If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

Primer of Relativity: A Student's Introduction

by Michael Bodin

366 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); textbook; catalogue #06-0826; ISBN 1-4120-9070-9; US$27.81, C$31.98, EUR22.84, £15.99

Understanding is more important than facts. This book is a comprehensive introduction to Einstein's work, suitable for beginners and students up to university level, which emphasises meaning over content.

Describing Einstein's work is not easy. For such a diverse subject, 'difficult' is misleading, for it depends as much on the recipient as on the content, yet based on 'selective impressions' relativity has a daunting reputation, which deters many, and has gone unquestioned for years. This book takes a critical look at that image, and by ignoring the practical needs of professionals, places relativity in a very different perspective; harder parts are less common, but often matter least for general purposes; no knowledge of mathematics at all is necessary to fully understand what relativity says and means (contrary to popular belief), and on that basis, understanding Einstein should be within the grasp of every student interested to try, and with the motivation to succeed.

To achieve this aim, an approach has been adopted which places emphasis on meaning over content, with the ultimate objective that understanding is what matters most, rather than provision of facts and information. The book is aimed at a very wide range of potential readers, from complete novice to university level, with format and content material adapted accordingly. The general layout is modular, with topics classified under three categories of difficulty, to meet different levels of interest and aptitude, and these grades are identified in the contents section preceding each chapter.

Readers can thus customise their choice of reading, while cross referencing and frequent summaries facilitate moving between levels. Little mathematics is included in the text (and can all be skipped), but for advanced readers, a very full selection of equations (most with derivations from first principles) has been included in a series of appendices which follow each chapter. An unusual feature is a chapter on cosmology, for those who wish to follow the logical consequences of general relativity. There is a very extensive glossary.

The author has a lifelong interest in relativity and cosmology, with a degree in physics and a Ph.D. in gravitational dynamics. He later diversified from astrophysics to problems of manned space flight, completed a medical degree, and took up a research appointment. He was advisor to the NASA Apollo moon project, has travelled and lectured widely, and written many papers and articles. Subsequently he returned to a clinical practice, but is now retired and devotes time to writing and his hobby of astronomy.

Excerpts

---

Reviews

---

This is an unusual book in many ways and a great amount of work has clearly gone into writing it. It*s aim is to 'adapt and present relativity in a new perspective altogether', and to do so by separating the concepts from both the mathematics and from 'practical needs'. Such an attempt is bound to invite discussion, but it is an endeavour well worthwhile.

The book is structured in an unusually detailed way, with the intention of providing three 'study protocols' viz. 'beginners', 'intermediate' and 'serious students'. To help achieve this there are 15 brief appendices distributed through the book, in order to separate the few mathematical derivations, e.g. the Lorentz transformations, from the main text. (It is unfortunate that the outdated concept of ‘rest mass* is retained.)

Of the four main sections comprising the book, the first two (of about 100 pages) include a philosophical introduction, aspects of classical physics, and a discussion of what constitutes genius - in the context of Einstein. The third part, of about 150 pages deals with the Special and General Theories of Relativity. The final part of approximately 40 pages, gives an interesting introductory description of the early development of Cosmology following the arrival of Big Bang theory.

In addition to a useful glossary there is a list of references to mainly recent, popular, books on the subject.

Being structured, the book allows, for example, a student to be selective and thus have time also to pursue the subject in the more conventional way needed for examination purposes and for an understanding of the mathematics. However, the book would be of interest to a wider readership than the title implies. There is much to think about and absorb within these covers.

Edward G Steward BSc PhD DSc FInstP CPhys
Emeritus Professor of Physics and Molecular Medicine

---