Customer Reviews

Relatively Speaking: Relativity, Black Holes, and the Fate of the Universe

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Hi. I understand this book is very scientific. Maybe I'm not intelligent enough to give a valuable review, but I know I really like this book. And when I found out it had no reviews on it, I had to be the first just to give it a 10. It's the book that got me interested in Astrophysics in the first place, and this book does a really good job of getting you interested in Astrophysics. Ever since picking it up, astrophysics has become my absolute favorite topic! So, a big thank you to Eric Chaisson and Mrs. Chaisson for drawing the pictures, which include some Star Wars pictures probably because she's a fan.

If you're interested in the big questions of cosmology and astrophysics, including coverage of big bang cosmology, star formation, and relativity, this apparently little-known work is a fantastic introduction. It is very well-written, easy to follow with relatively little math, and has good diagrams and some humorous images.

I don't know why this book is so unknown. I first encountered it around eight years ago in a class on Einstein and relativity for non-science majors at Columbia College. It served as the textbook for the entire course, which is just a fantastic idea for an introductory course. It's what set me off on a several-book spree through pop science books on cosmology and physics. I read it for the third time just recently and thoroughly enjoyed it again.