Reddit Reddit reviews Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity

We found 10 Reddit comments about Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Science & Math
Books
Physics
Physics of Gravity
Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity
Check price on Amazon

10 Reddit comments about Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity:

u/tikael · 14 pointsr/AskPhysics

Don't bother, just pick up a GR textbook like Hartle or Schutz. Those books teach the math as they go.

u/shavera · 6 pointsr/askscience

Hartle's Gravity was my undergrad text and I find it both very useful and easily readable. As for tensors, if you've done matrix algebra you've done tensors. (tensors are just a more generic concept, but most of the tensors in GR are still matrices, often 4x4 matrices)

u/themeaningofhaste · 5 pointsr/AskAcademia

Griffiths is the go-to for advanced undergraduate level texts, so you might consider his Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Introduction to Particle Physics. I used Townsend's A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics to teach myself and I thought that was a pretty good book.

I'm not sure if you mean special or general relativity. For special, /u/Ragall's suggestion of Taylor is good but is aimed an more of an intermediate undergraduate; still worth checking out I think. I've heard Taylor (different Taylor) and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics is good but I don't know much more about it. For general relativity, I think Hartle's Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity and Carroll's Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity are what you want to look for. Hartle is slightly lower level but both are close. Carroll is probably better if you want one book and want a bit more of the math.

Online resources are improving, and you might find luck in opencourseware type websites. I'm not too knowledgeable in these, and I think books, while expensive, are a great investment if you are planning to spend a long time in the field.

One note: teaching yourself is great, but a grad program will be concerned if it doesn't show up on a transcript. This being said, the big four in US institutions are Classical Mechanics, E&M, Thermodynamics/Stat Mech, and QM. You should have all four but you can sometimes get away with three. Expectations of other courses vary by school, which is why programs don't always expect things like GR, fluid mechanics, etc.

I hope that helps!

u/diazona · 5 pointsr/Physics

This one by James Hartle is my favorite, if you've never studied the subject before.

u/m_awesomeness · 2 pointsr/askscience

Actually we can calculate the bending of photon using newtonian mechanics assuming it has a mass given by

m = E/c^2 = h \nu/c^2

The answer we get is exactly half of what GR predicts. You can find the this problem done in this book

http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Introduction-Einsteins-General-Relativity/dp/0805386629

u/Cronecker · 2 pointsr/physicsbooks

Have you had a look at Carroll's general relativity notes? Chapters 2 and 3 are predominantly about developing the mathematics behind GR, and are very good introductions to this. I have a copy of Carroll's book and I can promise you that those chapters are almost unchanged in the book as compared to the lecture notes. This is my main suggestion really, as the notes are freely available, written by an absolute expert and a joy to read. I can't recommend them (and the book really) enough.

Most undergraduate books on general relativity start with a "physics first" type approach, where the underlying material about manifolds and curvature is developed as it is needed. The only problem with this is that it makes seeing the underlying picture for how the material works more difficult. I wouldn't neccessarily say avoid these sort of books (my favourite two of this kind would be Cheng's book and Hartle's.) but be aware that they are probably not what you are looking for if you want a consistent description of the mathematics.

I would also say avoid the harder end of the scale (Wald) till you've at least done your course. Wald is a tough book, and certainly not aimed at people seeing the material for the first time.

Another useful idea would be looking for lecture notes from other universities. As an example, there are some useful notes here from cambridge university. Generally I find doing searches like "general relativity site:.ac.uk filetype:pdf" in google is a good way to get started searching for decent lecture notes from other universities.

If you're willing to dive in a bit more to the mathematics, the riemannian geometry book by DoCarmo is supposed to be excellent, although I've only seen his differential geometry book (which was very good). As a word of warning, this book might assume knowledge of differential geometry from his earlier book. The book you linked by Bishop also looks fine, and there is also the book by Schutz which is supposed to be great and this book by Sternberg which looks pretty good, although quite tough.

Finally, if you would like I have a dropbox folder of collected together material for GR which I could share with you. It's not much, but I've got some decent stuff collected together which could be very helpful. As a qualifier, I had to teach myself GR for my undergrad project, so I know how it feels being on your own with it. Good luck!

u/MattAmoroso · 2 pointsr/AskPhysics

I'm pretty sure you have to use Tensors... and I can't do that. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Introduction-Einsteins-General-Relativity/dp/0805386629

u/ianmgull · 1 pointr/PhilosophyofScience

A summary?

Gravity is what we call the fact that massive objects (and energy, by extension) tend to follow geodesics in curved spacetime.

From a GR perspective, it's not a "thing" in the same way as electromagnitism, or the strong force, or the weak force. It's simply the tendency for massive objects to move in a straight line.

This is an analogy. It's designed to give intuition, but it's not at all rigorous. Again, if you want the rock solid explanation, you have to deal with differential geometry and tensor calculus and those field equations linked above.

It's not a perfect analogy. You would (rightfully) ask: "what about things that aren't already moving? why would something like gravity 'pulling' on them cause them to move, that's not them continuing to move in a straight line.", and you'd be right. But that's because the best I can do with out getting absurdly mathy is give you a mediocre analogy. If you want to know the real deal, you have to crack a book.

Also: I "referenced" that book because it's one of a few introductory General Relativity books that people who are in grad school for physics use. That means most professors who are actively involved in research use it. So your claim that "no one of any authority" would use it is absurd.

Here it is incase you're being sincere, something tells me you're not though:

https://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Introduction-Einsteins-General-Relativity/dp/0805386629/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VCK5YK7ZV42TXM7CTYPZ&dpID=41ACB2FKGBL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail

u/DrunkenPhysicist · 1 pointr/AskPhysics

Griffith's Electrodynamics has a decent introduction to special relativity. Otherwise, Hartle's book is geared towards the advanced undergrad. Also, Schultz is good too.

u/Orion952 · 1 pointr/math

Hartle: http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Introduction-Einsteins-General-Relativity/dp/0805386629/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1420630637&sr=8-7&keywords=general+relativity

Pretty introductory, not a ton of math but enough to satisfy most undergrads. Includes a section on introductory Tensor Calculus.

Carroll: http://www.amazon.com/Spacetime-Geometry-Introduction-General-Relativity/dp/0805387323/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1420630637&sr=8-3&keywords=general+relativity

Probably the best intermediate book, does GR at an intermediate level. Includes several chapters on the math needed.

Wald: http://www.amazon.com/General-Relativity-Robert-M-Wald/dp/0226870332/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420630637&sr=8-2&keywords=general+relativity

Covers GR at a fairly advanced level. More rigorous books exist, but are not appropriate for a first course.