General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum
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- Create Date：2023-03-16 06:52:26
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Leonard Susskind
- ISBN：0241562589
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Summary
Growing fanbase: this is the latest volume in a popular series， which continues to find new readers with every addition
Reviews
William Schram
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Leonard Susskind and André Cabannes are here for the fourth installment of The Theoretical Minimum。 Special Relativity resulted from several minds toiling away and Einstein coming along and finishing it。 General Relativity was Einstein’s baby。 Sure， he had assistance with the differential geometries and tensors， but no one else worked on it as he did。The Theoretical Minimum introduces advanced physics concepts to the layperson。 It came from a set of lectures with a question-and-answer segment at Leonard Susskind and André Cabannes are here for the fourth installment of The Theoretical Minimum。 Special Relativity resulted from several minds toiling away and Einstein coming along and finishing it。 General Relativity was Einstein’s baby。 Sure， he had assistance with the differential geometries and tensors， but no one else worked on it as he did。The Theoretical Minimum introduces advanced physics concepts to the layperson。 It came from a set of lectures with a question-and-answer segment at the end。 So we find many misconceptions that Susskind has to tackle。Susskind and Cabannes spend several chapters developing a toolkit to foster our understanding。 We go through Christoffel symbols， tensors， manifolds， and more。 Susskind and Cabannes write in the conversational style typical of the series。 Susskind and Cabannes explain all the notation and standards used， including the Einstein Summation Convention。 Einstein introduced it to physics for brevity。 He was sick of writing out all the terms every time。Finally， Susskind and Cabannes devote a considerable portion to black holes。 They discuss their formation， what would happen if you got stuck in a black hole from two frames of reference， and more。 I learned some of this before， but Susskind and Cabannes take a different tack and cover all the equations。Thanks for reading my review， and see you next time。 。。。more
James F
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General Relativity is the fourth book of the Theoretical Minimum series， and is based on a course of ten lectures of the same name。 The previous books included brief explanations of derivatives， integrals， partial derivatives， vectors and so forth， and were apparently aimed at the layman interested in physics and wanting to go beyond the usual popularizations and understand the physics with the relevant mathematics， which would describe my own situation。 In the preface to this book， however， it General Relativity is the fourth book of the Theoretical Minimum series， and is based on a course of ten lectures of the same name。 The previous books included brief explanations of derivatives， integrals， partial derivatives， vectors and so forth， and were apparently aimed at the layman interested in physics and wanting to go beyond the usual popularizations and understand the physics with the relevant mathematics， which would describe my own situation。 In the preface to this book， however， it is stated that the target audience of the series is people who studied physics "at the undergraduate or graduate level" but "went on to do other things" and want essentially an up-to-date refresher。 I think this represents a certain change， and the book is a bit more difficult than the earlier ones。 It is not a "stand-alone" book; to be comprehensible at all， it requires that the reader have read books one and three （classical physics and special relativity; the second book is on quantum theory and uses an entirely different set of mathematical tools， so it is more of a "stand-alone"） or have learned that material in other courses or from textbooks。 I can't claim to have "studied physics at the undergraduate level" although I did have two semesters of introductory physics， which the course description claimed were "calculus-based" because they used simple calculus， but were not in the way these books are （starting from Lagrangians and least action。） In fact， since this book just came out， about six and seven years after I read the first and third books， I was quickly lost until I found my notes on those。 （And yes， this is the kind of book you need to take notes on。）The first thing to be clear about is that these are physics books， not math books。 To make an analogy， my high school ATA course （basically today's Precalculus with a short introduction to calculus） taught vectors in some depth; my high school physics class， which did not require Precalculus， also taught how to use vectors， but without as much explanation of the "why's"。 These books similarly teach the necessary math from the standpoint of how to manipulate the symbols and do the calculations in the physics rather than from the standpoint of explaining it as math。 I was actually surprised how much they did explain， and in the previous books and about the first two lectures of this one I was generally able to fill in the "why's" myself; but from the end of lecture two here， that is from the point at which Susskind moves from tensor algebra into tensor calculus with the covariant derivative， I essentially understood the "what's" and most of the "how's" but not the "why's" （of the math）。 Which is what the book is about， doing physics， not mathematics。 It is however frustrating that the text is mostly presented abstractly and the actual calculations are left to "exercises" with no examples and no answers given。The book begins， like most popularizations， with Einstein's thought experiment of the elevator and the equivalency principle。 It then goes on to explain coordinate transformations and Riemannian geometry。 The second lecture is devoted to tensors （without ever really explaining clearly what a tensor actually is， although after a while I figured it out） and the algebra of vectors and tensors。 The third lecture continues on into tensor calculus and finishes the math "toolbox" with the curvature tensor。 Then， after a bit more math （Minkowski geometry， hyperbolic coordinates）， the book returns at the end of lecture four and in lecture five to the physics with gravity as curvature （the Schwarzchild metric）， and proceeds through an explanation of black holes in lectures six through eight， a general explanation of Einstein's field equations in lecture nine， and ends up with gravity waves in lecture ten。 Contrary to the claim in the subtitle， this is not all you need "to do physics" but it will give an idea of what it is really about if you spend the effort to understand it。 At the end， Susskind announces the next two volumes， book five on cosmology and book six on statistical mechanics。When I read the first two volumes of the series （and Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality） some seven years ago， I was motivated to begin working my way through math starting with what I already knew and going on a bit further。 I got off to a good start with a book on logic and set theory， a couple histories of math， and rereading my high school ATA text; then I got diverted to other subjects and haven't read a lot of anything mathematical for another four or five years。 Perhaps this book will motivate me to get started again， now that I am retired and have more time to read and study。 。。。more
Paul B
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This book cuts the clutter and complexity and succeeds in explaining what General Relativity is all about。 There's plenty of maths in there， but you're led through it and it makes sense。 It is a brilliant summary， brilliant because other authors get lost - or get me lost - in the long and highly detailed calculations。 There's no dumbing down， just a focus on understanding what's new versus calculating stuff。 This book cuts the clutter and complexity and succeeds in explaining what General Relativity is all about。 There's plenty of maths in there， but you're led through it and it makes sense。 It is a brilliant summary， brilliant because other authors get lost - or get me lost - in the long and highly detailed calculations。 There's no dumbing down， just a focus on understanding what's new versus calculating stuff。 。。。more
Chris
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Totally excellent， highest possible rating。 This is the fourth in Susskind's "The Theoretical Minimum" series of shorter， friendlier textbooks intended for enthusiasts of science - fans， amateurs， and professionals - who want to actually understand physics。 This can only be achieved by using mathematics， as Susskind has done here。 There is no other way， despite the pile of popular science books on the subject which are full of misleading words and graphics 。。。 but no equations。 The targeted read Totally excellent， highest possible rating。 This is the fourth in Susskind's "The Theoretical Minimum" series of shorter， friendlier textbooks intended for enthusiasts of science - fans， amateurs， and professionals - who want to actually understand physics。 This can only be achieved by using mathematics， as Susskind has done here。 There is no other way， despite the pile of popular science books on the subject which are full of misleading words and graphics 。。。 but no equations。 The targeted readers may fall into the following categories:1） Those curious fans of science who are tired of the frustrating hand-waving and verbose textual explanations of physics that， without using math， can only give an illusion of understanding - often false;2） Those who learned the material in college years ago and want a quick refresher; and3） Current physics students who want an alternative "easy" summary to clarify more intensive and lengthy course materials。Each of the proceeding three books in the series have been equally good， and I'm happy to see that the author has announced within that there will be two more volumes covering Cosmology and Statistical Mechanics。 。。。more
Luca Signorelli
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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
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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。
tpg0
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As an AI language model， I cannot give a personal opinion on the book since I don't have emotional responses。 However， from an objective point of view， 'General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum' is an excellent book for someone who wants to learn about general relativity， a theory that describes gravity as a curvature of space-time。 Written by Leonard Susskind， a physicist specialized in quantum field theory and string theory， and George Hrabovsky， a physics teacher at The Art of Problem Solving， the book offers a clear and concise explanation of the concept while avoiding unnecessary mathematical complexities。 The book assumes that the reader has a basic background in geometry， calculus， and classical mechanics， so it may not be suitable for everyone。 However， it is an excellent resource for physics students， astronomers， and anyone interested in understanding the fundamental nature of the universe。
tpg1
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As an AI language model， I cannot provide my personal opinion。 However， 'General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum' by Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman is regarded as an excellent introduction to General Relativity for anyone with a minimal background in physics and calculus。 The book covers topics such as the geometry of spacetime， the Einstein field equations， black holes， and gravitational waves。 The authors explain the concepts in an easy-to-understand manner using clear illustrations and examples， making it a popular choice for those looking to delve deeper into the subject。
tpg2
，
As an AI language model， I cannot give personal opinions or recommendations， but here's some information about the book: "General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum" is a book by physicists Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky。 It is part of the Theoretical Minimum series， which aims to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to physics for anyone with an interest in the subject。 The book covers the fundamental principles of general relativity and its mathematical framework， including curvature， the geodesic equation， and the Einstein field equations。 It also discusses the physical implications of general relativity， such as black holes， gravitational waves， and the expanding universe。 The book is intended for those with a basic understanding of calculus and classical mechanics。 It is a good resource for students， scientists， and anyone interested in learning about one of the cornerstones of modern physics。
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