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Summary: The words of the Master
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Great intro even for non-science types
Review: 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.
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Summary: The clearest explanation I know
Review: 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.
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Summary: The Math Equations in this book our Beautiful
Review: 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
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Summary: Historically useful, but an useless introduction
Review: 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.
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Summary: A great introduction into the field of science.
Review: 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.
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Summary: Excellent introduction to relativity
Review: 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.
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Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: 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.
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Summary: Albert Einstein Hippie Patriarch!
Review: His friend Bertrand Russell was too!
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Summary: Do you want to learn about Modern Physics? Begin here!
Review: 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.
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