KATZ%USC-ISIF@sri-unix.UUCP (01/18/84)
From: Alan R. Katz <KATZ@USC-ISIF> I agree that Wheeler and Taylor's "Spacetime Physics" is really excellent and explains most of the paradoxes of Relativity. HOWEVER, DO NOT EVER try to read Gravitation, by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler to aid in understanding things. It is really bizarre and very hard to make heads or tales of, even if you know General Relativity!! (It is, however, a great book to skim through, and certain parts are interesting. It is also a great book to impress everyone with, being extremely massive.) One of the best General Relativity books I've seen is the one by Weinberg called something like "General Relativity." It actually developes much of the math you need, and covers Special Relativity, Gravity Waves, and much of cosmology. It too is a graduate school level text, but General Relativity is really a graduate level subject. (Also, Adler, Bazin, Shiff (unsure of the exact names, but something like that) is also very good, and is more elementary than Weinberg.) Alan -------
RP%SCRC-TENEX@MIT-MC.ARPA (01/23/84)
From: Richard Pavelle <RP%SCRC-TENEX@MIT-MC.ARPA>
SF-LOVERS Digest Sunday, 22 Jan 1984 Volume 9 : Issue 17
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Date: 17 Jan 1984 1615-PST
Subject: General Relativity
From: Alan R. Katz <KATZ@USC-ISIF>
I agree that Wheeler and Taylor's "Spacetime Physics" is really
excellent and explains most of the paradoxes of Relativity.
HOWEVER, DO NOT EVER try to read Gravitation, by Misner, Thorne, and
Wheeler to aid in understanding things. It is really bizarre and
very hard to make heads or tales of, even if you know General
Relativity!! (It is, however, a great book to skim through, and
certain parts are interesting. It is also a great book to impress
everyone with, being extremely massive.)
One of the best General Relativity books I've seen is the one by
Weinberg called something like "General Relativity." It actually
develops much of the math you need, and covers Special Relativity,
Gravity Waves, and much of cosmology. It too is a graduate school
level text, but General Relativity is really a graduate level
subject.
(Also, Adler, Bazin, Shiff (unsure of the exact names, but something
like that) is also very good, and is more elementary than Weinberg.)
The authors of Katz' reference are Adler, Bazin, and Shiffer. I agree
this is a good book. I believe that Weinberg's General Relativity and
Cosmology is the best of the modern texts. However, if someone wants to
understand the mathematics and get some insight into the subject, the
best book ever written is about 60 years old. It is Eddington's Mathematical
Theory of Relativity. Eddington was one of the first (probably the
second person after Einstein) to really understand the subject and its
implications. His ability to impart his knowledge was in a class of its
own. One can learn a great deal by studying this one book.