ABC of Relativity (Bertrand Russell Paperbacks) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Everybody knows that Einstein did something astonishing, but very few people know exactly what it was..." (more)
Key Phrases: neighbouring events, gravitating matter, distance that light, King's Cross, New York, Shetland Islands (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ask a dozen people to name a genius and the odds are that 'Einstein' will spring to their lips. Ask them the meaning of 'relativity' and few of them will be able to tell you what it is.
The basic principles of relativity have not changed since Russell first published his lucid guide for the general reader. The ABC of Relativity is Bertrand Russell's most brilliant work of scientific popularisation. With marvellous lucidity he steers the reader who has no knowledge of maths or physics through the subtleties of Einstein's thinking. In easy, assimilable steps, he explains the theories of special and general relativity and describes their practical application to, amongst much else, discoveries about gravitation and the invention of the hydrogen bomb.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 6th edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415154294
• ISBN-13: 978-0415154291
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #602,244 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Philosopher who truly understands relativity, July 13, 2004

By	Thomas Wikman "Texas Swede" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The ABC's of Relativity (Paperback)

Bertrand Russel was an excellent writer, and one of the few philosophers who truly understood relativity. This book is also a classic. However, the book attempts to explain relativity to the layman using "text" only. The book is not mathematical, and it contains very few graphs or diagrams. This is not the best approach to explaining relativity. Good graphs/diagrams/images can to a certain extent replace equations. There are many modern introductory books and multimedia presentations that does a better at job at introducing relativity.

I recommend this book as a "classic", but not as an introduction to relativity for the non-physicist.

3.0 out of 5 stars ABZ of Relativity, April 10, 2006

By	Cevat Cokol (New York, NY, United States) - See all my reviews

I think this book can justifiably be called ABZ of relativity. The author sincerely tries to tell us about relativity by building up from basic elements, but at the point it gets to the stuff that is supposed be really interesting, it becomes unintelligible for the less gifted. He gives three pages to tell us about the difference between mass and weight, but the central concept of "interval" is used for some pages before being poorly defined and explained. I am positively sure he understands relativity and all, and I am sure those definitions are correct in the strictest sense, however they didn't help a beginner, at least in this case. Having said this though, this book is still a very nice read and could be read even if only for its strange humor and wisecracks.