General Relativity from A to B [Hardcover]

Robert Geroch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1978

"This beautiful little book is certainly suitable for anyone who has had an introductory course in physics and even for some who have not."—Joshua N. Goldberg, Physics Today

"An imaginative and convincing new presentation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. . . . The treatment is masterful, continual emphasis being placed on careful discussion and motivation, with the aim of showing how physicists think and develop their ideas."—Choice

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Geroch is professor in the departments of physics and mathematics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Mathematical Physics.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 1ST edition (November 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226288633
• ISBN-13: 978-0226288635
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grand First Step. Well, maybe a quarter step.., April 14, 2003

By 

Kersi Von Zerububbel "Kersi" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: General Relativity from A to B (Paperback)

This still ranks as one of my favorite relativity books. There is virtually no math to speak of. Yet, the author in a very descriptive way, will take you from Aristotelian view to the Galilean view and finally to the relativistic paradigm. Concepts such as events, event horizons, interval etc. are explained quite beautifully. The idea of the interval and the physics and geometry of the same is shown in a most interesting way.

The chapters are organized very well and the writing is very good. To follow the text a certain degree of concentration is required because the diagrams need to be checked as one proceeds.

This text is quite suitable for junior high and high school students not to mention college graduates who wish to know something beyond the cursory in relativity theory.

I happened to come across this book at a used bookstore in 1979. Very few of my friends were even aware of this book. It was one of those sleepers so much so that a while back this volume had gone out of publication. However, now it's back, thank God. If you want a non-technical but quite thorough peek into Special Relativity get this book. If you are one of those who would prefer a tad more math and a less wordy introduction go with James A. Smith's An Introduction To Special Relativity, published by Dover.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully Enlightening., July 6, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: General Relativity from A to B (Paperback)

For anyone who wishes to gain a deep and true understanding the meaning of General Relativity's space-time, this a book to read. And that this understanding is gained with mathematics no more sophisticated than high school geometry and algebra tells you that the author is not only a master, but also a superb expositor, of this subject. A highschooler having a passion for Physics to a Graduate Student struggling to "internalize" the meaning of her complex equations will be delightfully enlightened reading this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Verbal Description of General Relativity, May 31, 2004

By 

Rama Rao "Rama" (Annandale, VA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: General Relativity from A to B (Paperback)

The author presents fundamental ideas of theory of relativity in a non-mathematical form using conversation approach to readers with little science background. The book is highly descriptive and the reader is bound to get bored since this is a discussion of about basic ideas about space and time using two-dimensional space-time diagrams. The first part of the book describes the notion of space and time in terms of Aristotelian and Galilean view points. The second half describes how the idea of spatial distance and elapsed time (interval) are incorporated into space time as geometrical entity. The author uses a general framework in this book for explaining general relativity. This is done by describing an event and assemble them into space-time (in a space-time diagram) and describe what is going-on in the physical world in terms of collection of events, and relationships between events is evaluated using measuring instruments such as light pulses and clocks. The intrinsic relationship between two events is described by interval (measured by physical experiences of observers). From the interval, one determines how light goes and how clock move and tick. The author eventually explains how equating intervals leads to relationship between `real' physical measurements. The interval is a sort of misty thing that stands in the background and integrates into space-time. In the final chapter the author discusses an application of general relativity to understand the properties of blackholes: It is here that the readers appreciate the importance relativity. The reader must have patience to read this book and he/she must be prepared to read chapters 5 and 6 second and perhaps third time to understand the underlying concept. If you do not have patience you will be lost and you will dislike this book