Relativity: An Introduction to Special and General Relativity [Paperback]

Hans Stephani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0521010691 | ISBN-13: 978-0521010696 | Edition: 3

Thoroughly revised and updated, this self-contained textbook provides a pedagogical introduction to relativity. It covers the most important features of special as well as general relativity, and considers more difficult topics, such as charged pole-dipole particles, Petrov classification, groups of motions, gravitational lenses, exact solutions and the structure of infinity. The necessary mathematical tools are provided, most derivations are complete, and exercises are included where appropriate. The bibliography lists the original papers and also directs the reader to useful monographs and review papers. Previous Edition Hb(1990): 0-521-37066-3 Previous Edition Pb(1990): 0-521-37941-5

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...not only an excellent textbook for an introductory course in relativity, but [it] is also a quite good standard reference book for researchers in the field. Overall I would rate it among the top introductory books to the General Theory of Relativity." SIAM Review

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 3 edition (March 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521010691
• ISBN-13: 978-0521010696
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #716,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good general purpose book on GTR, November 28, 2005

By 

Daren S. Wilson "darenw" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Relativity: An Introduction to Special and General Relativity (Paperback)

I bought this because my copy of Misner Thorne & Wheeler was in a box 1400 miles away, and i wanted to toy around with some ideas in GTR. I needed a good text on GTR, not a watered-down no-math pop-level book, not a specialized research monograph omitting the basics, not a math formulas reference with no more content than an average cheat sheet, but something for those who already are familiar with GTR but lacking any of the usual academic works in their personal library. This book served my purpose perfectly. It comes with some bonuses - a better explanation of Petrov classification than i had seen anywhere else, more on electromagnetics and stress-energy tensors than i was shopping for, and conveniently sized to carry easily about town along with other stuff, something i can't say for the classic MT&W.

I imagine this would be an okay book for someone who doesn't know GTR but has already studied special relativity and is comfortable with senior undergraduate level physics. GTR is by nature a mind-bending subject, and a total newbie may want to get a taste of the main ideas elsewhere. MT&W, in contrast, is full of illustrations, exercises, and other goodies that make it an excellent choice for GTR beginners. Wald's book on General Relativity is another good choice, but my copy of this too is 1400 miles away...

Good features of this book are that it does not loose the physics behind a forest of math, and that it touches on many important areas - gravitational waves, the Kerr metric, tensor maths, cosmology. None in too much depth - but enough to understand the key concepts and see how different areas of general relativity are related. The bibliography seems shortish but appears sufficient for further pursuits. Some areas not covered include alternatives to GTR, string theory, quantization of GTR. Spinors are mentioned briefly; if one is interested in this important topic, Penrose & Rindler should be your destination.

There is no mention of the weak or strong energy conditions in the index. Perhaps these are mentioned somewhere, but the reader wanting to study this vital topic is better off with the book by Wald.

One area that could stand improvement are the exercises. There are exercised, but it would be nice to have more. A student relying on this book alone might end up feeling underexercised, wanting to pump more mental iron elsewhere. More numerical/quantitative exercises to give a feel for how much, how strong are special relativistic and GTR effects in everday and astrophysical applications, would be especially beneficial to this book's usefulness in an undergraduate course context. When used as a reference text, though, such exercises are not important; given my purpose, i am not disappointed.

3.0 out of 5 stars Too tough, May 24, 2011

By 

Cong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relativity: An Introduction to Special and General Relativity (Paperback)

It is a very difficult book, I think. It covers lots of topics, like Petrov Classification, Conformal Infinity, Kerr Metric, Null geodesic congruence and so forth, but it is fairly tough to read. I can only find very concise derivation in the book - that means I have to do lots of calculation on my own. When I read the algebraic characteristics of Eletromagnetic field, and null tetrad, the derivation is so hard for me ( I need to work whole morning to get through 4 pages) When I come to Petrov Classification, I cannot move any further. Although the book clearly shows you the motivation for some steps, but it omits too much mathematical details. I recommend Ray.d'Inverno's book or even more introductory like W. Rindler's book, which are much more friendly to readers than this one. To Stephani's, I can only address it as an inventory of useful conclusions.

I am not sure anyone have good recommendation on Petrov classification which bothered me quite a lot...