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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Given that is it completely unnecessary to present Reichenbach as a figure in philosophy of science it is however necessary to say that this book must be read by everyone who wants to deal with the subject either for pleasure or for serious research. Philosophers will gain from its understandable and at the same time deep physics basis and physicists will have the chance to take a look from "outside" the boundaries of their science. In particular the critique of Kant's theory of spatially a priori by virtue of visualization can be considered exceptional. I strongly recommend this book, it is incredible, and even if you were not convinced by Reichenbach's arguments (which is not very probable) you would still enrich your understanding of the subtle matter of space and time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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6 reviews
57 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Forgotten jewel?
14 Dec 1999
Format:Paperback
This is an absolutely fabulous book about the foundations of special and general relativity. The author's deep understanding of and insight to these complex structures is beautifully displayed and explained using simple but nontrivial examples and very readable text. If you really want to understand relativity, you must read this book. The focus is not on formal mathematics but on the real, intuitive, content of the concepts and the mathematical theory.
If you have been confused by discussions of rigid rods, clocks, simultaneity etc. in other sources, check out Reichenbach's construction of the light geometry and his discussion of the indefinite space type. Want to understand how gravity affects spacetime but do not want to study differential geometry? Read Reichenbach's sections on the Riemannian spaces and his chapter about space and time in gravitational fields. No other source explains these relationships as clearly and without resorting to silly or trivial examples.
A beautiful scholarly book which is thoroughly accessible. The author's great love of the subject is much in evidence.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Excellently written and still relevant today
10 Oct 2002
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Reichenbach writes with clarity, reason and passion on a topic that is in much need of this still today. It is accessible to the astute layperson - there is some occasional math, but the text handles most of the important concepts. It is useful for anyone interested in the combined scientific and philosophical perspective of space and time.
Reichenbach, in the Introduction, rues the current estrangement of philosophy and science, longing for the "natural philosophy" of the past, where thinkers were well-versed in both areas.
So this book takes us through the philosophy of space and time accompanied and supported by empirical and theoretical scientific work. He seems to have little in the way of agenda or "-isms" to tout, nor is he inclined to spend much ink on rehashing historical debates or trivial examples. And although the book winds it way eventually to General Relativity, we are thankfully not dragged through the typical "Aristotlean view -> Galilean view -> Einsteinian view" that is so commonly used.
Instead, he begins by discussing Euclidean space, the nature of geometry and so on. Throughout, the notion of topology is a common thread. Time, simultaneity, Lorentz, Principle of Equivalence, and gravitational effects on the topology of spacetime, are some of the steps through the book.
In section 39, for example, he guides us on a detour entitled "The Analytic Treatment of Reimannian Spaces", just to carry "...the treatment of general geometry a little further." In four short pages and a modicum of equations, the nature of tensors as a natural mathematical consequence appear, effortlessly and painlessly.
All along, woven in, are cogent philosophical treatments of the topic currently under discussion. The book is a good example of the author's desire to see philosophy and science melded again, and good example of his prowess in both areas.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Great book on the foundations of relativity
28 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
The reference to "A." which Mr. Ecce Nihil could not find is to a German book by Reichenbach, as written in the author's introduction at page xv. Reichenbach's book IS consistent. It is one of the few books on relativity explaining the question of clock synchronization properly and comprehensively ( in the sense of Bridgman's operational view ).
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