Relativity Demystified |  | Authors: David McMahon, Paul M. Alsing
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 158564
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 344
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 0071455450
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.11
EAN: 9780071455459
ASIN: 0071455450
Publication Date: December 2, 2005
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Product Description
Finally, someone is going to explain Einsteins theory of relativity in laymans terms, without getting mired in overly heavy discussion or formal mathematics. In Relativity Demystified, key definitions, examples, and results join the trusted exercises that have made the Demystified series so successful in all subject areas.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 riddled with mistakes September 26, 2009
E. R. Bruce (new haven, ct)
The concept of this book, working out examples, is fine. The execution of this book is flawed. I am finding about one mistake per page. I don't understand why any of the other reviewers mentions all of these mistakes.
 tends not to be learner friendly July 11, 2009
? guy
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Put simply, this book has at least three problems.
1. Notation. The author changes notation every 10 seconds and uses obscure symbols for no apparent reason. Furthermore, he sometimes mixes up the context of symbols (he switches the obscure with what we were taught in school, and then uses the "old" symbols in new but mathematically similar ways (very annoying and pedagogically asinine).
2. Formulas with no context.Instead of providing a formula and giving a brief explanation, he provides it and gives a brief explanation that you must "trust him"(he could at least provide a "standard" math analog). In addition, he quickly passes the fundamental formulas (required for learning) with little or no warning and side swipes you with "new" and "better" notation and formulas.
3 Brain flooding. The author doesn't effectively present mathematical concepts, as he basically just loads every page with them and expects the reader to figure out whats going on (physics is one thing, but without an understanding of what the math does, your sunk)
By the way, if you think I'm whining because I don't have the prereqs, your wrong (When it comes to math, I often know more than my teachers, and I have a physics background).
I gave this book two stars (rather than one) because it can serve as a concise dictionary for relativity formulas (easier to use for this purpose than a thousand page textbook).
Mathematically daunting! April 20, 2008
kclam (Hong Kong, China)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is mathematically daunting. It covers the essentials and formulas of Einstein's theories through hundreds of worked (mathematical) examples. Unlike other books of the Demystified Series, this one is not entertaining at all. It is absolutely not a beginner's guide to relativity!
 At the speed of light December 14, 2007
R. Stephen Wright (Perrysburg, Oh)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Learn Relativity at the Speed of Light" is found on the back cover of this book and I think it's true. It was aproximately 1.23 light years ago when I first purchased this book and I am now on page 208(out of 328 total). My point is that the book is very good but to get through it requires a lot of work; relative to the math and physics background that you possess. I was totally stumped on pages 2 and 3 (Maxwells current-magnetic field equation). It will help to supplement this study with a book on tensor calculus and another relativity book by Hartle or Schutz. The worked examples and chapter quizes were great though and worth the effort.
A Bumpy Ride but Well Worth the Effort September 2, 2007
Herbert L Calhoun (Falls Church, VA USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
While this is not exactly the "learning of relativity at the speed of light" the book advertises, unlike many others of the Demystified series, this volume does indeed have its high points.
The lead up to Einstein's Field Equations -- although the notational gymnastics and some of the mathematics was daunting -- is nevertheless first class. It gives the reader a very much-needed window into the role the Linear Algebra notion of mathematical mappings and transformations -- especially as viewed from the point of view of "basis vectors," through "one forms," and on to "partial derivatives of Tensor Calculus" -- play in bootstrapping one's way up from the local Newtonian/Euclidian frame of reference to the more generalized space-time Reimann/Malinowsky frame. And most importantly, it shows by carefully selected examples and exercises how tensor calculus takes over from Linear Algebra in moving from the more local Newtonian/Euclidian frame to the more generalized space-time frame.
In fact, reading between the lines of the book, one could argue that the whole of understanding the mechanics of relativity is grasping fully this single concept: of how to move mathematically from reference frame to reference frame -- that is, from inertial frames moving relative to one another in the Euclidian world to doing the same in the Space-time world.
Doing this is not easy either conceptually or mathematically but is a necessity for getting from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics. If the reader learns to appreciate that the heavy-duty mathematics is required only for this task, and only in this light, then the ride will be infinitely easier.
Even in Taylor and Wheeler's very down to earth treatment of relativity (in their "Spacetime Physics"), this kind of understanding is left in the background for the reader to infer and to ferret out on his own. A great deal of time is save in the earlier chapters of this volume by forcing the reader to understand early on why working ones way gradually up the ladder to the tensor Calculus is necessary: so that he is better able do all of the mathematical heavy-lifting seamlessly, later.
One word of caution to the reader, which also is my only serious criticism of the book: The written dialogue is painfully sparse, so every word must be read carefully, weighed and parsed for its full meaning. It is helpful to read the book three times: First as an overview to see where the author is headed; and then a second time to understand the mathematical content -- especially the dizzy array of notations -- and then finally to put all the pieces together. That is, read it a third time just to confirm that one understands fully how the larger concepts match up with the corresponding mathematics.
It seems much easier for the authors of physics and mathematical texts to roll out reams of equations than to give just the minimal explanations about how these equations relate to the underlying concepts they are supposed to explain and describe. Why leave such important connections to the reader?
Realizing that this is not a book of prose, still it would be helpful sometimes to give ample and clearly written explanations, with even (god forbid), a little repetition from time to time, just as a guide so that the reader can confirm that he is making the correct interpretations along the way.
Anyway, I am hooked on the Demystified Series and hope this book will be great preparation for the upcoming Demystified volume on String Theory.
Four Stars
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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