Product Description

General Relativity: An Introduction for Physicists provides a clear mathematical introduction to Einstein's theory of general relativity. It presents a wide range of applications of the theory, concentrating on its physical consequences. After reviewing the basic concepts, the authors present a clear and intuitive discussion of the mathematical background, including the necessary tools of tensor calculus and differential geometry. These tools are then used to develop the topic of special relativity and to discuss electromagnetism in Minkowski spacetime. Gravitation as spacetime curvature is then introduced and the field equations of general relativity derived. After applying the theory to a wide range of physical situations, the book concludes with a brief discussion of classical field theory and the derivation of general relativity from a variational principle. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this approachable textbook contains over 300 exercises to illuminate and extend the discussion in the text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #166687 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 590 pages

Review
'… this book is a fine introduction and exposition of many of the theory's features. … A beautiful approach is taken: the authors show that a consistent theory of electromagnetism can be derived from the simple supposition that there is a force … I strongly recommend this book for a very wide range of readers. Advanced undergraduates will obtain a good first understanding of GR; postgraduates will find it a useful reference book, and will no doubt learn a great deal that they have not fully covered at undergraduate level. Researchers and lecturers will also find it an invaluable book, not only for recommending to students, but also for obtaining significant new insights themselves.' The Observatory

'What I enjoyed was the clarity. The text was erudite and thorough, and flowed beautifully.… It was clear that students, with diligent application, could work their own way through the text and benefit hugely from self discovery of this fascinating subject.' Times higher Education Supplement

'The book is well-written and easy to follow because it is essentially self-contained and every new concept is carefully motivated and justified. Exercises are given at the end of every chapter and numerous examples appear throughout the text.' General Relativity and Gravitation

About the Author
Michael Hobson is a Reader in Astrophysics and Cosmology at the Cavendish Laboratory. He is also Director of Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

George Efstathiou is Director of the Institute of Astronomy, the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Anthony Lasenby is Professor of Astrophysics and Cosmology and Head of both the Astrophysics Group and the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory at the University of Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

Excellent start into GR
This is an excellent book if you haven't studied general relativity before. It starts off from special relativity, then develops the mathematical formalism needed for GR, then goes on and treats forces and metrics in GR.

I found it really well written, both with very thorough maths but most importantly with good geometric interpretations of the mathematics, which enable you to lock it down in your memory very easily.

The only problem I see is that it should more or less be read with the chapters in the right order, you cannot sudenly skip to the electromagnetism chapter as there are a lot of references to concepts explained in previous chapters. This means that it takes a bit to read it, though the reading is relatively smooth and you can keep a "sustained pace". I didn't read as much of the book as I would have liked as it does take quite a while, but I still got a very high mark on the exam.