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Special Relativity (M.I.T. Introductory Physics) 1st Edition

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A.P. French (Author)
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A.P. French (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 16 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0748764228
ISBN-10: 0748764224
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Product Details

  • Series: M.I.T. Introductory Physics
  • Paperback: 296 pages
  • Publisher: CRC Press; 1 edition (September 30, 1968)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0748764224
  • ISBN-13: 978-0748764228
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,374,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsSimple introduction to a very complicated subject
By digikat on July 16, 2002
Format: Paperback
This book was extremely helpful when I was taking a class on special relativity. The author introduces new concepts and rules in a very logical order, and the examples clearly illustrate the material. The book is written very clearly, especially for such a complicated subject. The problems in the back of every chapter allow you to test yourself and make sure you have grasped the material, since some of them have answers in the back of the book. Overall, a great book to either teach special relativity to yourself, or as a companion for a special relativity class.
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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent
By Self-studier of theoretical physics on January 24, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is the best book on special relativity that I have ever come across. It truly teaches the reader where all the ideas from special relativity come from. The author spends incredible time trying to explain difficult ideas in a fashion that is as clear as possible. This maybe makes it lose points from the standpoint of brevity and aesthetics, but French's primary goal here is exactly what it should be: to be as clear as possible about the physical ideas. I definitely strongly recommend this superb book to any student of special relativity.

Very little prerequisites are required, just basic calculus (even single variable is sufficient). More than anything the reader needs to be willing to think through the ideas carefully and confidently. At the end of the book, the reader is rewarded by learning how the magnetic field (and corresponding magnetic field laws) has to exist as a natural consequence coulombs law and the principle of special relativity. This ties into advanced ideas on electrodynamics (and can be pursued further in an also excellent book on electrodynamics by Schwartz).

I do have a few potential criticisms of this book. The initial chapter on the history of the field is nice, but it definitely delays the reader (who is willing to take on face the experimental finding that the measurment of the speed of light is the same regardless of one's [inertial] state of motion) that is anxious to get on to SR. Another real criticism of this book is that despite its exceptional explanations of the physical insight and motivation behind SR and its key formulas, it does not nicely develop its four-dimensional formulation.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAppropriate for Freshman, yet sufficiently complete for undergraduate upperclassmen and beyond
By Ulfilas on June 11, 2011
Format: Paperback
French's textbook was required reading for the junior level modern physics course for physics majors that I completed 38 years ago. Although this book gives advanced undergrads what they need in the way of special relativity, it is written at a level accessible to Freshman. In addition to the basic introduction to Lorentz transformations, four vectors and Minkowski diagrams are also addressed. Some E&M related issues are also included. This books stops short of discussing topics that require the Einstein summation notation such as the metric tensor, covariance, and contravariance. For an introduction to tensors in special relativity I would recommend Joshi's Matrices and Tensors in Physics or Mould's Basic Relativity.

I should also say that French is the first book that I go to when I need to brush up on special relativity--a topic never far from my heart as the electrons in the electron microscopes that I use travel at a good fraction of the speed of light. So whether you are a college Freshman just taking your first serious look at special relativity, or a professional scientist needing a little help with this intuitively illusive topic, this book is for you!
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5.0 out of 5 starsNice comprehensive introduction on SR for the science oriented and patient reader
By Tom P on August 20, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I have read several treatments on Special Relativity and like this one as it goes well beyond both the simplistic explanations of time dilation/Lorentz contraction (which can be misleading), and the dry derivation of Lorentz transformations, energy-mass equivalence, etc. There is a good deal of time spent in describing experiments and empirical results both in support of the predictions of the theory and as a backdrop to the history leading up to and succeeding its publication. The book covers numerous adjacent topics such as relativistic Doppler effect and particle dynamics and looks back and forth between the various implications of the theory together with the standard analytical framework to build a more complete understanding than I've seen in other books. It is not the fastest exposure to the concepts or primer of the relevant mathematics, but should build a more complete understanding for those willing to take the time.
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2.0 out of 5 starsCompletely useless for a theorist
By Physics Student on July 25, 2012
Format: Paperback
French's relativity, much like his texts on waves and quantum mechanics, is largely useless for those who prefer mathematical rigor to long-winded experimental expositions. What little math French deigns to grace is with is glossed over. There exists no mention of four-vectors, or the Minkowski metric, or of Lorentz boosts, or of spacetime symmetries. All of the important conceptual and mathematical tools first brought into focus and understanding with the advent of SR are ignored. Instead, we get aether-dragging in fluids and neutrons bouncing of soap bubbles, both of which receive long but cryptic treatments. SR is not complicated enough to make this less sophisticated treatment desirable, so the book as a whole fails to be worthy of purchase. The problems are universally either trivial or rooted firmly in some insight he expects the reader to pull out of nowhere. Further, French persists in using CGS units, which are archaic and annoying, in addition to leading to factors of c everywhere.

In short, if you want to learn SR, read the first chapter of a GR book (or of some QFT textbooks), not this low-level introduction.
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