General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum

General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum

  • Downloads:6958
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2023-01-14 09:51:38
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Leonard Susskind
  • ISBN:1541601777
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

The latest volume in the New York Times–bestselling physics series explains Einstein’s masterpiece: the general theory of relativity 

He taught us classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and special relativity。 Now, physicist Leonard Susskind, assisted by a new collaborator, André Cabannes, returns to tackle Einstein’s general theory of relativity。 Starting from the equivalence principle and covering the necessary mathematics of Riemannian spaces and tensor calculus, Susskind and Cabannes explain the link between gravity and geometry。 They delve into black holes, establish Einstein field equations, and solve them to describe gravity waves。 The authors provide vivid explanations that, to borrow a phrase from Einstein himself, are as simple as possible (but no simpler)。 

An approachable yet rigorous introduction to one of the most important topics in physics, General Relativity is a must-read for anyone who wants a deeper knowledge of the universe’s real structure。  

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Reviews

Luca Signorelli

After a hiatus of few years, Lenny Susskind comes back to his successful "Theoretical Minimum" series of user-friendly physics textbooks, aimed at a public of science enthusiasts and or college/undergrad students。 As noted by another reviewer, this is a textbook, not a "science popularization" book。 And rightly so。 While it is possible to explain Special Relativity with a minimum of high school math, it's absolutely impossible to give a proper idea of Einstein's GR without proper mathematical tr After a hiatus of few years, Lenny Susskind comes back to his successful "Theoretical Minimum" series of user-friendly physics textbooks, aimed at a public of science enthusiasts and or college/undergrad students。 As noted by another reviewer, this is a textbook, not a "science popularization" book。 And rightly so。 While it is possible to explain Special Relativity with a minimum of high school math, it's absolutely impossible to give a proper idea of Einstein's GR without proper mathematical treatment, and a prerequisite grasp of linear algebra and calculus。 Beware of anyone telling you GR can be explained without math: he's lying (or he doesn't really know the subject)。Thus said Susskind's (and co-author Andrè Cabannes) treatment of the subject is really gentle and crystal clear, beginning with the basic concepts (ie the Equivalence Principle) and then moving to an explanation of tensors, the basic GR mathematical "language", before going into the Einstein Field Equation and its application。 The book is a companion of Susskind's own (free) series of Stanford University lectures, available on YT and should be read while watching his lectures on GR, in particular the 2008 11 lessons series。 I strongly believe Susskind's lessons are the easiest "real" introduction to physics, at least if you want to know the real deal and not been told a bunch of confusing metaphors。 This is the fourth book on the series。 Reading book 1 (on Classical Mechanics) and 3) (on Special Relativiy and classical field theory) is strongly recommended, while, unless you're interested in the topic, you can skip book 2, on Quantum Mechanics。 。。。more

Thales

This book is a (friendly) textbook, not a popular science book。 The fourth book in the The Theoretical Minimum series is this one。 The concepts of equivalence principle, tensor, curvature, black hole, gravity, and general relativity (not special reletivity) are explained throughout the book。 I adore physics textbooks, and this series has captured my heart。