What is Relativity?

17938849Title: What is Relativity?
Author: Jeffrey Bennett
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: I was shocked by how well the author made complicated ideas intuitive and understandable.

This is a primer on the basic ideas of relativity. It includes great, illustrative cartoons and very little math. The author addresses many of the misconceptions people might have about concepts related to relativity because of pop culture and introduces some surprising ways relativity affects our daily lives.

Even though relativity is a topic I’ve been interested in since high school, I learned fascinating new facts from this book. The author made incredibly complex and counterintuitive concepts simple. He started with facts that made sense to me and built on them to make the odder results of relativity make sense too. I liked that he revisited the same thought experiments over and over. This made me comfortable with the ideas and helped me learn.

I liked that the author talked about the implications of relativity for our daily lives. He made a pretty convincing argument for why we should all care about the concepts he teaches here. I also loved that he taught the scientific method as he went. I think this is a book that would be perfect for introductory physics classes. It’s easy to follow and  could inspire students to become interested in the topic.

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8 Comments

Filed under non-fiction, Science

8 Responses to What is Relativity?

  1. Melissa W.

    The sign of a good teacher is somebody who can explain something that is fairly complicated in terms that most people will understand. Sounds like it was a good read.
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  2. Monika @ Lovely Bookshelf

    I’ve always been interested in this subject but, most books seem far too daunting. This sounds perfect!
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    • This is a fantastic book for someone new to the topic. I actually found this a surprisingly easy read which went by almost as quickly as YA fiction does for me. I’d recommend it :)

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  3. TracyK

    Sounds interesting. And it is not a big think book either, which means I might be able to handle it.
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    • TracyK

      Sorry, big thick book. Typing too fast.
      TracyK recently posted…The Indigo Necklace: Frances CraneMy Profile

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      • It was a surprisingly short book and did go by very quickly for me. If you’re at all interested in the topic, this would be a great place to start :)

        Reply
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