Product Description

In this famous short book Einstein explains clearly, using the minimum amount of mathematical terms, the basic ideas and principles of the theory which has shaped the world we live in today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235005 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From the Back Cover
Time's Man of the Century, Albert Einstein is the unquestioned founder of modern physics, and relativity the most important scientific idea of the modern era. In this famous short book Einstein explains clearly, using the minimum amount of mathematical terms, the basic ideas and principles of the theory which has shaped the world we live in today. Unsurpassed by any subsequent books on relativity, this remains the most popular and useful exposition of Einstein's immense contribution to human knowledge.

Customer Reviews

mastermind at work
The reviewer of April 13 from Moscow, Idaho says this is not the book to read unless you already understand the theory. Maybe fair enough. It was written when Einstein had achieved youthful fame, though, not in his dotage, if he had such a thing. It may be a little more difficult for the translation, but not much. Contrary to some reviewers, it is not that easy to follow, and if it seems like an easy read, you probably haven't understood it. There are many books written since where it is probably easier to learn about special relativity, to say nothing of the basic ideas of general relativity. But once you have started to get the hang of things, this book is a masterpiece of exposition! It allows one to follow Einstein's actual thought process in arriving at these theories -- pretty much by a process of pure thought -- more or less in the steps he probably took himself. There is not a word in the exposition that was not carefully thought out. So, learn the theory somewhere else and then read this book -- you'll understand the theory better for reading Einstein's book -- or read this book first, keep going back to it 'til it starts to make sense, and maybe consult some other, more "user-friendly" textbook at the same time. Einstein claims his book allows a lay reader with only high school math to understand relativity. To which a friend of mine replied "Yeah, if you have an IQ of 800". To which I say, have patience, keep thinking about it and going back to it.

A rare, mid-ability book on a very difficult subject.
This book is excellent, as for for the first time on any book I've read on the subject, it has lots of mathematics, BUT NO ROCKET SCIENCE! As a result, its an excellent read for someone who's done say A-level maths at school. It is unique as most books I've looked at are either for the complete mathematical layman with very few equations, e.g. Einsteins Universe by Nigel Calder, or are the sort geared towards mekon-headed NASA engineers with IQ's of 200... The discussion on General relativity is very sparse, with only the basic ideas outlined, but the reasoning behind special relativity is beautifully described, and for the first time out of any book I've erad on the subject I feel that I have started to understand it. The book also has an appendix with mathematical 'work-throughs' as to how the equations came about, which is very nice but unfortunately a small number of steps are left out which is annoying. The book is brief, but will inspire you to dig out and read more on the subject from different authors. And lastly, let's be honest here, this book is VERY inexpensive so one can hardly grumble at it's brevity. My advice: if you didn't understand this book, just read and re-read the initial chapters on the Lorentz transformation, which is the basic idea behind it all, and the penny will finally drop!

Great for the young student of Physics
Great for the young student of Physics

This is an excellent book, written in the “Master’s” own style and faithfully translated from the German by Robert Lawson. The translation dates to 1920 and new readers may find the English a little quaint, but for all that, it is a great effort at presenting in “plain speak”, the concepts of Relativity.

The book starts with a lucid explanation of the Train and Platform example of Galelian Relativity and then proceeds to highlight the incompatibility between the principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed of light. Without encumbering the reader with the Maths (found in the appendices) the ideas of time dilation and length contraction are discussed. The General Theory is developed via a fine example: that of an observer on a rotating disk.

This is a good complement to the overtly scientific/mathmatical books on the subject. Unfortunately,, despite its many qualities, just like many of the alternatives of this genre, Einstein’s book does not fully succeed in explaining the complex concepts to the lay reader. Rather, this is a nice little book that will be suitable for a good calibre Maths/Physics student in the sixth form/high school.