Customer Reviews

Relativity: The Special and General Theory

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

No, Einstein's Relativity IS amazingly brilliant and eloquent, I assure you of this. My review, although, is a buyer beware scenario. I ordered this exact copy of the text and the one that arrived had all sorts of horrendous typos. One? Two? No, more like...a ton. In an example of this, the 'aether' where the character 'ae' is a single one, somehow in the process of printing it, the character got repaced by a space and question mark! So when Einstein talks about the 'process by which the? ther happens...' or some such example, I translate it as 'bad' and not 'aether'.

By all means, buy Einstein's copy of Relativity, but please be cautious when ordering from this particular publisher. I'm unaware of whether or not this problem is widespread, but to those who get the one with the maddening typos riddled all over it, just bear through it and appreciate Einstein's eloquence and not the translator or publisher's, in my own personal opinion, bad spellchecking.

The first edition of this book was published just after the original paper on the general theory of relativity. In the ensuing ninety years, no one has produced a better layman's introduction to the special and general theories.

The alert reader will achieve not only a clear intuitive understanding of the important physics but will learn much about the awesome intellect that produced it.

In the centenary of Einstein's annus mirabilis, a number of reprints of this classic have appeared, some adorned with introductions by such luminaries as Roger Penrose or with additional appendices added in later editions. I have a personal preference for the Dover version because it reproduces the type face of the orginal 1916 translation that was the first science text I read at age seven. And the cover phtograph alone is worth the price of the book.

Enthusiastically recommended.

This Dodo Press edition is riddled with annoying typos -- even in some equations and variable names. In addition the section numbers referred to in the text are only found in the table of contents, making navigation cumbersome.

A classic like this deserves better. Look for another edition.

You know, Albert Einstein was a genius.

I mean, he would have been a genius without ever communicating a single thought clearly to any other human being. But this book makes him, like, genius squared.

The first part of this book covers special relativity. It's about 62 pages. I've never read anything like it. I'm not exaggerating when I say special relativity is a difficult topic. Einstein's presentation is clearer than I would ever have thought possible, concise but never rushed.

Some pages may require many readings. But everything you need is there on the page.

I would appreciate a looser translation; in a few places Lawson's translation reads to me like German with English words. Nonetheless: 5 stars. One of the most enlightening science books you'll ever read.

PROFESSOR EINSTEIN PRESENTS HIS THEORY IN A VERY STRAIGHTFORWARD DISCUSSION, USING SIMPLE GEOMETRIC ANALOGIES, QUITE CONDUCIVE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC CONCEPTS. HE LEAVES NO "GAPS" IN HIS STEP-BY-STEP EXPLANATION OF THIS OTHERWISE-INTIMIDATING THEORY. I BELIEVE A CHILD CAN NATURALLY UNDERSTAND SOME OF IT BECAUSE OF HIS PATIENT AND CLEAR PRESENTATION. THIS KIND GENIUS SENT ME HIS BOOK IN 1951, AUTOGRAPHED AND WITH A LETTER TO ME AT AGE 17. HE DID, HOWEVER, SAY THAT THE BOOK IS NOT SIMPLE. TOO OFTEN WE ARE AFRAID TO OPEN OR BUY A BOOK BECAUSE THE SUBJECT SOUNDS SCARY. A FINE BOOK FOR YOUNG OR OLD AND A REAL CONFIDENCE-BUILDER. YOU MAY BE SURPRISED AT WHAT YOU LEARN AND UNDERSTAND!

There are many versions of Einstein's book on relativity, written for a general audience. This book was written in 1916, in German and then translated into English. The book being reviewed here uses a 1920 edition, but it is far from being the newest one that Einstein wrote. The newest, the 15th edition, was written in 1952, and it is the most complete, as it contains several appendices that are not in earlier editions, as well as some corrections of errors that appeared in earlier editions. I have read both the 15th edition and this one, and if you want the best version of Einstein's text I would definitely get the 15th edition, as opposed to the one being reviewed here. However, the edition being reviewed here has been augmented with new material, and I think that this makes it a better choice than the 15th edition.

This book contains an interesting introduction by Roger Penrose, which provides some insights concerning Relativity Theory and the cosmological advances that have grown out of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. The book contains lengthy commentaries by Robert Geroch that clarify many of Einstein's chapters. Finally, there is an essay by David Cassidy on the "Cultural Legacy of Relativity Theory". In my opinion these additions more than make up for the appendices that are provided in the more complete 15th edition of Einstein's book.

I liked this book and recommend it over the 15th edition, but I cannot give it 5 stars. I found Einstein's prose to be typical of 19th century scientific prose, that is to say somewhat tedious and less than clear. This is especially true of the latter half of the book, which is devoted to the General Theory. To make matters worse, it was originally written in German and may have lost some clarity in the translation. There is a final chapter on cosmology that because of the rapid advances in this field make this section largely only of historical interest.

I recommend this book if you really want to read Einstein, albeit in translation, but there are better choices if you want an introduction to Relativity Theory. If you want a better introductory treatment of Relativity, I highly recommend Martin Gardners "Relativity Simply Explained" and if you want an introductory treatment with a little more scientific detail (but still without any math) I recommend Richard Wolfson's "Simply Einstein - Relativity Demystified".

This was my first bad experience with the Kindle. Had I picked this book up at a store, I would've flipped through the pages and realized that it was poorly formated. There are carriage returns at all the wrong places, it's nearly impossible to read. I wish I'd paid a few bucks more and gotten one of the other versions.

If you're a kindle owner - go elsewhere.

This was really great reading. I explained the theory in layman's terms. I highly recommend it for students and adults alike.

This version does not have any diagrams, only refs to nonexistant GIF image files.
This is involved stuff here, a reader needs the illistrations.
Please explore the other versions even if they cost more. Without the formula images this is just about unreadable.

This Kindle edition of Relativity: The Special and General Theory is the best. It contains all figures and formulas in the original paper edition. Especially, the equations are carefully typeset with proper scaling, and they are more readable on Kindle. I strongly recommend it for every physics student.