How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog

by Chad Orzel

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But what about relativity? Physics professor Chad Orzel and his inquisitive canine companion, Emmy, tackle the concepts of general relativity in this irresistible introduction to Einstein's physics. Through armchair- and sometimes passenger-seat-conversations with Emmy about the relative speeds of dog and cat motion or the logistics of squirrel-chasing, Orzel translates complex Einsteinian ideas -- the slowing of time for a moving observer, the shrinking of moving objects, the effects of gravity on light and time, black holes, the Big Bang, and of course, E=mc2 -- into examples simple enough for a dog to understand. A lively romp through one of the great theories of modern physics, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about space, time, and anything else you might have slept through in high school physics class.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Popular Science, Mathematics, Humor, Audiobook

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2012

About the author

Chad Orzel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

He studied at University of Maryland, College Park, MD: PhD in Chemical Physics, 1999 and Williams College, Williamstown, MA: BA in Physics, 1993.

From 1999-2001, Chad was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Physics Department at Yale University, studying Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in the group of Mark Kasevich.

Chad has published in Science Magazine, Physics World and his PhD thesis research was carried out in the Laser Cooling Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Reviews

[Mark Hebwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shows that relative to me, dogs are more intelligent.

[Aaron Bright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a three-star rating only because I wasn't smart enough to understand that last quarter. I was 100% with it and the way it explains some pretty complex ideas, but alas...it lost me, or rather I lost it, I suppose. Really enjoyed it, and I can firmly say, I definitely understand the world around me far better than I did before I picked it up.

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this, just as I did with its predecessor "How To Teach Quantum Physics To Your Dog". Once again Orzel uses his dog Emmy as a surrogate for the reader to explain a big physics subject, though I have to admit that Emmy sometimes asks way smarter questions than I could at that moment.

Having read a good number of books on the subject of relativity in recent years - still purely as an enthusiastic amateur - I can say that this is one of the better ones. The author explains it quite clearly and goes deeper into it than you might expect looking at the title.

I hope Orzel finds the time to explain more to both Emmy and myself soon.

[Flybyreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an upsetting realization that his dog is much more intelligent than I am. No matter how much he tries to simplify the subject, it is still complicated as hell. Better watch the youtube videos with train illustrations and people travelling on a lightning bolt than read the complex equations in this book 😂 My self-confidence in my intelligence is down the drain.

[Juan Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book. I will likely be reading other books on the subject to try to gain a better understanding of the subject but it is a neat way to introduce the subject in an atypical & clever manner. It's not heavy on the math & gives good examples to explain the concepts. It also goes a little into the history behind the discoveries that lead to the breakthrough & understanding of relativity as well. I remember seeing some reviews where some were annoyed by the "conversations between the author & his dog" & at times I could see how it could be taken as such. I think they provide a little comic relief as well as relief from the trying task of taking in a lot of the counter-intuitive concepts of the subject because your mind will still be racing & attempting to grasp these concepts as you go through these parts so I think there are helpful. Overall it was a good book but the subject itself definitely requires more reading.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go slowly, make sure you've completely understood what each chapter has tried to tell you, and by the end of this book you will grasp exactly what's wonderful about relativity and how it works without needing to actually do the requisite mathematics. My personal highlight was a chapter that really drives home exactly why faster-than-light travel and causality can't coexist in a relativistic universe.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The theory of relativity, Einstein’s big idea. What is it? This book is a laymen’s introduction to the theory. Chad Orzel does a good job of explaining. Some Math is required along with spacetime diagrams. Weird not easy to get ways the universe actually works. Turns out E = mC(squared) isn’t the key equation! Yes, spacetime is really weird but very well backed by experimental results. The dog schtick gets a bit much but overall a good read.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent intro to the weird and wonderful world of relativity. I'm no expert, but I feel like it gave me at least a basic understanding of its principles. Conversations with a dog are a cute way to break down the ideas, but the dog's overuse of the casual "dude" address came off as a bit precious and tiresome. An excellent read!

[Fuzzball Baggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I learned so much!

[Rachael O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read and I found all of the topics well explained. This is a great introduction to relativity!

[Elizabeth]

I cannot rate this book, because I definitely do not have enough of an understanding of relativity (special or general). However, I did enjoy reading this book, and while I would not say that I walked out of this with an amazing new understanding of the universe, that is not the fault of the author. I do know some things I did not know before, though! I'll probably revisit this at some point in the future.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having previously read "How to Teach Quantum Physics to your Dog" I had a good idea of what to expect in this other book by Chad Orzel. In each chapter, Orzel seeks to explain some element of physics linked to relativity, while Emmy, his dog, frequently interrupts with questions or opinions. The concept is an interesting one, in that the role of Emmy is to ask the dumb questions that the reader might be pondering. This approach also gives Orzel an opportunity to restate what he's already written, therefore reinforcing the points he wants to get across.

To a great degree this approach works and it also allows some humour to lighten the text. For example Emmy, rather than being impressed by what she learns, is quite scathing and sarcastic in places about how much physicists don't know about the universe. It's also clear that Emmy, despite being a dog (although no average dog since she can hold conversations), already understand a lot about physics - certainly more than does the average non-physicist who might be reading the book. Consequently, many of the points she raises probably wouldn't have occurred to "ordinary" readers. She's also irritating in that despite an in-depth knowledge of physics, Emmy is naive is other areas, such as referring to elevators [or lifts, in British-English] as Magic Closets, although I suppose a cynic might say that theoretical physicists may also have such an unworldliness about them.

Notwithstanding these minor irritations, this is a good book which, besides covering the core areas of relativity, also ventures into related areas such as particle physics, cosmology, black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and unified theories (including string theory). I struggled somewhat in Orzel's explanations of Minkowski diagrams, but to a large extent I blame this on me reading the Kindle version where viewing pictures at the same time as reading the text is challenging. I would have fared better in this regard had I read a paper version of the book.

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book a couple of years ago as part of my prize in the Edinburgh Science Festival haiku competition. It's one of those books that I had mixed feelings about, I'm not a dog person and I thought the book would be silly or twee. So I only just a few weeks ago picked it up to read.

I should have read it sooner! This book is brilliant! Orzel (who is a professor of Physics) discusses Einstein's theory of relativity with Emmy his dog, who is curious about the world and interested in learning more about relativity especially if it can help her to catch more bunnies. Emmy acts as the interested pupil, asking questions that the reader may well have about the topic (though from an unmistakeably canine point of view). The dialogue has been used as a useful vehicle for exploring ideas from ancient Greece onwards and Galileo is a scientist who famously used dialogues to present some of his ideas.

One of the chapter headings in this engaging book about Einstein's Theories of Relativity sums up the author's approach 'Time Slows When You're Chasing Bunnies: Relatavistic Time Dilation'.

The humourous sections featuring Emmy (and a cast of other dogs, a self centred cat called Nero and a host of probably very tired bunnies) act as introductions to each chapter which is then backed up with more in depth, rigorously scientific discussions of each aspect of relativity including black holes, spacetime and the expansion of space. The dog's point of view is cleverly woven into the more serious sections too, but in a way that helps the reader to see the science from a different and informative perspective.

I really did find that I understood elements of relativity better after reading this book and I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

The only thing missing from this book is an author photo of Orzel with Emmy.

[Dawn Peers · Rating 5 out of 5]

You would be forgiven for assuming that the nuances of relativity are beyond most human beings. I'm guessing that's the usual opinion (myself included, as one of those normal humans) however, as a fan of Orzel's writing and having thoroughly enjoyed (and understood) How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog I was interested in seeing how much I could wrap my mind around with this new tome.

Orzel (and Emmy) return in a fantastically accessible book. Orzel's writing style is relaxed and as jargon-free as possible whilst easing you in to a notoriously complex subject matter. As Orzel's style is so engaging, it keeps you interested in the subject matter (as opposed to when you were studying physics in high school, which probably had you snoozing behind your textbook).

Another winner of a book from Orzel. Buy it, read it, and astound your pub friends. Or at least know a little more about relativity :)

* note I received this book free to review as part of the Amazon Vine program *

[Michael Fishman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's face it. Both General and Special Relativity are hard concepts to grasp. I've read many explanations for both. But to this day, I can only scratch the surface.

Chad Orzel's book is a dialogue between himself and his dog. He's pretending that he can speak his dog's language, and he's trying to explain Relativity to his dog. This book is as simple an explanation as I've read. The humor can be corny at times. But the best thing about this book is that it illuminated much of theoretical physics for me. Especially the part about subatomic particles, the quest for a Theory of Everything, and how gravity fits in.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable and never gets too heavy, but also nothing too different from other pop-level intros to special & general relativity. I enjoyed it because it'd been awhile since I'd read a book on the topic.

Many sections were literally the exact same thought experiments that usually show up (observers moving relative to each other at high speed, the twins paradox, falling into a black hole)... except played out with cats & dogs rather than people. Cute, but ultimately just window dressing around the same discussion that's found elsewhere. To be fair, I'm not sure what a fundamentally different & fresh way of presenting the material would look like, so I don't hold it much against the author.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accessible and featuring a cast of characters to delight or ignore, this book agilely moves from special and general relativity to such contemporary topics as the Higgs boson and the Standard Model. At just over three hundred pages, this work is a compact general audience introduction that is succinct and artfully instructive. It is not the 'conversations with his dog' premise that can make this book a successful disquisition of relativistic physics; it is the economy and clarity of elucidation.

See my full review online at MAA's Math DL.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book and didn't finish because I had to return it to the library, but I made it to chapter four. What I have read so far blew. my. mind. I never took physics in high school (I was more of a biology/organic chemistry nerd) so this was mostly new information to me and I was just amazed. He explains these difficult concepts as seen through the eyes of his dog, but I still had to really focus to understand what he was saying, so this is not a book I can read through quickly. I think I will definitely be picking it back up though, because this is a whole new area of science for me.

[Nick Fagerlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this and I'm glad I read it! The rhythm of the writing wasn't quite to my taste and the repeated dog comedy bits got old, but the physics explanations were top notch, helping make sense of some things I've never been able to grasp before. This is some of the highest quality popular science writing I've seen.

It was also timely, because they announced the first gravity wave detection at LIGO pretty much as soon as I finished it and I was totally equipped to understand the news.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

the middle part on expanding how to figure out the chronological series of events with multiple frames of reference was slow. trying to piece together the words as the images and the numbers took more thought then I was capable of before bed some nights. I think the 11 dimensions and loop/string theory stuff was easier to grasp. comparing this to why E=mc2 and the short introduction to stars and my work on a high school physics textbook, if I'm not expected to do any of the math but follow along i, think I can read some books that don't shy away from the math.

[Hubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent overview of modern physics to lay readers. Orzel writes in clear, concise and engaging ways. Diagrams are super helpful. At the last chapters, the author gets more hypothetical as the theoretical physics behind unified theory is not yet well developed still. Some parts of the book will come off as dated by the time future readers encounter this. Still a strong read.

Minus 1 star for the incorporation of the dog interlocutor.... I appreciate the shtick but I didn't find the banter w the dog particularly funny!

[R. Vesna · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only redeeming part of this book is the interaction between the dog and the physics professor. These are conversations that any true dog person has had on several occasions. The author however should have learned physics prior to writing the book. The physics is extremely poorly explained and often contradictory. If you want to learn about Relativity open up a high school physics textbook.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and accessible.

You can tell Orzel is an experimentalist; he mentions a lot of the experimental work that has confirmed the theories here or experiments that were/are going on. (There has been some key progress since the book came out, but some of that work is mentioned as starting up or being in progress in the book.)

[Beata Kurcz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book with my son (9). Despite having some background in math, I did find some explanations challenging. It may be because my brain is already too calcified to grasp some of the concepts. But all in all, the book is entertaining and offers lots of prompts for in-depth discussions with a science geek like my son.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the humorous banter between the author and his dog, but most of these physics topics are still over my head, even though I did take AP Physics in high school. I guess some things we'll just never nail down.

[Kyrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must not be as smart as a dog. The bits where he's talking with his dog are pretty funny. The actual physics were hard to follow. I never thought I'd write these words, but Stephen Hawking is more understandable.

[jedioffsidetrap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice idea and some good lines (like about seeing squirrels from a moving car) but didn’t get far in it...

[Book Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 bunnies

I guess this would have been much more effective to read as a book. I don't think I understood half of the things and certainly don't remember much.

[Haur Bin Chua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting approach to explaining relativity in the form of a conversation between a scientist and his speaking dog.

Our conventional world is explained by the classical Newtonian physics, the science of the normal everyday stuffs. However, Newtonian physics start to crack when applied to massive objects travelling at high speeds. This is where Einstein’s theory of relativity comes in.

Fundamentally, theory of relativity is about gravity. Gravity curves space time in a way that baffles the minds. Speed of light is constant. And because speed equals distance divided by time, an object traveling at speed of light along the curvature of space time can yield some weird outcomes. That’s where the concept of time dilation and length contraction comes in where the concepts of time and length are different between the travelling object and the observer. These are experimentally proven concepts e.g. atomic clock running slower nearer the surface of the Earth than one further away from Earth’s gravity.

Interestingly, in the study of relativity, a particular Lorentz factor can be found in many applications. It is a dimensionless quantity that accounts for the time and length difference in the time dilation and length contraction theories correlated with the relative speed to speed of light.

Theory of relativity starts to break down when space time approaches an object of infinite mass, for example in a black hole.

While theory of relativity has been proven mathematically and experimentally, it currently does not reconcile with quantum physics, the science of the small stuffs. There’s still a lot more for the scientific community to discover about the intricate design of our universe.

[Cliff Darnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog, by Chad Orzel, is an enjoyable way to learn about some key elements of modern physics. Though the concepts are hard for non-scientists like myself to wrap their heads around, the writer is patient with his explanations and analogies, often using his dog Emmy, along with other dogs, cats, bunnies, and squirrels, in his examples. The dialogue between the author, who is a a university physics professor, and his dog brought me many smiles, chuckles and outbursts of laughter. These comic interludes help break up the heavier physics explanations, but they also allow the dog, essentially a perceptive if quirky student, to ask key clarification and extension questions that lead to further explanation by the professor. The author is quick to credit other authors for useful examples that he employs and has a bibliography for further reading.
I wish I could sit in on Professor Orzel’s classes, but reading this and his earlier book on teaching [quantum] physics to one’s dog is the next best thing.