This book is for anyone who thought they were too stupid to
understand the theory of relativity - which, let's face it, is most
of us. Wolfson, who teaches physics to non-scientists, has made the
subject as accessible as it could possibly be to the average person
with no background in the physical sciences. Even better, the book
contains almost no mathematics, so those of you who never managed
to get past page 75 of A Brief History of Time shouldn't be
discouraged. Wolfson starts by getting the reader's assent to a
very simple idea - that the laws of physics are the same
everywhere, so that a tennis ball on a moving ship behaves exactly
the same way it would on land - and moves on to show you how that
simple premise leads logically to some startling and
counter-intuitive conclusions, such as that time can go more slowly
in some circumstances than in others. Like all the best scientific
writers, Wolfson has turned his account into a story, so that the
reader really wants to know what happened next. We discover, for
example, that 19th-century scientists believed in the 'ether', a
substance that surrounded all of us; from the vantage of the 19th
century, ether had to exist, otherwise there could be no
explanation of how electromagnetic waves could travel. All waves,
physicists thought, were disturbances of a particular medium;
therefore, the electromagnetic waves that constituted light had to
be disturbances of the ether. But experiments to prove this failed;
evidence for the existence of the ether was not forthcoming. How
did Einstein solve this particular problem? Read the book and find
out. From there, we move on through all the mind-boggling concepts
associated with relativity: wormholes, white dwarves, multiverses
and the rest. It's all beautifully and elegantly explained, taking
you through the ideas step by step, and correcting the most
commonplace misconceptions about relativity. Occasionally,
Wolfson's overly conversational style does grate; this is very
obviously a book by a teacher. But that's a niggle; Wolfson has
achieved what few others could, which is to make the theory of
relativity comprehensible to even the most uninformed of lay
readers. (Kirkus UK)
With this reader-friendly book, it doesn't take an Einstein to understand the theory of relativity and its remarkable consequences. In clear, understandable terms, physicist Richard Wolfson explores the ideas at the heart of relativity and shows how they lead to such seeming absurdities as time travel, curved space, black holes, and new meaning for the idea of past and future. Drawing from years of teaching modern physics to nonscientists, Wolfson explains in a lively, conversational style the simple principles underlying Einstein's theory.
Relativity, Wolfson shows, gave us a new view of space and time, opening the door to questions about their flexible nature: Is the universe finite or infinite? Will it expand forever or eventually collapse in a "big crunch"? Is time travel possible? What goes on inside a black hole? How does gravity really work? These questions at the forefront of twenty-first-century physics are all rooted in the profound and sweeping vision of Albert Einstein's early twentieth-century theory. Wolfson leads his readers on an intellectual journey that culminates in a universe made almost unimaginably rich by the principles hat Einstein first discovered. 48 b/w illustrations.
"Simply Einstein is a lively and accessible account of our modern understanding of space and time." —Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis
"In Simply Einstein, Rich Wolfson distills beautifully and accurately the essence of relativity theory, and does it in a way that nearly anyone can understand." —Eric Chaisson, author of Cosmic Dawn and Cosmic Evolution
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
