Average customer rating:
- Ancient and Obsolete
- Unique,Idiosyncratic Approach
- A great book by a great physicist
- Superlative
- Old book that is hostile to the spirt of G.R.
|
Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity
Steven Weinberg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Astronomy
| Astronomy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Cosmology
| Astronomy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Relativity
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Astronomy
| Astronomy
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Relativity
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Gravitation (Physics Series)
-
A First Course in General Relativity
-
Modern Cosmology
-
General Relativity
-
The Early Universe (Frontiers in Physics)
ASIN: 0471925675 |
Customer Reviews:
Ancient and Obsolete.......2007-04-23
The beauty of general relativity (GR) lies in the connection it provides between geometry and physics. Weinberg's algebraic approach completely obscures this connection. Instead Weinberg teaches how to crank through complex calculations without any insight or geometric intuition. It is a fairly good book when compared to Misner-Thorne-Wheeler (another ancient text). However, by modern standards, Weinberg's book leaves much to be desired. Having been published in 1972, the book lacks modern examples in cosmology and quantum gravity. It also lacks a proper introduction to differential geometry and makes no mention of topology or other mathematical ideas prevalent in current GR research. In the 35 years since its publication, it has been surpassed by many much better books. For an excellent introduction to GR, read Carroll's book. For a more rigorous study of GR read Wald's book. For an easy introduction to GR, read Schutz's book.
Unique,Idiosyncratic Approach.......2006-09-15
Flashback to 1979.I Purchased Weinberg's Gravitation book and
Misner,Thorne, Wheeler's Gravitation book, simultaneously. Back then it took four weeks to get hold of a book by mail. The waiting made it all the more special when the books finally arrived. I still have those same two worn copies. Still re-read each. Sure, they are different viewpoints of General Relativity.
But, how greatly they both enrich the world. Together, those two
books started a pedagogic revolution. Weinberg has no
equal,cherish this book. Cherish MTW, also.
A great book by a great physicist.......2006-04-09
This is the best book written on general relativity, and I have read or at least looked at nearly every one of them. It is better than Wald's book because Steven Weinberg is a better physicist than Robert Wald. The only people who will not be pleased with it are those mathematicians who are looking to physics for elegant mathematics and not for physical insight.
A virtue of this book is that so far as I can see Weinberg has thought through general relativity for himself, and he has worked through all of the derivations himself - certainly the ones that I have checked - rather than quoting others.
This is not always the case for books in physics. Weinberg is careful, and I have yet to find an error in the book.
Superlative.......2004-12-14
Weinberg's writing is fantastic--direct, precise, and inspiring. His minimalist yet comprehensive approach, basing GR on nothing but the absolute necessities is beautiful. Virtually every word in the book is necessary and sufficient.
For GR, Weinberg's book is first among equals. Other reviews have critiqued his mathematics as old (Einstein's methods)--so what? It's easier and centerpieces the physics. Weinberg does well at making the complex as simple as can be reasonably made, a mark of a great expositor.
Old book that is hostile to the spirt of G.R........2004-12-08
There was a time when this book was probably very authoritative and useful (though I can't see myself preferring it over Hawking and Ellis, even then). Put it out of your mind: that time is gone. There are a slew of much better, much more modern books out there. Furthermore, this book is written from a perspective that attempts to filter a huge chunk of the geometry out of G.R., sullying a lot of the beauty of Einstein's central idea. If you are interested in cosmology, you can do a lot better looking at Hawking and Ellis, or one of the more recent books that will, due to their newness, emphasize the numerous advances in cosmology since the 70s. If you are interested in Relativity, PLEASE look at Schutze (beginner) or at Wald (graduate). Don't waste time and energy on this book.
That being said, there are some interesting advanced topics here, and a few things that I haven't seen elsewhere. This can be a useful reference for a researching relativist.
Customer Reviews:
Mach's Principle Conference.......2007-02-11
I'm hopeful that we will be hearing more about Mach's Principle in the future. Modern Physics may provide the theoretical underpinings that eluded Mach and his contemporaries. It was fascinating to learn just how sketchy Mach's contribution's were- and that the development of a theory of inertia were instead made by Mach's colleges. My only regrets were that the work of Dennis Sciama and Roger Penrose were not included. This book illuminates a topic in physics that is controversial, problematic, and very interesting.
Informative and Entertaining.......2001-12-16
If you are interested in Mach's Principle, you will like this book . Experts discuss what Mach really intended when he formulated his principle. The book provides english translations of some classic articles on Mach's Principle, and it discusses some of the lastest research and thinking on the topic. I recommend it very highly.
Book Description
Here are the 11 papers that forged the general and special theories of relativity: seven papers by Einstein, plus two papers by Lorentz and one each by Minkowski and Weyl. "A thrill to read again the original papers by these giants." — School Science and Mathematics. 1923 edition.
Customer Reviews:
A History of Relativity.......2006-12-16
Dover must be commended for re-printing this collection of 'seminal' papers which cover the development of Relativity. This collection includes Lorentz's papers "Michelson's Interference Experiment" & "Electromagnetic Phenomena ..." and Minkowski's "Space and Time". The latter was instrumental in forging the notion of Minkowski 'space' - and forever altered our conception of how we view time vis-a-vis space. Additional notes by Sommerfield are present as an appendix to Minkowski's paper.
All this is in addition to the famous papers by Einstein which gave birth to Special & General Relativity. In particular, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity" is, of course, a classic - but a tough read. The paper on Special Relativity, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", on the other hand, is easily accesible to anyone acquainted with high school mathematics.
Even for the non-physicist, with a suitable grounding in the requisite mathematics, this book is a real gem. In general, it serves an excellent companion to Einstein's The Meaning of Relativity, Fifth Edition: Including the Relativistic Theory of the Non-Symmetric Field (Princeton Science Library) and makes for a priceless addition to a personal library.
High school maths needed.......2006-11-02
One of the truly amazing things about the Special Theory is that you only need a decent grasp of high school mathematics and science to fully understand the two original papers. (Depending on your high school you may need to brush up on partial derivatives, but that's all.)
The General Theory is something else again, but by reading around the equations and accepting the descriptions of what is being solved you can still gain some incredible insights into a great intellectual achievement.
By the way: this book is worth having if for nothing else than to convince yourself that Einstein didn't write that stupid equation, (which is not an equation at all but an approximation)! (You know the one I mean. Something about E equals....)
How science should be written.......2004-04-16
Reading the original papers would be best, but if you don't read German then the Dover collection is the next best thing. In the paper on special relativity, the Lorentz transformations are derived via formulating and solving a first order pde, a treatment that no textbook presents (first order pdes aren't taught in math physics, in spite of the fact that every set of first order autonomous odes generates a first order pde). It took my teaching the subject to advanced undergrads in later years to realize what many others have by now noticed, namely, you don't need two postulates for special relativity. "Galilean invariance" is enough. The constancy of the speed of light follows from the requirement that there is no special reference frame.
Einstein's presentation of GR is unsurpassed for conciseness and clarity, is a model for other researchers to follow when writing papers. Here, he introduces the famous misconception (corrected today in the better texts like Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler) that general covariance is a physical principle. Well, even the greatest minds make mistakes.
Feynman wrote well, but no scientist to date has written better than Einstein.
An accessible reference book.......2003-07-18
This compact collection of English translations of the original papers is a cheap and highly accessible reference book.
The book is a chronology of the development of the theory of Relativity. Starting with Lorentz' papers on Michelson's interference experiment and electomagnetic phenomena in moving frames of reference, the book follows the rapid development of the subject from Einstein's ground breaking papers of 1905 on Electrodymanics and Inertia. Minkowski's original paper on Space-Time is a delight: it's always a pleasant surprise when one finds that the explanation of the originator has not been bettered in nearly 100 years!
Latter chapters of the book present Einstein's papers on General Relativity -which are mathematically complex. They are definately not the place to start if one wants to learn the principles of General Relativity. Nonetheless, after one has learnt the principles from more accessible materials, such as "The Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation" by M V Berry, these papers can be very useful as original sources that the reader can use in order to grasp the methods by which Einstein presented his revolutionary discoveries.
This is an excellent, high value, low cost source that is worth keeping!
A colection of classical articles.......2003-03-02
This book is not for the usual reader, it contains many articles from the beginning of the 20th century in physics that are now classics.
Basically it deals with the birth of relativity theory, in form of a collection of articles related beetween them and that describe the early evolution of the theory in the circle of physics. The original audience was cientists, so the usual reader will be daunted by formulas and formal description of theories and hipotheses.
It is however a must read for physics students and those interested in theory of relativity and a strong reference for PHD thesis and cientific works.
I bought it to use in my PHD thesis as reference as the basis of the view of the world where there is no priviledged point of reference, that is, everything is relative, wether in physical sciences or social sciences. This is the essence of the relativism that permeates the post-modern view of world, and historiography today.
I strongly recommend it for use as reference for cientists and students, but it is daunting in mathematics, You can use it without knowing lots of math, but you need to understand the concepts derived from the math. They are surprisinlgy well described by einstein and the others, after all they were geniuses.
Customer Reviews:
Something practical.......2004-09-24
This book is part of the "Secrets of the Universe" series.
Reading the introduction makes you want to regurgitate. Even though the target reader grade is sit to nine, the author, Paul Fleisher, talks down to the reader in the most fundamental way.
After you get past the introduction it is Relativity and Quantum Mechanics relatively with out the math. You will find the book more of a history of how our concept of light and the makeup of the atom changes down through the ages. He sights key discoveries and concepts. And drops names such as Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Max Plank, and Werner Heisenberg.
Before you get a chance to yawn this is one of the few books that has practical experiments to prove the laws and not just take my word for it theories. Try the Red or Blue light on a motion detector that proves that "the shorter the wave = the higher the energy."
The information is split into logical and short chapters:
1. Relativity
2. Quantum Mechanics
3. Conservation of Mass/Energy
4. The Uncertainty Principle
Included are references to further reading and web sites to visit.
Real science, real simple.......2004-07-18
This book by Paul Fleisher is an interesting introduction to a difficult subject. Written ostensibly for sixth to ninth grade levels, in fact many people beyond these levels have gaps in their knowledge about science. For all of its fame, the Theory of Relativity is one of the misunderstood ideas in science. Not as well known as Relativity, Quantum Physics is also largely misunderstood. Fleisher's book by no means presents all the depth of these ideas, but it does provide a very basic framework for understanding.
There are four chapters -- the first chapter looks at relativity, discussing the speed of light, frames of reference, and the idea of warped space-time around massive objects. The second chapter, quantum mechanics, presents the idea of the photoelectric effect, the idea the energy behaves in wavelike and particle manner, and that there are few 'real life' experiments that can adequately explain quantum effects. The third chapter looks the conservation of mass and energy, the famous Einstein equation of E = mc(squared). The fourth chapter presents one more misunderstood physics idea, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, one of the important concepts in quantum physics, that basically sets the stage for much of the 'bizarre' aspects of modern physics, including the concept of limits to our knowledge and measurement ability.
Fleisher presents several short appendices -- a two-page timeline starting in 1675 with Olaus Romer's discovery that the speed of light is finite to the late 1900s with nuclear events. There are eight pages of one-paragraph biographies of major physicists of the past few hundred years. There are selected readings and bibliography, as well as a useful glossary.
Not just for kids, the book and the others in the series of 'Secrets of the Universe' present science ideas in small, easily comprehended pieces for any non-scientifically-literate reader.
Book Description
The book titled "Discourses & Mathematical Illustrations pertaining to the Extinction Shift Principle under the Electrodynamics of Galilean Transformations" in a published treatise on a replacement for the Theory of Relativity. The book summarizes manuscripts that illustrate the solutions to physics problems that made Relativity famous, obtaining the exact mathematical equivalence to Relativity but without any use of Relativity whatsoever.
The "pure" classical solutions of all the famous problems, both pertaining to electromagnetism and gravitation, has been treated in this book. A completely overlooked alternative using only Galilean transformations in Euclidean Space Geometry under Principal Axioms of the Extinction Shift Principle was demonstrated with step by step mathematical illustrations. Problems such as the text book examples pertaining to the invariance of the wave equations demonstrates how current orthodox treatments have consistently, incorrectly applied Galilean Transformations and thereby incorrectly concluded that the Wave Equations were not invariant under Galilean Transformations. The not measurable, undisturbed phenomenon of the primary wave and the electrodynamics of the re-emission thereof, until now, has never been correctly treated and applied.
In this book, the invariance of the "wave equation", the velocity dependent "effective" mass as opposed to relativistic mass, the transverse relative time shift as opposed to Time Dilation, the planet Mercury perihelion drift and the PSR1913+16 Perihelion Drift, gravitational redshift, solar light bending, etc., getting the precise mathematical equivalence to Relativity, but without any use of Relativity whatsoever, was demonstrated. As single set of Principal Axioms governing the application of Galilean Transformations in Euclidean Space were successfully used for the very first time, in both the Electromagnetism and Gravitation, in the mathematical illustrations pertaining to the Extinction Shift Principle. The procedures that lead to the pure classical solutions were explainable using basic, elementary mathematics and intuitive reasoning, requiring essentially 100 pages.
Customer Reviews:
Dowdye Presents Alternative to Special & General Relativity.......2002-12-18
Dowdye addresses an important but often overlooked topic in physics, i.e.emission theory. He develops a new classical emission theory based on the extinction effect observed in light moving through media. Dowdye applies his emission theory plus the Galilean transformation of velocities to electromagnetism and gravity. He is able to obtain the principal results of special relativity for electromagnetism and of general relativity for gravitation. Since Ewald (1912) and Oseen (1915) discovered the extinction effect, scientists have known that special relativity was no longer consistent with the Fizeau and Michelson-Morley experiments with light moving through a medium. These experiments were used as the basis for initially accepting relativity theory. Dowdye is to be commended for not buckling under to political correctness but rather developing a proper classical emission theory based on reality instead of an idealized point-particle universe.
A completely new approach!.......2001-08-03
General and Special Relativity and its associated mathematics have proven most useful in interpreting many observable phenomena in modern physics. Dowdye's Extinction Shift Theory shows that the same phenomena can be explained in much simpler terms solely by using Galilean Transformations. If his theory is proven valid by experiment, we will have a completly new approach to explain many results in modern physics. For those of us who are steeped in relativitic thinking, the Extinction Shift Principle may be difficult to accept, but, if true, accept it we must!
Naturally Thought-Provoking and Controversial!.......2001-06-15
Dr. Edward Dowdye's book takes a controversial approach to solving physics problems associated with various fields and radiation using the "extinction shift principle" in conjunction with the Galilean transformation. The approach has its critics, since it flies in the face of now conventional and accepted wisdom. Be that as it may, the treatise is definitely thought-provoking!
Book Description
Proceedings of the international workshop on Mach's Principle and the Origin of Inertia, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, Feb. 6-8, 2002.
Ernst Mach's non-atomistic model of matter and the associated interpretation of inertial mass (the "Mach principle") influenced the holistic approach embodied in the continuous field concept of the theory of general relativity as a general theory of matter. The articles in these Proceedings demonstrate Mach's influence on contemporary thinking.We see here the views of an international group of scholars on the impact of the Mach principle in physics and astrophysics. The ideas presented here will inspire research in physics for many generations to come.
Book Description
This innovative, inexpensive supplement will add a special dimension to any general physics class, or advanced course in special relativity. Professor Moore has written a concise yet thorough introduction to topics in special relativity, developing concepts clearly and presenting them in an accessible manner.
Customer Reviews:
never thought i'd write this about a textbook.......2007-04-09
This book is incredibly comprehensible and interesting. It was vaguely assigned as supplemental reading for my physics class and I read it in two days because I was hooked.
Great content, but get it cheaper!.......2006-11-20
This book is an excellent introduction to special relativity. It very carefully distinguishes between the different types of time measurements. Also, it is one of the few introductory books that actually teaches the reader how to make use of spacetime diagrams. Advanced topics such as transformations of electromagnetic fields are not covered, but this this book will give you a strong basis for further study.
If want to get the same content for about $20 less, buy Unit R of Thomas Moore's Six Ideas That Shaped Physics. It seems that A Traveler's Guide to Spacetime became one volume in that series. Also, the Six Ideas book is in the second edition, but this book has not been updated.
One of the most easily understandable books in physics!!.......1998-11-19
Not only did Thomas Moore write a great book, he is also an excellent teacher. It is relativity made easy. Be sure to look for the Six Ideas that Shaped Physics if you really want to learn general physics. Moore emphasizes the models of physics, not the equations generate dby these models.
read this book!.......1998-09-15
A Traveler's Guide to Spacetime is a wonderful introduction to the realm of Special Relativity. Moore presents the material in interesting format combining imaginative scenarios of evil space cadets with intuitive yet complicated equations.
Book Description
Einstein's essay, On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, introduces his famous "principle of relativity," one of the twentieth century's most revolutionary concepts. In his introduction to this seminal work, the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking cuts through Einstein's mathematical complexities to explain this revolutionary concept in language that excites and informs the reader. This book features selections from a translation of the original essay, The Principle of Relativity, as well as an insightful biography of Einstein and Hawking's informative summary.
Black-and-white illustrations.
Books:
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Independent Component Analysis
- Interest Rate Models - Theory and Practice: With Smile, Inflation and Credit (Springer Finance)
- Introduction to Computational Biology: Maps, Sequences and Genomes (Interdisciplinary Statistics)
- Introduction to Cosmology
- Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd Edition)
- Introduction to Numerical Methods and MATLAB: Implementations and Applications
- Introduction to Numerical Methods and MATLAB: Implementations and Applications
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring
- Cooking from Quilt Country : Hearty Recipes from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens
- According to Queeney
- Blood Revenge: Family Honor, Mediation and Outcasting
- Cinema 2: The Time-Image
- Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures
- California Coastal Access Guide
- Reports of the United States Tax Court, Jan 1, 1988-June 30, 1988
- Building Better Relationships on the Job
- Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars
