Product Description

The ABC of Relativity steers the reader who has no knowledge of maths or physics through the subtleties of Einstein's thinking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #662419 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'An ideal introduction to the theories of special and general relativity.' - Nature

From the Back Cover
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.

Customer Reviews

Lucid and detailed explanation of Einstein's theory.
If you are looking for an introduction to the Theory of Relativity, then this is the book for you. It does not require a science background. Russell is very clear in his ideas about the theory and he takes you step by step to the relativity theory. It explains the difference between special and general theory of relativity. The book takes you to Einstein's Law of gravitation and then to Hydrogen bombs. With a section on Universe, the book concludes with a philosophical input "Emotion that can be destroyed by a little mathematics is neither genuine nor valuable." A must read if you want to know anything about the theory of relativity. It would awe you by the sheer genius and the years of effort it took to reach the Theory of Relativity. The pre-conceptions, the interpretions of the experiments and the beliefs before the special theory and the comformation of those to special theory are beautifully captured in this masterpiece.

Relativity With Wit
I think the best thing about this book is that it demands you never accept anything from anyone as absolute, not even from Einstein. Russell takes pains to explain what the theory of relativity is and what it means for you and our world while at the same time slowly destroying any concept of truth and reality that you may have. Which I suppose is what Einstein's theories, and quantum mechanics for that matter, do. Further, Russell makes you appreciate and understand the struggles of physics since Copernicus as "truth" is wrested from what we can observe and then represented as "laws" which may only be our best understanding eventually to be supplanted by even closer "truths". In the end Russell melds all this into philosophy, "What is matter?" he asks and in fact what is anything? The book bristles with wit as when discussing the u-bomb he thinks it's good for us that uranium can only explode at extremely high temperatures: "There is a further advantage: the supply of uranium in the planet is limited, and it might be feared that it would be used up before the human race were exterminated, but now that the practically unlimited supply of hydrogen can be utilised, there is considerable reason to hope that the race may put an end to itself, to the great advantage of such less ferocious animals as may survive". Priceless. Needless to say, I have now gone out to purchase more Russell books.