The Relativity Explosion

by Martin Gardner

One of the clearest, most entertaining introductions to the subject ever written offers lucid explanations of not only the special and general theories of relativity, but also of the Michelson-Morley experiment, gravity, and spacetime, Mach's principle, the twin paradox, models of the universe and other topics. 100 illustrations.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics

198 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 1976

About the author

Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature (especially the writings of Lewis Carroll), philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.

Reviews

[Sheryl]

Gardner is always highly readable, at least in my experience. Used to devour his non-fiction and Asimov's in high school, and they were both delightful. Alas, now they are both woefully out of date, however most of their mathematical books have enough solid info that's current I would still recommend them. This one, I would probably supplement with a newer book, however Gardner's explanations are the clearest I've found for the basic principle of relativity.

[Amit]

By far the best book for beginners who wish to know about theory of relativity, spacetime, the twin paradox, and about the various theories on the beginning and the end of the universe. All of this without any mathematics or scientific jargons.

[Thom Dunn]

Is there anything so mind-boggling as the notion that time is a local phenomenon, that as one accelerates toward the speed of light, his time-pieces "slow down", that lunar astronauts have already succeeded in travelling into the future (if only a matter of nano-seconds). We need more Carl Sagans to bridge the two cultures (as C. P. Snow famously called them) of science and literature. Billions and billions of Carl Sagans...

[Read It]

Not Bad.

I enjoyed it, always learned something new.

In the Book describes the "Ether Wind" Many Physicists where so sure that Light had a wind. But after failed experiment and failed experiment not wind was found on the ether or light.

Describes Speed of light, thinner and shorter, Einstein Special Theory, General Relatively.

Up to the late 1950's, it was a toss up for Big Bang Theory or Steady State Theory. After evidence of Pulsars, Quasars and black holes, Stead-State slowly faded away no matter how many time Hoyle revise it.

This is the first book I read that mention end of a black hole there might be a White Hole.

Had a hard time following relatively and space travel. I forced myself to finish the book kinda.

[Lance]

This book literally (pun intended) blew my mind. My Math Teacher sister bought it and I read it after she had. I'd never tried to view space and time in quite that way before. I followed this up with Einstein's Universe and then Geometry, Relativity, and the Fourth Dimension. If nothing else, you'll understand the space travel in a lot of sci-fi.

[Anushka Patel]

This book was very eye opening to me. The author does an incredible job of simply explaining Eisenstein special theory of relativity for the average person. It managed to colorfully illustrate the fascinating nature of our universe without being confusing. I found it to be an interesting book because it makes you think for weeks after you finish reading the book. It's complexity makes it one of the most entertaining non-fiction books I've ever read, and the visuals are very helpful as well.

[Chris]

This was a great introduction to the stranger side of phsyics. Not only does this book lay down the basic ideas of Einsteinien Physics, it tells the story of how his ideas came to be. I found this interesting because I don't just like to know what something is, but how it came to be and who their predecessors are. It was a fun journey through the early 20th century.

[Erin]

OK, so this book is not as current as it could be BUT I think it's a GREAT introduction to the Theory of Relativity and (this is the best part) there's one math equation in the whole thing! The book is really easy to read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to get a basic grasp on relativity.

[Ray Savarda]

Good introductory text, if a bit dated (1976).
Martin Gardner is a great author of math and science books.
covers at a high level the special and general theory of relativity, the tests done to authenticate which theory is correct, and then it heads off to consider more genral topics like expanding or contracting universe.

[Charles Bell]

Made sense ..

[Clark Lyons]

This book was very good at explaining relativity. Before reading it, I only had a small idea of what it is about, but now I think I understand relativity very well.

[Lev Rothenberg]

A very good book if you want to understand Relativity. I return to it every decade or two.

[BradMD]

Good book. Writing a little bit non-exciting for the dramatic material this book actually is about.

[Sonia Silgado]

Muy buen libro para introducirse en la relatividad.
Con lenguaje y ejemplos sencillos para entenderlo.
Pongo 4 porque al ser un libro viejo posiblemente alguna cosa esté desactualizada.