Relativity : The Special and the General Theory
ALBERT EINSTEIN

Author Albert Einstein

Binding Paperback

Edition Reprint

ISBN 0517884410

NumberOfPages 208

PublicationDate 1995-06-06

Publisher Three Rivers Press

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Reviews -- Avg. rating in 63 reviews

-- Prerequisites: Multiple advanced math or physics degrees... -- 3/24/2006
Attempting to understand this book, (Which Einstein claims he wrote in a way people can understand...) makes me wonder what the value of knowledge is if you can't explain it to anyone. The concepts I can understand, ONLY because I had other sources to explain them to me before buying this book. The problem is that he uses excessively long sentences which frequently jump around. More often than not, I get completely lost before the end of the sentence. Another problem is the fact that the language is somewhat flowery. (**Imagine for a second, trying to understand the topic of relativity with the indirect, flowery language that Shakespeare used---this book is not that poetic, but it's just as indirect. Physics, in general is simply not the place to be indirect, especially when attempting to explain a complicated subject in a way that's comprehensible.) He doesn't seem to make even remotely simple statements. Instead, the meanings of the sentences are watered down, and because of their excessive length (*I read a single sentence that was 6 lines in length), I get lost. I would not recommend this book to anyone other than Einstein himself, and if it is necessary for you to read this book (for school or personal accomplishment), for your own sake, keep a LARGE bottle of Asprin, and one of those ten-pound unabridged dictionaries near-by. >>Instead of this book, I would recommend "Black Holes, Wormholes, and Time Machines" by Jim Al-Khalili (It's very easy to understand, though covers complex topics...and I, personally, could not put it down.)

-- Still an excellent intro -- 1/19/2006
This is still an excellent intro to the subject, though some of the material is obsolete, of course. Since it was written the definition of the constant c has changed from "velocity of light" to "speed of light". Velocity includes direction and speed does not, so the "problem" Einstein had to address in chapter XXII no longer exists. The velocity of light changes direction due to the bending of light by gravity in General Relativity, but the speed of light, c, remains constant.

-- Come back later -- 12/7/2005
Even though this is a "popular" version of the theory, with the considerable advantage of being by Einstein himself, it is not so easy as the presentation may imply. Einstein says in his introduction that his reasoning will demand no more than a high-school knowledge. It might be true in his time, but nowadays the book demands a longer study in Physics. I offer myself as an example: I'm a literature student in post-graduation level, and simply couldn't grasp the meaning of many mathematical demonstrations he uses to make his points. His reasoning is also obscure in many passages (what are really those 'galilean coordinates'?). Perhaps these details seem self-evident for professional readers, but they are not for the general public (the implied target of the book). In brief, Einstein didn't succeed completely in his attempt at popularization.

-- How can you not love this stuff? -- 10/2/2005
How can you not love this stuff even if you don't understand a lick of it?

If you read this, you must also read "Was Einstein Right?" by Clifford Will.

-- Still the Best Layman's Intro Out There -- 8/24/2005
Modern phsyics gives us Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. For the lay reader, the plethora of popularizations out there can be daunting. But, having read the lion's share of all of them myself, I'd recommend to you only a handful:

QM: Nick Herbert's "Quantum reality"
Strings: Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe"
Everything: Roger Penrose's "the Road to Reality"

Relativity: This book by Einstein! Einstein's presentation is so clearly stated and concise. His presentation of what he's thinking is so simple that you'll find you too can visualize just what he's explaining... at the end of the book, you'll find that it actually makes sense... not only that, it makes perfect sense and you'll understand just why the theory had to come about. The beauty of relativity (as opposed to QM and Strings) is that it IS accessible to us mere mortals and it IS a sensible and beautiful theory, once you strip away everything else and just think about. That's what Einstein brilliantly helps you to do here.

-- A Good Compilation of early 20th century Physics -- 1/22/2005
This is a good book, but most are under the impression that Einstein actually CREATED the content of the book.

Einstein actually compiled the physics theories of the latest German and Italian physicists and wrote it as his entire theory.

For instance, e=mc^2 was not created by Einstein, as so many people people. An Italian physicist came up with it. If you don't believe me check any encyclopedia.

Einstein suceeded in taking everyone's work and compiling it. This was helpful to the world of physics.

Unfortunately, this stuff is outdated, and Autodynamics has disproven many things that Einstein says in this book. When it came out it was already outdated. This was published in the 60s. Autodynamics disproved what is in this book in the 40s (45 I believe). If this was published in the 20s or even the 30s, it would have been a good book.

-- historically good, but not the best introduction available -- 1/4/2005
This appears to have been written by Einstein sometime around 1916 in German. The writing process is not made clear in the book itself (whether it was dictated or co-authored, and the extent of changes by editors or translators). New editions could stand to have a forward that provides a little more context.

There are better books around for a beginner to understand relativity, but this is certainly not the worst. There is always something to be said for reading primary sources, and the book is fairly short and can be read quickly. Students may want to stick to Part I (Special Relativity) and consult more contemporary books for General Relativity.

The language is understandable for the most part. It is not as clean and simple a writing style as is common today -- in some places it is fairly elegant but in a few it is pointlessly baroque and awkward (perhaps a problem in the translation from German). Chapter 8 is an especially bad example: it could easily be written more clearly with about half the verbiage. In the older editions the translation is credited to Robert Lawson (apparently British) but this credit disappears in other versions.

For people already familiar with the history of science, there are a lot of interesting little details, such as seeing how Einstein originally presents the description of the moving train, and seeing all the people that Einstein credits as having made an important impression on him and contributions to the theory and experiments. (I find guys like Stephen Wolfram interesting as well, but it sure is a refreshing contrast to read the modesty of someone like Einstein and all the people he generously and conscientiously credits.)

-- Required Reading -- 11/28/2004
This book provides and introduction to both Special and General Relativity without excessive use of math. While the reader does need a good collage level math background to get the most out of this book, the book does not focus on the math. The book has three parts:
1) In the first section using logical arguments Einstein takes the reader from Newtonian mechanics to Special Relativity.
2) In the second section Einstein takes the reader to the next step: General Relativity. I don't think this section went into enough dept.
3)The last section explores the greater impact of Relativity on our understanding of the universe.
4) There are a set of appendices that provide interesting details.
In my opinion this book is great start for someone who wants to get a basic understanding of Relativity. However the material is not at all complete or rigorous. Therefore anyone with serious interest in this topic should first read this, then proceed to more in-depth material. Many advanced texts are available however the reader must first obtain the proper math background.
On the whole this is a great book. I would have rated it 4 had it been written by a lesser man, nevertheless out of respect for this great man it deserves 5 stars.
Highly recommended.

-- Relativity -- 11/27/2004
Relativity, explained by Einstein hiself. A classic even to laymen and an idol to scientists, this book remains a treasury of knowledge.
Relativity is often portrayed as a complex and mathematical lesson. In this book Einstein explains relativity free of the mathematics and complications. As Einstein once said "Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore." (Never a truer word spoken).
Perfect for professional or amatuer scientists. A classic.

-- Straight from the horse's mouth -- 6/9/2004
What better person to here about relativity than Einstein himself? This is a great book for anyone interested in relativity. I do have one problem with this book--it's a crappy translation, even taking into account the fact that it was written in the dialect of Great Britain. The language is too lugubrious for my taste.

-- Requires a Mature Reader -- 1/20/2004
I've used this book with my high school students - very slow going. You can definitely understand the issues involved in relativity, even as a layman, from reading this book, but THIS IS NOT AN EASY READ! A mature, dedicated reader will get through this book. I'm proud of my high school students for struggling through this book, but readers at that age mostly do not have the intensity to really appreciate it.

-- Not Just science -- 11/29/2003
I won't lie to you, the theory of relativity is not simple. The special relativty is easily understood, yet it is a topic covered in university as an speciality in majors more involved with physics, and general relativity is coverd in masters. Both topics can be quite esoteric, and the mathematical explanation for the relativistic deformation of the time-space due to speed uses Fourier's transforms, so most people will have to just have faith in what Einstein is trying to explain. However, he does simplify the subject enough, so anyone with a basis of physics could grasp some of the most important ideas behind his theory.

Furthermore, this book is important in the fact that by proving that relativity was a real fact in physics, the shape of the world in the twentieth century took a great change. I believe that without Einstein's work, the nihilism porfethized by Nietzsche, toghether with the despotic regimes that the will of power would create guided by deviations of the "übermensch" might not have com in such strenght as it did.

-- Great Book -- 10/20/2003
How better to learn and appreciate Einsteins theory's of relativity than from his own words. I read this book senior year of Highschool and found it quite engaging. There are some mathmatical prerequisites for understanding everything, but nothing that should keep anyone from understanding. These were the theories that changed the view of the universe and should be known by a wider base of people.

-- Einstein, to humble for his own good. -- 8/25/2003
This book is very interesting glimpse of where einstein was coming from. this is a book that is still interesting if you understand relativity, because einsein gives a very thorough look at the circumstances surrounding the development of the theory. Including a delineation of the specific problems with newtonian mechanics which neccesitated development of the special and general theories of relativity, which I have never found in any other book on the subject.

He also does a wonderful job of explaining why the special theory was insufficient, and the steps with which he developed the general theory of relativity.

This book is a look at the most wildly hyped theory of the twentieth century, and explains it so that almost anyone should be able to understand it and also undestand why Einstein once said he spent the vast majority of his life trying to understand quantum mechanics, and not relativity.

-- What I think -- 7/1/2003
I do not have this Edition , I have Princenton's Edition , but this is the most spectacular book I have ever read.

ps' The first time took to me 3 and 1/2 years, to read it.

-- Relativity for the layman? Explained by its creator. -- 5/1/2003
In Relativity, Einstein trys to bring his theory of relativity to the masses. When the special and general theorys of relativity were concieved of by Einstein, they revolutionized our perception of space and time. This revolution was so complete that many of the most significant physicists of the time believed that it was nonsense. When Einstein won the Nobel prize for his work on the photoelectric effect, his certificate unequivocally stated that the award was NOT given for his theory of relativity. For much of his life, even Einstein was unwilling to accept some of the predictions of his own work such as black holes.

This is all very good, interesting science and history which should be read and understood by everyone. The problem is, though, that Einstein was not a particularly good writer. Einstein is too brilliant for his own good and it shows through frequently in this attempt to stoop to our level. His explanations are usually hard to follow and unintuitive(and I study physics even!). This book exists on an uncomfortable middle ground between rigor and easy reading.

If you would like to read this book simply because of its (and its author's) historical significance then I couldn't discourage that. If you know little physics and want to try to understand relativity, however, read Kip Thorne's Black Holes and Time Warps or the first few chapters of Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.

If you would like to read this book simply because of its (and its author's) historical significance then I couldn't discourage that. If you know little physics and want to try to understand relativity, read Kip Thorne's Black Holes and Time Warps or the first few chapters of Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.

-- You know this book is brilliant. -- 2/3/2003
I want to know who exactly rated this book below 5 stars. I want to know how on earth one could come to the conclusion that this book is anything other than pure excellence. But this goes without saying. Or so I thought. Don't take my advice. Ask yourself--"Do I think a book by Albert Einstein on his world-changing theory will be brilliant?" And I think you know the answer.

-- Use in parallel with some other book -- 12/29/2002
In this book, Einstein appears to be explaining things to those people who have a hard-time digesting the ideas of relativity. I do not consider it to be a means to learn relativity. However, it can very well be used in parallel with some other book -- you read some other book, and if you find it hard to agree to the ideas mentioned, revert to this book. In my opinion, that is also what Einstein would have had in mind when he wrote that book.

If you are serious about relavity, read his original papers. They are not as difficult as they say they are. In fact, since Einstein mentions everything in full detail, he sounds much more convincing and clearer than all those authors who hide intricate details of the subject.

-- Einstein is also a genius at teaching -- 12/23/2002
Most scientific genius' are poor at communicating their ideas to lay people who aren't versed in their high level math and vocabulary. Einstein, on the other hand, is superb at explaining the complex in simple, non scientific, non mathematical, and NON CONDESCENDING terms! While, obviously, I am against any government forced reading list, if there were one, I'd put this one at or near number one on any such list. It should certainly be required reading for all colledge graduates, regardless of their major.

Park your preconceived ideas of what you *used to* think what the universe was and prepare to be blown away at this incredible "theory" (It should no longer be called a theory as it has been proven over and over in real world experiment after emperiment)! It will certainly open your mind to new possibilities and to new ideas of what the universe is (or at least, what it *isn't*).

After reading this, go get "Quantum Electro Dynamics", a colleciton of lectures by Richard P. Feynman, to continue your maddening journey through wacky, but true, insights into what's *really* going on and what this universe really is about. It really is a quantum leap forward in thinking. You'll just have to read it to believe it (possibly several times).

After that, search Amazon.com for information about faster than light transmission for even more mind blowing ideas that are becoming a reality.

If you thought science fiction was way out there, wait til you learn about science fact! Science truly is stranger than fiction.

-- Einstein: Lorentz plus Gauss equals Relativity. -- 11/28/2002
Measuring-rods and clocks in a continuum of non-rigid reference-bodies. This is how Einstein explains his theories of relativity to those "who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics." No offense to Einstein, but others have published more readily comprehensible descriptions of relativity. Einstein's accounts are rather belabored compared to those of physicists like Brian Greene. However, if you have a basic appreciation of geometry, you will soon attain a foggy glimpse of Einstein's two great theories in this small volume. Read this book as a curiosity, to encounter Newton's intellectual heir, and his vision of the universe, in his own words.
As the author promises, the book is well organized, moving through Relativity's essential aspects in a systematic progression and examining the difficulties he had to overcome in its development. In his preface Einstein says, "despite the shortness of the book, a fair amount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader" will be demanded. If you are curious, strap on your thinking-cap and enjoy this read in Einstein's finite but perhaps unbounded universe.

-- Great Book By Originator Of Theory, What Could Be Better? -- 11/5/2002
This book was written beautifly! I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in relativity. Now, this book is a lot easier to understand than many other books on this same subject, but this book is difficult and does require some patience and concentration. Einstein writes this with a voice that entices the reader. This book is an absolute must have for anyone even remotely curious about relativity.

-- I would like to mention a fact.... -- 5/6/2002
While reading the reviews I noticed something. The special case was considered well written, while the general theory was considered difficult to follow. There is a simple explanation to this, Leopold Infeld (protege of Einstein's) helped in the rewriting of the Special Case, his English was much more fluent than that of Einstein. Infeld was also a superb teacher, as such he had a fluency and a rhythm with words that is easy to follow. I highly recommend any of Einstein's writings but also caution you as to his readability... On the other hand Einstein recognized this and coauthored with Infeld, (or rewrote with him previous writings), as such I highly recommend that you get those books coauthored or written by Leopold Infeld.

-- Informative and Accessible -- 2/20/2002
Albert Einstein is the eidos of the Smart Guy. I chose to read Robert W. Lawson's authorized translation of Einstein's popular exposition of the topic of Relativity because I didn't think I knew anything about it. Well, that isn't true. That was why I chose to buy it; I have a whole special collection of uncracked literature in my library relating to my personal ignorance. I chose to read it because of both the above stated reason and because it was small enough to tote with me on the train to and from work. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Although I got a big fat B in my undergraduate physics course, all I understood about Relativity was 1) it has something to do with Energy being equal to the product of Mass and the speed of light squared, and 2) there is something wrong with Newtonian mechanics when one is trying to explain the orbit of Mercury. Relativity turns out to be a good chunk more interesting than that. By spelling it out using simple examples like trains, Euclidian geometry and math no fancier than algebra, Einstein seemed to make a pretty good case for the over-simplicity of the good old laws of inertia and momentum. Sure, my clock is at rest with respect to me and will remain so until something moves it, but observed from a distant star, it is accelerating through four-dimensional space-time quite rapidly. Moreover, the perception of my clock (and time) from that remote reference point is influenced by the finite yet constant speed of light. That guy was really thinking.

In summation, spending 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening with this book made me feel like I had the gist of Relativity. Now back to my stack of ignorance.

-- The special was special; the general, generally lacking -- 2/11/2002
Einstein's explanation of special relativity left me feeling warm and fuzzy, but when he moved on to the general theory, things took a turn for the worse. I'll be the first to admit that a failure of information flow from Einstein to me is most likely a problem on the receiving end. However, in this case, Einstein completely left out important parts of the theory. It was as if he tried to explain a bicycle by describing the front wheel. Perhaps he felt that explaining the whole bicycle without leveraging concepts from elsewhere in physics and math was not possible. That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that reading this book isn't going to give you a very clear understanding of the general theory of relativity.

-- Excellent source for those interested in Einstein's theory -- 1/29/2002
This book is great for those who are interested in the Theory of Relativity without getting involved too much in the mathamatical aspect. It is written very well, and shows that Einstein was capable of writing a piece that is easy for just about anyone to understand.

-- relativity made simple -- 1/9/2002
Who's the best person to write a book on relativity if not Prof. Einstein himself? If you do not have a physics background don't be ashamed! The author presents a otherwise difficult theory in a very clear and manageable way. A person with any technical background can enjoy its reading and believe me, understand it as a whole. In particular, the reader can get a gist on the general relativity theory without the sophisticated mathematical apparatus needed. For those who want to learn relativity in a clear and intuitive way this book will come in handy.

-- A concise book that captures the essence -- 12/31/2001
I own this book and have read it a few times and each time I am impressed by the clarity with which it is written. It explains the concepts of relativity in words only. It avoids (technical) calculations and formulas, not for the usual 'commercial' reasons, but because the author shows he can do without. And ask yourself: how many authors are capable of doing that?

The strength of the book is its conciseness: the author forces you to think things through, before moving on to the next chapter. I think this little book is great to own next to a more advanced textbook because it really adds value, for a small price.

Buy this book for its content only: it contains no fancy graphics or other 'eye catchers'. Because the author (obviously) knows what he is talking about, he was able to keep the book thin without making compromises. Again an achievement.

-- The Master never fails -- 12/30/2001
This book is probably the best place to start in understanding the theory that revolutionized science. It is lucid enough for practically anyone to understand. I should know, I'm still in junior high school and I understand it. Einstein conveyed the nature of his own genius into a prose that clearly explained nearly all there is to know on the basis of modern physics. The Cosmological Supplement was, in my opinion, the most interesting part. Natural science is an amazing branch of knowledge and some even say that physics is defined as the only true science. I reccommend this book to all readers who are interested in Einstein's work and even those who don't have a clue. It is all just basic science.

-- The words of the Master -- 12/24/2001
This is the introduction to relativity written by Einstein. It is NOT the book which contains the original works, which is a very difficult book (just think that Planck had to ask for several clarifications before he understood Einstein's breakthrough paper). Here the great scientist set to himself the goal of explaining to the educated, but not specialized, man.
Einstein was, of course, very deep. When he talked about any topic in physics, chances are that he went deeper than anyone else who thought about the same theme, for a comparable time span. Now, imagine relativity. When he wrote this book he had thought about this matter for several decades. Nobody reached this depth, then and afterwards. The fruits of his thought, like black-holes, are being proved true now, after so much time!
So, the difference between this book and all other introductory books on relativity is proportional to the difference between Einstein himself and the other authors. You don't have to believe me: just read the excerpts! You'll not remain indifferent to the majesty of his ideas. Put yourself in the right mood: Einstein was a very simple man who was, in writing this book, sincerely interested in explaining his creation to you. Follow his path, read attentively, and, above all, think!
The reward will be great.

-- Great intro even for non-science types -- 5/26/2001
I believe in reading primary source material. You can't get much closer to the source of the theory of relativity! My high school math and science classes did help me through this book.

I like it because it's not my normal subject matter. Einstein helped me think out of the box in terms of how things in the world (and universe) relate. Even though I won't remember all (or any) of the equations, I'll definitely remember his wonderful word pictures.

-- Great for the young student of Physics -- 3/9/2001
Great for the young student of Physics!

This is an excellent book, written in the "Master's" own style and faithfully translated from the German by Robert Lawson. The translation dates to 1920 and new readers may find the English a little quaint, but for all that, it is a great effort at presenting in "plain speak", the concepts of Relativity.

The book starts with a lucid explanation of the Train and Platform example of Galelian Relativity and then proceeds to highlight the incompatibility between the principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed of light. Without encumbering the reader with the Maths (found in the appendices) the ideas of time dilation and length contraction are discussed. The General Theory is developed via a fine example: that of an observer on a rotating disk.

This is a good complement to the overtly scientific/mathmatical books on the subject. Unfortunately,, despite its many qualities, just like many of the alternatives of this genre, Einstein's book does not fully succeed in explaining the complex concepts to the lay reader. Rather, this is a nice little book that will be suitable for a good calibre Maths/Physics student in the sixth form/high school.

-- The clearest explanation I know -- 2/21/2001
It seems as if at least two or three books are published every year to explain the concepts of special and general relativity to the public. I haven't encountered another one as good as this.

Contrary to widespread misconception, Albert Einstein was not an exceptionally expert mathematician. His justly deserved fame rests on the fact that he had an incredible intuition for physics, and a willingness to think the unthinkable whenever that seemed to be where the physics led. So it's not surprising that he could explain both the concepts of special relativity and those of general relativity in clear, simple language suitable for the non-technical reader. The result is a masterpiece, especially the discussion of general relativity.

The mathematics of general relativity in its applications is esoteric, to say the least; any reader who wishes to glimpse this can take a look at Robert M. Wald's book "General Relativity." But the underlying ideas are very simple, simple enough to be easily grasped by any 11th or 12th grade student in an "academic" curriculum. The problem with them is that for most people the ideas are counterintuitive. The other books for laypeople that I've looked at go through all sorts of contortions to make the ideas plausible. Einstein doesn't. He proceeds steadily, simply and logically to show how special relativity follows from direct observation. Then he points out that special relativity is only useful in certain exceptional cases, and asks himself (and us) what properties a more general physical theory must have to be consistent both with observation and with special relativity. General relativity just lands in our laps as a result of this simple train of thought.

I treasure this book.

-- The Math Equations in this book our Beautiful -- 12/31/2000
This is a Theory that started a envolution not only in physics and math but humanity to. Albert Einstein was so head of his times i,m very facinated by him physicist are like Magician of reality and another thing a good Physicist is a good teacher of physics. For Laymens read other scienctific books before this one like Brian Greene's The elegant universe to get the full ideal of Relativity i dont know if i should but this down or not but go to bartleby.com to read the book for free online

-- Historically useful, but an useless introduction -- 12/10/2000
As an introduction to the theory of relativity this book fails hilariously. However, as a historical reference of how it was developed this book is very important and shows that the theory of relativity was not a magic idea from Einstein's mind, but a theory developed during years by many physicsits as George FitzGerald, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincare, H. Minkowski, Marcel Grossman, David Hilbert and others. Compared to other books that explains the theory of relativity, such as Joseph Schwartz' "Einstein for beginners", this one is really difficult to understand (not impossible of course, however difficult). The deduction of Lorentz' transformation in the appendix is also very confusing compared to Schwartz. Well, this book is a bit old compared to Schwartz' book, thus it is normal to find out that the way Eistein expose the theory is hard compared to a more recent book. Also if you are an Einstein admire this book is nice to have a deeper view of what he thinks of the development of the theory.

-- Almost perfect -- 12/6/2000
In his effort to create a "simple explanation [of relativity] that anyone can understand" Einstein comes close to perfection.

His language is clear and lucid, and the thought problems he suggests in order to prompt his reader into understanding the faults of classical theory vs. the extraordinary coherence and power of the theory of relativity are downright fun. But make no mistake--this book is not easy.

The concepts behind relativity are difficult to understand and require some patience on the part of the reader. At times, this difficulty is exasperated by Einstein's desire to keep his explanations succinct.

I would start with Einstein's "The Evolution of Physics" in order to get a feeling for the general concepts behind relativity and behind physics in general before attacking this excellent but challenging book.

That having been said, I LOVED every minute I spent reading this book and happily recommend it to anyone interested in twisting their brain around some wild problems with wilder solutions.

-- A great introduction into the field of science. -- 8/19/2000
In this book, Einstein is able to move you through his patterns of thought in the most elegant way. he has the ability to make a complicated and difficult physical theory, flow like water in to your brain. reading this book gave me insight into our world and the mind of a great man. Read this book if you enjoy thinking.

-- Excellent introduction to relativity -- 6/21/2000
Written by Einstein himself, this book gives excellent insight into special relativity. The book doesn't cover much on general relativity though. I guess that would have meant a lot more math than he wanted to include in this book.

-- A Masterpiece -- 4/29/2000
This book, written by Albert Einstein, is about the concept that changed our approach to physics and to the universe. This book requires a lot from a reader, in which the reader will probably have to reread passages all over again to grasp the math behind this theory. The math isn't difficult, it's understanding how it leads to the theory that requires a lot of thinking. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the theory of relativity from Einstein's approach. However the reader should have a minimum of understanding of the theory before attempting to read this book.

-- Albert Einstein Hippie Patriarch! -- 4/3/2000
His friend Bertrand Russell was too!

-- Do you want to learn about Modern Physics? Begin here! -- 3/10/2000
There is no doubt that Albert Einstein has been one of the most brilliant minds of the past century. His major contribution to science was the special and the general theory of relativity, which gave a new dimension to that we call today "Modern Physics". Many people feel frustrated because when they try to understand relativity, they find some authors that expound in their books a complex arrangement of equations referring to the mathematical part of the theory, namely, the books are accessible for people with certain levels of knowledge (that is the case of engineers, physicists, mathematicians, among others). Nevertheless, perceiving and anticipating this situation, Albert Einstein wrote this book (more than fifty years ago) whit the purpose of exposing the special and the general theory of relativity in such a way that anyone can understand it. I this sense, I think, Einstein succeeded because despite the shortness of the book, the same covers the most important aspects of relativity in a clear and concise form. Moreover, the book has appendixes where the author makes reference to some interesting subjects like the problem of space and relativity, the experimental confirmation of the theory, to name a few. If you have decided to learn something about relativity, and you do not have vast knowledge in physics and mathematics, I sincerely recommend you this book. On the other hand, if you were a reader looking for more technical information (mathematical foundation of general relativity), I would choose the book "Gravitation" written by Misner, Wheeler y Thorne. This text represents an encyclopedia about general relativity.

-- Want to know more about the general theory of relativity? -- 3/4/2000
This is a very interesting book. Time is required to make some sense of the issues in the book, but if you're reading this review you're probably interested enough in making time. Time, time and more time. I would have liked it if there was more mathematics in the explanations. If you are not mathematically minded this is a good read.

-- A Superb Introduction ! -- 2/27/2000
This is a superb introduction to Special Relativity, which this writer, who is certainly no genius, was able to work through at age 18 (not without effort). The material on General Relativity (GR) is no harder, but much less detailed, so that one cannot hope to get a realistic idea of what GR is really about from this book alone. In fact, one needs considerable preparation in Physics and Math to even begin to understand the nature of GR.

Unfortunately, the quality of American education has deteriorated enormously over the past three decades, so that even the typical senior Physics major at all but a dozen or so American universities can no longer be expected to cope with this book. This book is a serious introduction and not meant for the present American high school graduate with A's in English but typically eighth-grade reading skills, and whose Math skills consist only of a few faint memories. Nor does the American university, which has responded to the lowering of standards in the high schools by continually lowering its own standards, prepare the student for books like this. Customers who whine that this book shows that Einstein couldn't write English betray not only their own very low reading level and poor preparation (the book requires nothing more than non-AP high-school Math and Physics), but also their foolishness in believing that Einstein, rather than a native speaker of English, prepared the translation into English.

For the dedicated reader, for whom learning is a mission, and who has learned his high school Math and Physics, this is an excellent book. It gives the dedicated and prepared reader the chance to interact with one of the greatest minds of all time. Einstein himself believed that any high-school student would be able to read this book with understanding, a belief was shown to be wrong even in 1917. (A reporter in Berlin asked Einstein's niece, then a high-school student if she had read and understood the book. "Oh yes," she replied happily, "everything but the part about coordinate systems!")

That this book has endured so long (more than eight decades) in popularity is a testament to the genius of its author and his ability to explain Physics clearly. This is a book which richly repays the effort taken to read it.

-- This book totally explains Special and General Relativaty -- 1/22/2000
The book written by Albert Einstein himself totally explains The Special and General Theory of Relativaty. It is entertaining to the physist with a phd., the student of physisc and the common reader.

-- Einstein the ten of genius -- 12/22/1999
Einstein's theory of relativity is still about the only advanced science theory that I am able to fully understand. His book is the Bible of Relativity, unfortunately like the Bible it is a bit difficult to understand because he is not very fluent in English and although correct he uses words which we modern English speaking people are not familiar with. He is so long and drawn out that one often loses concentration and forgets the start of a topic before getting to the end. This is why I took off one star. If I were to rate Einsteins genius as a ten, then Hawking and others would be a one!

-- Relativity-A work of inspired genious. -- 9/21/1999
At the turn of this century, a group of the greatest physisicists in the world; led the Noble commission onto a greater understanding of the World-As-It Is. They were led, so it seems, by one man of inspired genious.One genious and a hoard of great thinkers.If you want to learn Relativity..learn it from Dr. Einstein. He is still the only man who understands it and can consistently re-evaluate it's importance. I feel that as a contemporery work, that has been re-issued that this book can reassemble the times we are living in,Now and at the same time; clarify a great many issues, which should be explained to those who lack the education. In order to foward the meaning of the times.I had great success with this book and I think he can do it. One of the most enjoyable Scientific works-ever written.

-- Great for the person with a Phd. in physics -- 9/18/1999
A great book for a person already well edjucated on the topic. The vocabulary alone will make a less edjucated reader have a dictonary beside them through the course of the book.

-- too difficult ! -- 8/23/1999
This book is a failure. Einstein was a great scientist but a bad writer. The book is difficult, boring, and opaque to the unscientific layman.For three years I've been trying to get a book to teach me the two theories of relativity (General and Special) and I'm always disappointed: There must be a scientist out there who knows how to write ! Or maybe not.

-- Fantastic high quality audio edutainment ... -- 7/8/1999
I would like to take a minute to thank Audio Scholar for abridging Relativity to audio. I thoroughly enjoyed the abridged audio novel and was very happy that I could share it with my 18 month old son who gets to listen to it to as one of his bedtime stories. I would like to encourage Audio Scholar to produce more of these types of edutainment audio programs on tape or CD. I love listening to scientific books on my way to work and also love to share them with my 18 month old son as his bedtime stories. Actually I initially started buying them for my son and then got hooked on them myself. Now we both get to enjoy high quality educational entertainment! In addition the high level of clear announciation in the Audio Scholar work is fantastic, it really helps my son to learn new words, concepts and the organization of the english language. More than he would ever obtain in normal everyday speech. I do not have time in my busy daily schedule to read very much, but do I have five hours a day to listen and learn. If you make it I will support it. Arnold D Veness

-- mastermind at work -- 6/20/1999
The reviewer of April 13 from Moscow, Idaho says this is not the book to read unless you already understand the theory. Maybe fair enough. It was written when Einstein had achieved youthful fame, though, not in his dotage, if he had such a thing. It may be a little more difficult for the translation, but not much. Contrary to some reviewers, it is not that easy to follow, and if it seems like an easy read, you probably haven't understood it. There are many books written since where it is probably easier to learn about special relativity, to say nothing of the basic ideas of general relativity. But once you have started to get the hang of things, this book is a masterpiece of exposition! It allows one to follow Einstein's actual thought process in arriving at these theories -- pretty much by a process of pure thought -- more or less in the steps he probably took himself. There is not a word in the exposition that was not carefully thought out. So, learn the theory somewhere else and then read this book -- you'll understand the theory better for reading Einstein's book -- or read this book first, keep going back to it 'til it starts to make sense, and maybe consult some other, more "user-friendly" textbook at the same time. Einstein claims his book allows a lay reader with only high school math to understand relativity. To which a friend of mine replied "Yeah, if you have an IQ of 800". To which I say, have patience, keep thinking about it and going back to it.

-- try using your eyes a little harder -- 5/26/1999
yes you can get a bannana milkshake in this damn country so stop complaining and go and find your nearest pizza hut.

-- Stunning -- 5/21/1999
I was absolutly bowled over by the magnificent theorys that einstein portrayed in his study the shear magnitude of this piece of work left me quivering in my little cotton socks!i am absolutly thrilled that you have published this book and it has, quite frankly made my life more inriched and compleate!Its a jolly good read and being a proffessor of quantum Physics myself at cambridge university i can quite understand the complexity of the theorys produced in the stunning piece of work you are all jolly good chaps and i will be pleased if i could meet ip with the authors at next years boat race. thank you again. best wishes to all the boys at the boating yours faithfully Cha Cha Dimagio PhD gsa bof

-- To wuxian@shaw.wave.ca from Canada -- 5/12/1999
Though the book maybe was not a linguistically correct, the theory is. Einstein's theory has been tested and retested hundreds of times in the past eighty years and it has never once failed yet. Also, time and not just the clock, run slower as the observer speeds up. Experiments performed with atomic clocks; one being on earth and the other flown on a rocket ship show that. Each clock uses the same radiactive element that has a known decay rate. The one that is flown on a rocket or spaceship is space runs slower than the one on earth, in other words the element decays slower than the one on earth.

-- If you don't already know the theory, don't bother... -- 4/14/1999
I hate to be the only one to not give the book "5 stars", but this is simply not the best book to buy if you want to learn the theory of relativity. The book is certainly worthwhile if you want something simply because it was written by Einstein, but God bless him, the old guy just couldn't put the idea accross as well as many modern authors. Maybe something is just lost in the translation, I don't know...

-- ABSOLUTE GENIUS -- 3/27/1999
The ideas may be hard to comprehend at times, but this work illuminates the real genius of Albert Einstein. If for nothing else this read allows you to get into the mind of a genius and see how he thinks. Definately worth while.

-- For science curious people w/a slight mathematics background -- 1/21/1999
An interesting and in-depth view of relativity. A slight mathematics background is very helpful with understanding some of the equations. The concept is clear and well articulated. It leaves you wanting a deeper knowledge of physics and Einstein.

-- A masterpiece written by a genius. -- 11/27/1998
The author of the theory of relitivity offers a clear explination of this complicated concept.All mathematical and technical aspects were clearly defined.Anyone interested and attentive could easily understand this book.Although short in length,it requires the reader to ingest the information slowly in order to obtain its full value.I would not recommend this book to anyone who has not graduated high school.

-- A staple of physics -- 10/29/1998
What can you say about einstein's relativity? well a lot. Einstein spearheaded the revolution of physics with his annus miribalis (1905) papers. You can't study physics without reading this book and taking in its profound effect on the universe as we know it.

-- Best description I have ever read on this subject -- 9/1/1998
This is a book writtenby someone who knows his subject and knows how to explain it in simple terms. If you want to do the math its in the back in appendicxes (there are some awful typos in the Lorentz transform appendix but not so bad you can't work out where the missing x is and that the gamma is really lambda).

But don't be put off by that. This is the best book to start with. By far.

-- Einstein had a language problem. -- 8/23/1998
I believe Einstein had a language problem. As an example, please pay attention to his demonstration of relativity of simultaneity. He mixed up [seeing by the observer] with [occurrence at the origin]. Therefore Einstein had no right to say that the two events did not occur simultaneously when the observer did not [see] them simultaneously. Let us say, we saw an explosion(A) of a star in 1998, and it was recorded that there was another explosion (B) many years ealier. An observer on earth could only say that he saw B earlier and A later; he could not say B exploded earlier and A later; nor could he say B and A did not explode simultaneously. Einstein's demonstration of his relativity of simultaneity was therefore neither convincing nor fundimentally sound. Einstein's language problem could also be seen in his free switch between the words [clock] and [time]. A clock may and can slow down, but can time slow down? Unless we get this language problem cleared up I believe Einstein's theory will remain controversial.

-- Smashing! -- 8/10/1998
This book takes what could arguably be deemed the most influential work ever and makes it accesable to everyone. It is as if this is really the book the creator wanted to write most and belived in the most. HIGHLY RECOMENDED

-- Excelent insight straight from the author! -- 7/4/1998
This book makes it easy to understand some of the most interesting theories ever considered. I found that Albert Einstein has a hunger for understanding ideas that most people never dreamed of contemplating. Einstein uses simple examples to allow the reader to follow his train of thought.

I take exception to his changing factors and concepts (of Newton and others) in order to obtain the results that he finds satisfactory. Forcing people to view an 'Event' from a controled, single point of reference and limiting the co-ordinate system in order to arrive at his conclusions was disheartening.

Albert Einstein was a genius with prejudices like 'ordinary' people. Still I think this work is a valuable tool for the anyone wishing to broaden their horizons.

-- Very interesting and well-written book -- 6/22/1998
This capital work of one of the most brillant scientist of the 20th century is written in this way that every high-school student can understand the base of Relativity. A must-have book.

-- A Scientific Gem From the World's Greatest Genius -- 2/3/1998
This book is truly a scientific gem. Not only did the brilliant Einstein envision the theory of relativity, but he also felt compelled to inform non-scientists by writing this "less" technical explanation of his theory. The book's section on Special Relativity is not too difficult to grasp. However, having some basic understanding of algebra and classical mechanics is helpful. On the other hand, the section on General Relativity is quite profound, requiring the reader to imagine new concepts of space and time that are alien to one's sense of reality. Indeed, I had to read this section several times and I'm still not sure if I completely understand it. However, this is more of a function of my imagination skills rather than Einstein's literary abilities. For he uses an abundance of familiar terms and analogies to simplify the understanding of some of the more "unusual" implications of General Relativity. I would not recommend this book to someone averse to technical subjects. However, I do recommend it to those wishing to learn the basics of relativity theory.

Author	Albert Einstein
Binding	Paperback
Edition	Reprint
ISBN	0517884410
NumberOfPages	208
PublicationDate	1995-06-06
Publisher	Three Rivers Press

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