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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Einstein | 
| Author: Gary F. Moring
Publisher: Alpha
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy Used: $0.40
You Save: $16.55 (98%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 1264370
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.4 x 1
ISBN: 0028631803
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.092
UPC: 021898631800
EAN: 9780028631806
ASIN: 0028631803
Publication Date: October 4, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: 1st. ACCEPTABLE with noticeable wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders are generally shipped no later than next business day. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items.
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Product Description
You're no idiot of course. You know that Albert Einstein came up with the famous "E=mc" equation and that his hair looked like it had survived a nuclear test blast. But when it comes to understanding his theories and how they changed the world--well, you're no Einstein. Don't go nuclear yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Einstein shows how relatively easy--and fun--it can be to learn and appreciate the world of physics and Einstein's brillant accomplishments. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, you get:
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Einstein =Genius! June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Einstein was a little boy with a big brain who never quite grew up. Thank gosh! His curiosity never waned and he continued to ask tough Physics questions that many other Physicists wouldn't touch.
Einstein's ability to create "Thought Experiments" set him apart from many others and helped him change the face of Physics. He explored space, time, matter, relativity, quantum particles, the big bang and came up with concepts that Physicists are still scratching their heads over.
The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Einstein by Gary Moring is an excellent introduction to this amazing human and his accomplishments. The book also explores many major scientific developments and other prominent Physicists. In the end of each chapter there is a:"The Least You Need to Know" section which is very helpful...especially with this material!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
An Absolute Gem June 30, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Understanding Einstein almost sounds like an oxymoron. Is it really possible to understand one of the most brilliant people of the 20th century? Well, this book goes a long way in trying to provide the reader with an understanding of Einstein and his contributions to science and other areas of human endeavor. The author places Einstein in the context of our unfolding history of ideas as seen from the perspectives of science, psychology and philosophy, just to name a few. Since the "Idiot Guide" series are meant to be introductions to topics and not graduate level thesis', I was amazed at how much material was actually covered in a book of this kind. Being a big fan of Einstein's and having read most books out there about him, this book goes a long way in bringing together a wide diversity of material available on his theories and life. His most important discoveries ae cleary explained and even his shortcomings are touched upon. Like the author's other book on the "Theories of the Universe", he brings an interdisciplinary approach to the material, that always gives you more than just either his theories or biographical material. You will definitely be much closer to "understanding" Einstein after you read this book.
 Worthless! May 1, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Understanding Einstein" attempts to cover major scientific developments from Aristotle to post-Einstein, as well as details of Einstein's life - all in 432 pages! Clearly anyone but a COMPLETE IDIOT would know this is not possible in any meaningful way - especially one attempting to understand relativity.
Material is mostly presented as givens, with little/no insight as to the "Why?" Further, even the examples used are not necessarily correct.
Example 1: Einstein's conclusion that acceleration and gravity are equivalent is first postulated, and the example utilized (a moving spaceship in which light from outside hits the spaceship's interior at a lower level - ergo it is bent by gravity - is a non sequitur because the spaceship need not be accelerating for this to occur.
Example 2: Moring mentions a glitch in Mercury's orbit that is not explained by Newtonian mechanics, but is by Einstein's gravitational mathematics. That's all - no details, no insight, no understanding, and no value.
Example 3: Moring ends up referencing post-Einstein theories that assert variations in the speed of light, contrary to Einstein. That's all we get - no explanation or resolution. Further, the book doesn't even reference recent experiments that have brought light to a complete stop, or attempt how this meshes with Einstein.
Bottom Line: Read something else if you want to understand much of anything in the physical sciences.
Very informative January 4, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I haven't finished the whole book, but it is already my favorite. It is a trip through history. The author builds science theory, and discovery through the ages, social climates, and general thinking in the given era. It's a great quick reference for scientist, and dates of discoveries. I highly recommend this book for anyone interest in digging deeper in to science. It is fascinating.
 Mixed Impression October 26, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Positive: A fairly easy read, well written.
Good biographical material dealing with Einstein's work, social, and political views.
Non-mathematical accounts of general & special theory of relativity, and quantum theory.
Negative: discursive, somewhat superficial accounts of the history of physics.
The thread of the author's arguments are frequently lost through his excursions into philosophy, religion, and the psychology of the unconscious. Some of this is pretty superficial and the comnnecttions made between these fields and contemporary physics is, in my opinion, a real stretch.
The discussion of time and relativity is at times confusing because the distinction between the observer and the event is not made clear.
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