me85mda@cc.brunel.ac.uk (M D Ayton) (01/26/89)
Thanks, Tim, for starting all this. May I recommend an excellent book for the (intelligent) layman on this subject? It is "A brief history of time" by Stephen W. Hawking He is the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Oxford (I think) and the book is very clear; giving the most lucid and intelligible explanation of relativity and general relatvity that I have ever read - and not an equation in sight. Martin.
dan@ccnysci.UUCP (Dan Schlitt) (01/26/89)
The discussion of relativity would be much easier if no one had ever used relativistic mass (which is generally shortened to simply mass to the utter confusion of everyone). There is only one meaningful mass. That is the "proper mass" or "rest mass". It is something that all observers can agree on and thus is something which is significant for the purpose of discussion. But, alas, it is much too late to get people to quit calling (gamma)mc^2 the mass. -- Dan Schlitt Manager, Science Division Computer Facility dan@ccnysci City College of New York dan@ccnysci.bitnet New York, NY 10031 (212)690-6868
jim@nih-csl.UUCP (jim sullivan) (01/27/89)
In article <567@Terra.cc.brunel.ac.uk> me85mda@cc.brunel.ac.uk (M D Ayton) writes: >May I recommend an excellent book for the (intelligent) layman on this >subject? It is > > "A brief history of time" by Stephen W. Hawking > >He is the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Oxford (I think) and the >book is very clear; giving the most lucid and intelligible explanation >of relativity and general relatvity that I have ever read - and not an >equation in sight. > >Martin. May I recommend a book I found to be better in content and clearity? It is "Einstein's Universe" by Nigel Calder While reading Hawkings book, I was confused not by the subject but the style with which it was written. Many parts were clear but others were down right confusing if not contradictory. I found myself picking up Calder's book to help explain just what Hawking was talking about. Calder's book also is for the layman with no equations and much less talk about God. Jim
firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) (01/30/89)
In article <567@Terra.cc.brunel.ac.uk> me85mda@cc.brunel.ac.uk (M D Ayton) writes: >May I recommend an excellent book for the (intelligent) layman on this >subject? It is > > "A brief history of time" by Stephen W. Hawking > >He is the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Oxford (I think) Sorry, the other place. the Lucasian chair is at Cambridge. Previous holders of this position include Sir Isaac Newton and Paul Dirac.