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Requiring little more than calculus and some linear algebra, this book provides readers with a coherent path to understanding relativity. It helps readers learn just enough differential geometry to grasp the basics of general relativity. The first half of the book describes
About the author
Tevian Dray
Summary
Requiring little more than calculus and some linear algebra, this book provides readers with a coherent path to understanding relativity. It helps readers learn just enough differential geometry to grasp the basics of general relativity. The first half of the book describes
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"In this book, the author outlines an interesting path to relativity and shows its various stages on the way … The author inserts suggestive pictures and images, which make the book more attractive and easier to read. The book addresses not only specialists and graduate students, but even advanced undergraduates, due to its interactive structure containing questions and answers."—Zentralblatt MATH 1315
"…the presentation is very far from the ‘definition-theorem-proof-example’ style of a traditional mathematics text; rather, we meet important ideas several times, and they are developed further with each new exposure. This is a pedagogical decision which seems to me to be sound, as it allows the student’s understanding of the ideas to develop."—Robert J. Low, Mathematical Reviews, June 2015
"This is a brilliant book. Dray has an extraordinary knack of conveying the key mathematics and concepts with an elegant economy that rivals the expositions of the legendary Paul Dirac. It is pure pleasure to see far-reaching results emerge effortlessly from easy-to-follow arguments, and for simple examples to morph into generalizations. It is so refreshing to find a book that does not obscure the basics with unnecessary technicalities, yet can develop sophisticated formalism from very modest mathematical investments."—Paul Davies, Regents’ Professor and Director, Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science; Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative; and Principal Investigator, Center for the Convergence of Physical Science and Cancer Biology, Arizona State University
"It took Einstein eight years to create general relativity by carefully balancing his physical intuition and the rather tedious mathematical formalism at his disposal. Tevian Dray’s presentation of the geometry of general relativity in the elegant language of differential forms offers even beginners a novel and direct route to a deep understanding of the theory’s core concepts and applications, from the geometry of black holes to cosmological models."—Jürgen Renn, Director, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
