Special Relativity

by Anthony P. French

The book opens with a description of the smooth transition from Newtonian to Einsteinian behaviour from electrons as their energy is progressively increased, and this leads directly to the relativistic expressions for mass, momentum and energy of a particle.

Genres: Physics, Science, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference, School

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Tue Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains plenty of physical insights, but is rather long-winded. It has arguably become outdated. Indeed, I have never heard it being mentioned anywhere during my studies. There are a lot of detailed examples taken from experiments. But perhaps these are too detailed and may overwhelm a newcomer with arguably extraneous information. It is more sensible in my opinion to cut out a lot of these in order to focus on the fundamental physics, at least at first. For a more modern introduction to special relativity, see Chapter 12 of "Introduction to Electrodynamics" by David Griffiths.

[Lavender · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to relativity for students of physics.

[David Olmsted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great mathematical introduction or review of special relativity. I loved A.P. French's "An Introduction into Quantum Physics" and this book is equally good by getting into the heart of the principles and the mathematics.

[Christopher Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic, easy-to-read but very thorough treatment of special relativity. Highly recommended, should be accessible to any mathematically mature college student.