by me and it is perhaps the largest sucess of the scientifical book in Portugal.-Fundamental reading
P. Rose/ M. Lapa
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I borrowed this book from my University library and found it an excellent and interesting resource to supplement my notes as it shows the original thought process done by Einstein and presented in his own great style. I have just tried a sample of this book on my Kindle and must say it is much below the standard : many formulae are low resolution pictures which not only look ugly, but make reading subscripts and superscripts hard. Where the formulae are in text rather than picture form, they fail to use Greek script and special mathematical symbols, meaning you for instance need to deduce from the surroundings if 'd' in the text means d, delta or partial derivative symbol. That really is unacceptable in a scientific book dealing with a fairly complicated topic. If this is corrected, I will buy this book straight away.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Will never collect dust....
2 Feb 2002
Format:Paperback
There are numerous books on general relativity currently on the market, and these range in difficulty from those written for the beginner or the layman, those written for graduate students in physics, and research monographs covering specialized topics. It is always refreshing to go back to the originator of the subject, and take part in his special insights on the topic. Philosophers and historians of science can definitely benefit from a perusal of this book.
The author begins this book with a discussion of the origin of the concepts of space-time, the emphasis being partly philosophical and partly psychological, and the reader can see the origin of the author's operationalism in reading this introduction. He is clearly against the philosophers who attempt to remove concepts from experience and put them in his words "in the intangible heights of the a priori". The motion of rigid bodies is used to set up a discussion of Euclidean geometry and linear orthogonal transformations. The author emphasizes the role of the physicist in discerning whether a system of geometry is true or not, contrary to the pure mathematician. Examples of geometrical invariants, such as the Cartesian line element and the volume element are discussed, along with the role of vectors and tensors. Both of these are used as means by which one can give expression to the independence of Cartesian coordinates. Maxwell's equations are put in tensor notation as an example of covariance with respect to Cartesian coordinate transformations. All of this is done to motivate the theories of special and general relativity.
The theory of spectial relativity is treated in chapter 2, the author introducing his famous principle of special relativity. The author poses the problem of calculating the coordinates and time in an inertial system moving with uniform translation relative to another. He shows how this problem is solved by assuming that time and space are absolute, and if the coordinate axes of the systems are parallel to one another, the Galilean transformations result. Newton's equations of motion are covariant under these transformations, but Maxwell equations are not (but the author chooses not to show this explicitly). He then gives an in-depth discussion of how the Lorentz transformations arise as being those that guarantee the covariance of the Maxwell equations. The author also discusses the signature of the Lorentz metric and how it is related to the light cone. He ends the chapter by developing the energy tensor of the electromagnetic field and matter.
The author's rejection of inertial frames as being priveleged leads him in the beginning of the next chapter to a short philosophical critique of the principle of inertia. This leads to a discussion of the principle of equivalence and to the origin of the general theory of relativity, a theory which the author developed, amazingly, single-handedly, and which he clearly believes is very much superior to classical mechanics. The intuition to be gained by reading this chapter is invaluable for serious students of general relativity. One can see the simplicity and power of the author's arguments, relying on keen physical intuition and sound use of mathematics. In particular, the author's heuristic derivation of the gravitational field equations from Poisson's equation is briliant. In addition, he is not ashamed to interject philosophical argumentation into his writing, particularly in his discussion of Mach's principle. Such discussions are becoming more rare among physicists at the present time.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Good reference on medium level Relativity
10 Jun 1999
Format:Paperback
The first half (special relativity) is an exelent resource for beginners on relativity who heve a confident handle of real variable and vector differetial calculus. The seconth half is an introductory text on Generla Relativity which is good. For this part is necesary to have also handle of differential geometry, and I recomend you to read before the article "Space and Time" by H. Minkowski in which some how the conection between the mathematical background (diff. geom.) and the physical theory is set. --- Enrique Castro Student of Physics (National University of México)---
25 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Einstein goes deeper.
27 Dec 2001
Format:Paperback
The Meaning of Relativity is an advanced book. The title should have made it clear. Einstein delves here into what his theory
actually MEANS. That is, what must we change (if anything...) in our world conception, in the way we think, as a consequence of his immense discovery. Just think that he meddled with time, a concept static since so long that it is registered deep in our DNA: our concept of time goes back to the epoch where our main purpose was to survive the day
(sounds familiar? No, no, it was different! It was permanent. What you experience now is transient...)
So what? Read it! It is a marvellous book. Perhaps you will have to reach for other, more elementary, books, in this enterprise. All right! That almost characterizes a book worth reading. So... go on! It will repay your efforts. It IS doable. You will come out, for instance, with a precise CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE! Your brains will be enriched.You deserve that!
actually MEANS. That is, what must we change (if anything...) in our world conception, in the way we think, as a consequence of his immense discovery. Just think that he meddled with time, a concept static since so long that it is registered deep in our DNA: our concept of time goes back to the epoch where our main purpose was to survive the day
(sounds familiar? No, no, it was different! It was permanent. What you experience now is transient...)
So what? Read it! It is a marvellous book. Perhaps you will have to reach for other, more elementary, books, in this enterprise. All right! That almost characterizes a book worth reading. So... go on! It will repay your efforts. It IS doable. You will come out, for instance, with a precise CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE! Your brains will be enriched.You deserve that!
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