Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, first published in 1905, radically changed our understanding of the world. Familiar notions of space and time and energy were turned on their head, and our struggle with Einstein's counterintuitive explanation of these concepts was under way. The task is no easier today than it was a hundred years ago, but in this book Sander Bais has found an original and uniquely effective way to convey the fundamental ideas of Einstein's Special Theory.

Bais's previous book, The Equations, was widely read and roundly praised for its clear and commonsense explanation of the math in physics. Very Special Relativity brings the same accessible approach to Einstein's theory. Using a series of easy-to-follow diagrams and employing only elementary high school geometry, Bais conducts readers through the quirks and quandaries of such fundamental concepts as simultaneity, causality, and time dilation. The diagrams also illustrate the difference between the Newtonian view, in which time was universal, and the Einsteinian, in which the speed of light is universal.

Following Bais's straightforward sequence of simple, commonsense arguments, readers can tinker with the theory and its great paradoxes and, finally, arrive at a truly deep understanding of Einstein's interpretation of space and time. An intellectual journey into the heart of the Special Theory, the book offers an intimate look at the terms and ideas that define our reality.

(20080202)

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 9 reviews)

A little knowledge deepens

Years ago I took a course in symbolic logic. Our professor gave us some proofs created by Bertrand Russell. I loved working out the proofs on my own, and then checking my work against Russell. His clarity of thought was startling after my floundering.

At the end of the course, my professor gave me a copy of Russell's ABC of Relativity, Revised Edition, which I read and re-read for years. (I'm currently using the 4th Revised Edition edited by Felix Pirani, 1985.)

As a general reader, I don't have a deep understanding, but Russell provided familiarity with the fundamental concepts of Einstein's theory. This beautifully graphic book has enhanced that understanding.

Sander Bais uses elementary geometry to illustrate his explanation of fundamental concepts like time dilation. The text and diagrams also illustrate the difference between Newtonian physics, in which time was universal, and Einsteinian physics, in which the speed of light is universal.

The text appears on one page; a spacetime grid appears on the opposite page, with red, yellow and blue arrows illustrating the text. [I wish a CD disc was included to animate the diagrams to aid my studies.]

Russell's ABC helped deepen my understanding of each pair of Bais's pages. For example:

Russell: "If people could leave the earth and travel about for a time and then return, the time between their departure and return would be less by their clocks than by those on the earth: the earth, in its journey round the sun, chooses the route which makes the time of any bit of its course by its clocks longer than the time as judged by clocks which move by a different route. This is what is meant by saying that bodies left to themselves move in geodesies in space-time."

Bais: "It is comforting to see that w{minute} = w if v = 0, and maybe less comforting to see that w{minute} approaches 0 as v gets close to c."

[Imagine here a spacetime grid with red, yellow and blue arrows.]

If those three paragraphs make any (but not too much) sense to you and if you would like to learn more about relativity, I urge you to pick up a copy of Bais's book. I believe it will enhance your understanding of this important subject.

As Russell concludes in his book: "What we know about the physical world, I repeat, is much more abstract than was formerly supposed. ... The final conclusion is that we know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power."

Robert C. Ross 2008
January 31, 2008

Very interesting but it is not able to describe widely the completely physics long path

The book describes in a reasonable way the main ideas from the physics equations giving interesting highlighs of each. It is a lean book, pleasant and very attractive; which make it easy and quick to be read. Based on the fact that the physics history and the main equations basis are not so evident and easy to be understood the book does not cover physics in a wider manner. Certainly to have a better understanding other books are needed.
December 14, 2007

The Beauty of Equations

The book is very educational and includes numerous equations that represent turning points in humanity's understanding of the world. Equations are in fields such as mechanics, electrodynamics, hydrodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. The book starts with a short introduction to important mathematical concepts. The book appeals to anyone who is interested in physics and mathematics.
March 24, 2006

Inishgtful, Mesmerizing, Amazing

If you've ever wondered what kinds of formulas physicists deal with to solve complex ideas such as String Theory, look no further than this book.

I have looked everywhere for the real equations that physicists use, but to no avail. Finally, I purchased this little gem and it fulfills all of my hopes.

Not only does this book give you the actual run-down of what the equation at hand looks like, the author, Sander Bais, breaks the formula down to describe it piece by piece. Bais breaks down what each variable represents and what your end result would be if you were to actually do the problem. Bais includes graphs to represent what the end result should look like, as well as the ranges the equation's answers should fall into when solved. Great book.

My only quarrel is that this book has a fault. One of the equations is wrong (as you've read through other reviews). And since this book is called "The Equations", I think it's a major mistake. That's why I give it a 4. Otherwise, this is a superbly insightful book. Anyone with any interest in physics of mathematics should definately take a look at this book.
March 06, 2006

A Wonderful Compilation of the `Rules of the Game'

The book was heavily wrapped in plastic -- Harvard University Press ? What was the title? `The Equations' ? I opened it in my local bookstore. And there were all the major equations describing mechanics, fluid dynamics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, quantum chromodynamics, string theory, and more. Like the icons they were, they stood silently ... in the middle of the pages, with some brief explanations about them on the nearby page.

What a great idea for a book! A 5 star idea, surely. These equations must surely count for the highest density of information (or predictive power, perhaps) per symbol ever produced by humans, so perhaps this book, as short as it is, counts in some similar way.

Why not 5 stars for the book? For a couple of reasons:

1) The production quality seems excellent. The book was printed in Italy, but the book does not say whether it was printed on acid-free paper. I assume it was. It is very nicely bound.

2) The author uses bold face for vectors, quite common. But because of the unusual color schemes, when one sees white equations on a red background, it can take the eye a split second longer to separate scalars from vectors -- not a serious problem.

3) There seem to be typos in the book --- yes, the Gaussian on page 53 should have a minus sign in the exponent. Worse still, the explantion of what it means for a fluid to be incompressible on page 32 is wrong. An incompressible fluid most often is defined so that the density of each mass element in the fluid is constant, and this means that the `time derivative following the fluid element' of the density is zero, not that the local time rate of change of the density is zero. But mistakes happen --- the gods frown on perfection.

4) The author devotes a few pages to outlining differential calculus, but then shies away from the `integration idea' because he says that `we will never have to explicitly integrate the equations of motion'. But the integration idea is often used in DERIVING the equations of motion (for example, the integral theorems of vector calculus, etc.) so one approach might have been to develop these ideas more thoroughly.

These are small quibbles, about a book containing very big ideas. It is a wonderful idea to produce a book like this. I hope some of those who read it, especially young people, will find themselves staring mystically at these equations, wondering, `How much...how much really is in these? What are the equations of the future going to look like? What would this book look like in a hundred years? ' and that these thoughts lead them into a career in science.
December 14, 2005

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Four Laws That Drive the Universe
by Peter Atkins

A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations
by Daniel Fleisch

A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein
by Stephen Hawking

Entropy Demystified: The Second Law Reduced to Plain Common Sense
by Arieh Ben-Naim

The Mathematics of Relativity for the Rest of Us
by Dr. Louis Jagerman M.D.