Customer Reviews

An Equation That Changed the World: Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity

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If you've never studied physics and want to know about gravity and relativity, then this is a good book to encounter. If you've taken relativity on the college level, this is a book to avoid if you had a good professor. The explanations are readable, and the author takes liberties with the historical characters of Einstein and Newton to better present the materials. Narrative is made-up to make the material more readable.

Examples of what you'll find inside from the table of contents: "Time Dilation", "Space Contraction", "The Twin Paradox", "Mass in Space and Time", "Light in Space and Time", "The Power of the Sun", "Marveling at Elementary Particles", "Does Matter Decay?".

What turned me off, is the discussion is presented like a screenplay, and the author is on the dry side. You must really have an interest in the topic to get something from this volume, in my opinion. This a book for someone from a non-math background (Liberal Arts) who wants to know about relativity.

Using just enough math to give readers a taste for the complexity of the problem, and the elegant solution, Fritzsch introduced me not only to Einstein's great work, but also to the concepts of new and old physics, the problems inherent in both, and to two of the greatest minds in history. This book allowed me, intimidated by the gaping chasm of numbers, cryptic symbols, and big words of "the new physics", to grasp the basic concepts of relativity. The running dialogue and action kept me moderately interested when the concepts became difficult, although that facet of the book was the weakest. (I mean, I think Einstein, Newton, and a modern physicist would be able to think of something a little more captivating to talk about, but, who am I to judge?) All in all, a great intro for seekers of knowledge into the depths of modern physics.

The information presented in this book is different than usual--it is of an imaginary meeting between Issac Newton, Albert Eienstein, and a modern-day physicist. By there dialog, they explain the Theory of Relativity in a format that anyone can understand, yet gives enough imformation to develop a consise understanding of the theory