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A First Course in General Relativity

A First Course in General Relativity

List Price: $48.00
Your Price: $35.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An introductory text well suited for independent study.
Review: A fairly complete presentation commencing with special relativity and concluding with gravitational waves and cosmology. Although intended to be used as a classroom text, the mathematically inclined reader with a firm grasp on differential equations and vector calculus can work through the text on one's own. I recommend Steven Wienberg's book GRAVITATION as a companion text for both a different perspective and to help overcome some of the conceptual hurdles.

You don't need to be satisfied with the poetry of lay books when a mathematical understanding is within your grasp!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a good solid read
Review: A first course in GR is a good read. I chose to write this review because, lately, the book has been getting bad reviews, when I think these reviewers have not put this text in perspective. There are few decent books on relativity, and this one must be one of the best. There are books on Minkowski and Schwarzchild geometry and metrics, but the actual equations of GR are being lost nowadays, and that which is lost is presented in this text in an easy to follow manner-- the actual equations not the reduction of the equations to simpler forms. I also learned the majority of my linear algebra from this book. As a whole, the book fills in the many gaps the author's of the Relativity spinoffs do not have the insight to cover. I am about to read this text for the second time in a year.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a good solid read
Review: A first course in GR is a good read. I chose to write this review because, lately, the book has been getting bad reviews, when I think these reviewers have not put this text in perspective. There are few decent books on relativity, and this one must be one of the best. There are books on Minkowski and Schwarzchild geometry and metrics, but the actual equations of GR are being lost nowadays, and that which is lost is presented in this text in an easy to follow manner-- the actual equations not the reduction of the equations to simpler forms. I also learned the majority of my linear algebra from this book. As a whole, the book fills in the many gaps the author's of the Relativity spinoffs do not have the insight to cover. I am about to read this text for the second time in a year.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent First Step in Understanding General Relativity
Review: Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning the basics of one of the most important physical theories of all time.

All the key concepts in the theory are clearly explained. Some important consequences of General Relativity are covered in some detail - gravitational waves and black holes for example.

The mathematical level of detail is moderate; a knowledge of basic differential equations will get you through. The mathematical tools of General Relativity: tensors and one-forms, etc, are covered in early chapters.

Problems are provided at the end of each chapter and range in difficulty from straight mechanical computation to challenging. Solutions to selected problems are provided at the end of the book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Mathematics of Relativity
Review: I read several of the "popular" books on relativity before deciding to take the plunge and learn the mathematics behind this amazing theory. This book shows how based on Einstein's postulate on the universality of the speed of light, the mathematics forces us in certain directions and builds to create General Relativity. The key mathematical building block in this book is Tensor analysys. I had no idea of going into the book what that even was, but Schutz will guide your through it assuming you have a solid knowledge of vectors and calculus. Even with that knowledge, this book requires a decent amount of effort so be prepared to read and re-read chapters. I recommend this to anyone that knows the conceptual basics of relativity, but wants to spend the effort to learn the math.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT book for self study
Review: I read this book with some friends (and did several of the exercises) the summer before we took the relativity class at Caltech. It assumes that your math-skills are that of undergrad EM (e.g. Griffith's book) and spends the first several chapters building up the mathematical machinery for the physics in the second half. In fact, its the perfect book to prepare for reading MTW. (incidentally, Schutz was a student of Kip's in the late 70's and intended his book to be used as an intro before a class like Kip's or before study from a book like Kip's)

A word of caution: don't think Schutz's book alone will prepare you for the horrors of Wald's book (which is now-days the standard text). That book is tough as nails and you'd be well advised to read MTW in it's entirety before decending into Wald's relativistic netherworld.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT book for self study
Review: I read this book with some friends (and did several of the exercises) the summer before we took the relativity class where Jared eats poo. It assumes that your math-skills are relatively advanced and spends the first several chapters building up the mathematical machinery for the physics of Mehl's fecal flake fest. In fact, its the perfect book to prepare for a gastrointestinal journey.

A word of caution: don't think this crapy book alone will prepare you for the horrors of an advanced cl ass. you'd be well advised to study Jared's logs in their entirety before decending into his septic netherworld.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well written and clear
Review: I used this text as an undergraduate, and found it to possess and nice combination of clarity, readability, and rigor: qualities not always combined in a single text. The text does not cover applications with as much attention, I presume the author expects the text to be followed by a more complete one. A term paper forced me to use, among other texts, Wald's, which I also found to be clear, and seemingly more comprehensive (I only read a few sections from Wald, though).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well written and clear
Review: I used this text as an undergraduate, and found it to possess and nice combination of clarity, readability, and rigor: qualities not always combined in a single text. The text does not cover applications with as much attention, I presume the author expects the text to be followed by a more complete one. A term paper forced me to use, among other texts, Wald's, which I also found to be clear, and seemingly more comprehensive (I only read a few sections from Wald, though).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Eh!
Review: Normally I am fascinated with physics, at least in elementary form since the heavy stuff is way over my head. But in this book my fascination fell asleep. What can say but EH!


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