Relativity: The Special and the General Theory--A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand [Hardcover]

Albert Einstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1988

Redesigned inside and out to have a fresh, appealing look, this new edition of a classic Crown Trade Paperback is a collection of Einstein's own popular writings on his work and describes the meaning of his main theories in a way virtually everyone can understand.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How better to learn the Special Theory of Relativity and the General Theory of Relativity than directly from their creator, Albert Einstein himself? In Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, Einstein describes the theories that made him famous, illuminating his case with numerous examples and a smattering of math (nothing more complex than high-school algebra). Einstein's book is not casual reading, but for those who appreciate his work without diving into the arcana of theoretical physics, Relativity will prove a stimulating read. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Scientific American

"The present book is intended," Einstein wrote in 1916, "as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.... In the interest of clearness, it appeared to me inevitable that I should repeat myself frequently, without paying the slightest attention to the elegance of the presentation. I adhered scrupulously to the precept of that brilliant theoretical physicist L. Boltzmann, according to whom matters of elegance ought to be left to the tailor and to the cobbler." But it is elegant, in part because of the 1920 translation, by Robert W. Lawson, a British physicist who had polished his German while a prisoner of war in Austria. The introduction, by science writer Nigel Calder, guides the reader through the work section by section, even giving advice on which sections to skip, or at least not to worry about, if you can't "accompany Einstein through the forest of tricky ideas contained in this slim volume." Okay, this book isn't easy--again, in the master's elegant words, it "lays no small claims on the patience and on the power of abstraction of the reader"--but it is well worth the try.

Editors of Scientific American --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Wings Books (October 5, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517029618
• ISBN-13: 978-0517029619
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,042,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you want to learn about Modern Physics? Begin here!, March 9, 2000

By 

Reinaldo Olivares - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relativity: The Special and the General Theory--A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand (Hardcover)

There is no doubt that Albert Einstein has been one of the most brilliant minds of the past century. His major contribution to science was the special and the general theory of relativity, which gave a new dimension to that we call today "Modern Physics". Many people feel frustrated because when they try to understand relativity, they find some authors that expound in their books a complex arrangement of equations referring to the mathematical part of the theory, namely, the books are accessible for people with certain levels of knowledge (that is the case of engineers, physicists, mathematicians, among others). Nevertheless, perceiving and anticipating this situation, Albert Einstein wrote this book (more than fifty years ago) whit the purpose of exposing the special and the general theory of relativity in such a way that anyone can understand it. I this sense, I think, Einstein succeeded because despite the shortness of the book, the same covers the most important aspects of relativity in a clear and concise form. Moreover, the book has appendixes where the author makes reference to some interesting subjects like the problem of space and relativity, the experimental confirmation of the theory, to name a few. If you have decided to learn something about relativity, and you do not have vast knowledge in physics and mathematics, I sincerely recommend you this book. On the other hand, if you were a reader looking for more technical information (mathematical foundation of general relativity), I would choose the book "Gravitation" written by Misner, Wheeler y Thorne. This text represents an encyclopedia about general relativity.

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The words of the Master, December 24, 2001

By 

henrique fleming - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Paperback)

This is the introduction to relativity written by Einstein. It is NOT the book which contains the original works, which is a very difficult book (just think that Planck had to ask for several clarifications before he understood Einstein's breakthrough paper). Here the great scientist set to himself the goal of explaining to the educated, but not specialized, man.
Einstein was, of course, very deep. When he talked about any topic in physics, chances are that he went deeper than anyone else who thought about the same theme, for a comparable time span. Now, imagine relativity. When he wrote this book he had thought about this matter for several decades. Nobody reached this depth, then and afterwards. The fruits of his thought, like black-holes, are being proved true now, after so much time!
So, the difference between this book and all other introductory books on relativity is proportional to the difference between Einstein himself and the other authors. You don't have to believe me: just read the excerpts! You'll not remain indifferent to the majesty of his ideas. Put yourself in the right mood: Einstein was a very simple man who was, in writing this book, sincerely interested in explaining his creation to you. Follow his path, read attentively, and, above all, think!
The reward will be great.

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Best Way to Discredit Any Work, November 2, 2010

By 

Joseph Zacharow (Florida, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Relativity (1920) (Paperback)

Before buying have read reviews. There are 49 out of 86 five star ones. So opted to buy to get a chance to touch the work of a genius. It never happened though. The book begins with text references to Fig. 1, Fig 2, Fig. 3, etc. No such diagrams.....Nada, just empty spaces... As a matter of fact, not a single drawing in the book! I mean, the book is reprinted with NO crucial accompanying the text drawings. Probably, the latter were in a separate file which they didn't copyright to make it cheaper, anyway it rendered the book useless. I would've sentenced the editor to a jail time.
Ah...here it is: Publisher: General Books LLC (August 19, 2009) ISBN-10: 0217982360 ISBN-13: 978-0217982368
"We recreated the book from the original using Optical Character Recognition to keep the cost of the book as low as possible. Therefore could you please forgive...etc. "
What they're apologizing here for is that they have committed a fraud. And "Look Inside" browser feacher shows you another book edition!
In hindsight, I suspect most 5-4 star reviews are fictitious...OR... they combined all reviews from different publications into one file. Buyer be aware!
Joseph Zacharow.
Update: Yep, Amazon throws DIFFERENT reviews of the same book under DIFFERENT publications (Einstein, Relativity), and DIFFERENT publications of DIFFERENT books of the SAME author (Albert Einstein, Relativity - The Special and The General Theory) in ONE big deceitful pile.
Thank you Amazon!