Gravitation

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as they would have you believe
Review: Virtually everyone who works or who worked or who would like to work in GR brags up this book and boasts of reading it from cover to cover. Most have not. I, unfortunately, have. It rambles and is scatterbrained and halfa* on many topics. The would be investigator would be better off following another course of study in differential topology and differential geometry, almost any other relativity text or texts, and the literature. It should be kept in mind, however, that when this book was first published the global methods were like lie algebra was at one time - researchers writing papers for and to each other with nobody else in mind. This was a supposed attempt to make the material available to a wider audience. It may have degenerated into intellectual onanism.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful step-by-step textbook
Review: While professional cosmologists usually prefer Weinberg's work- MWT's "Gravitation" is certainly more accessible and captivating. It can be read by undergraduates with joy (even laymen can indulge in at least 30% of the book). Overloaded with illustrations, introducing math apparatus in most cautious manner, full of historical and anecdotal information- cosmology aficionados will embrace this magnum opus as their Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Best textbook I've ever seen -- in ANY subject!
Review: Yes, it's so massive you can measure it's gravitational field. Yes, people refer to it as "the phonebook." But all joking aside, as an undergraduate who is very curious about general relativity, I must say that this textbook has done more for me than any other. I've gotten occational help from other books (Wald, Weinberg, etc.) but this is the one that I really LERN from. There's more physical insight in this book than any I've yet seen, and the reading is truly enjoyable. One great thing is the treatment of tensors. I knew next to nothing about tensors coming into the book, but the book assumes very little initial knowledge and teaches you the needed math as you go along. This book is truly a model for anyone who wants to write a textbook. Nothing I've seen even comes close.

Rating:
Summary: Best textbook I've ever seen -- in ANY subject!
Review: Yes, it's so massive you can measure it's gravitational field. Yes, people refer to it as "the phonebook." But all joking aside, as an undergraduate who is very curious about general relativity, I must say that this textbook has done more for me than any other. I've gotten occational help from other books (Wald, Weinberg, etc.) but this is the one that I really LERN from. There's more physical insight in this book than any I've yet seen, and the reading is truly enjoyable. One great thing is the treatment of tensors. I knew next to nothing about tensors coming into the book, but the book assumes very little initial knowledge and teaches you the needed math as you go along. This book is truly a model for anyone who wants to write a textbook. Nothing I've seen even comes close.