No comments about The Great Gravity Myth.

No comments about Elementary Gravity and Magnetics for Geologists and Seismologists.

No comments about From Physics to Metaphysics (Tarner Lectures).

No comments about Aristotle, Galileo And The Tower Of Pisa.

1 comments about Einstein's Enigma or Black Holes in My Bubble Bath.

1. What do Einstein, Black Holes, and Bath Tubs have to do with each other? The relationship between Einstein and black holes is no mystery even to someone, like myself, who is not a specialist in astrophysics. But the bath tubs? The title intrigued me, so I bought the book and read it.
   This book is about relativity and black holes, as the title implies. But it is unlike any other book on the subject I have come across so far.
   
   To begin with, in lieu of the lecture-style format common to this kind of books, the author uses two fictional personas, his alter egos George and Alfie, to present the fundamentals of relativity and black hole physics. George, an astrophysicist, and Alfie, a FLOP according to the author, love to discuss physics while eating and drinking at an Italian restaurant. The narrative style of the book is that of a dialogue, in homage to Galileo, perhaps. The casual environment of the restaurant, where most of the dialogues take place, sets the tone for the entire book.
   This is a book intended for the non-specialist, interested public. The use of mathematics is kept to a minimum, and many concepts are illustrated with simple and intuitive cartoons-style diagram scribbled on the napkins in the restaurant (where else?, you may ask).
   
   The book follows 2 parallel narrative tracks: the first track is personified by George and his explanations of the physics of relativity and black holes. The second track is introduced and represented by Alfie.
   Alfie has an extraordinary memory, and remembers an incredible amount of data and information about anything he reads. Alfie is interested in the human side of science, and represents the wide range of interests and knowledge of Prof. Vishveshwara outside the realm of physics. It is through Alfie's eyes, and dreams, that the reader encounters great physicists of the past, Kepler, Galileo, Einstein, and even such characters as Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland.
   Alfie may be a FLOP, as the book says, but he has magic, and his magic permeates the entire book making it a delightful read, more like fiction than science. And if you are wondering what a FLOP is, I strongly recommend you read the book to find out.

2 comments about Relativity, Gravitation, and Cosmology: A Basic Introduction (Oxford Master Series in Physics).

1. I'm a second year astrophysics student from Ireland.
   Recently I've tried to learn the Mathematics of General Relativity in detail, outside of my course and have bought numerous books in the process.
   
   In my opinion this book and "A First Course in General Relativity by Bernard F. Schutz" are perfect complementary texts to learn the main basis of General Relativity on your own.
   
   The author has provided an unbelievable amount of questions and not a single one of them is pointless exercise.
   
   The book is Divided into three sections:
   
   Part 1: Metric description of Space-Time
   Very well written intro to General Relativity which delves into Black Holes and Mercury's Orbit, without the full on Field Equation and Tensors.
   
   Part 2: Cosmology
   Still keeping to the metric description of space-time, cosmology is introduced. The mathematics of concepts like the closed and open universes are explained really well.
   
   Part 3: Full Tensor Formulism
   I was able to learn Tensors from this, using Chapter 3 from Schutz's book as a companion.
   
   The questions at the end of each chapter really test your knowledge and after reading this you will be able to manipulate the field equation for simple cases and move onto more advanced books if you wish.



2. Intermediate level, with clear presentation, lots of graphics and exercises, ideal for self-study. In one word, excellent.

1 comments about An Introduction to Gravity Modification: A Guide to Using Laithwaite's and Podkletnov's Experiments and the Physics of Forces for Empirical Results.

1. An excellent book on generating force fields both mechanically and electrically. His theories on how this all works fits the data that he has collected very well. I just wish that he had an explanation for the time that it takes for the weight loss effects to occur with the electical circuits.
   
   Overall a great read that tickles the mind into thinking about the what could be with just a little more work.

2 comments about Time's Arrows Today: Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time.

1. The nature of time is one of the oldest and most basicquestions in Western philosophy; since we are all destined to growolder and watch irreversible changes in our bodies, and we are all aware that we will eventually die, it is probably a basic and inherent question in all philosophical systems. Whoever tries to understand the nature of time must explain two of its apparent characteristics: it seems to be unidirectional and unchanging. This perhaps explains the name of this book, which is concerned not only with the direction of time but also with time's essential nature. This book is one of a large number on the subject which have been published recently. I haven't read the others, being more familiar with earlier discussions of the question, but I have two remarks to make about this one: Anyone who doesn't read it is missing something, and the general level of academic philosophy has greatly improved in the last few years, which I've noticed in other books as well.

   Most of the articles in this collection are good, but I particularly enjoyed four of them. The first is Savitt's historical overview of modern discussions of the direction of time, which is just that, and excellent.

   The second is Unruh's discusssion of the new role of time in general relativity and quantum mechanics. Unruh begins by by saying the Newton "tells us that it is unnecessary to define time, but then proceeds to do just that". Unruh misunderstands Newton, who indeed leaves time undefined; what Unruh thinks is a definition is a warning not to confuse physical time, which needs no substrate, with common concepts of time based on recurrent phenomena in concrete objects. It's when Unruh talks about relativistic time that he really comes into his own. He explains that gravitation is an inherent consequence, an epiphenomenon, of the concept of spacetime. Few of his colleagues try to explain what gravity is, one of the really basic questions; they delude themselves into thinking they have done so when they have really only described anew how is behaves quantitatively. He also has a section on time in quantum mechanics which can serve as an ultrashort introduction to some of the basic concepts of that entire subject.

   The second of Sklar's articles here is mainly a critique of attempts to explain perceived time in terms of entropy. Most of his objections can be countered by replacing the concept of entropy in systems external to the person by that of neurochemical systems which are inherently asymmetrical under physiological constraints, but his discussion is deep and enlightening.

   Barrett and Sober point out that entropy, the most popular word in modern explanations of time, "is well-defined [only] for chambers of gases", and proceed to construct an abstract mathematical concept of entropy which will also be useful in discussions of time.

   In addition to everything else, most of the articles in this book, including these four, are beautifully literate, written by and for educated people. Anybody with an interest in time, or metaphysics generally, will profit from and enjoy reading it. Only elementary mathematics, if any, is really necessary.




2. The nature of time is one of the oldest and most basic questions in Western philosophy; since we are all destined to grow older and watch irreversible changes in our bodies, and we are all aware that we will eventually die, it is probably a basic and inherent question in all philosophical systems. Whoever tries to understand the nature of time must explain two of its apparent characteristics: it seems to be unidirectional and unchanging. This perhaps explains the name of this book, which is concerned not only with the direction of time but also with time's essential nature. This book is one of a large number on the subject which have been published recently. I haven't read the others, being more familiar with earlier discussions of the question, but I have two remarks to make about this one: Anyone who doesn't read it is missing something, and the general level of academic philosophy has greatly improved in the last few years, which I've noticed in other books as well.

   Most of the articles in this collection are good, but I particularly enjoyed four of them. The first is Savitt's historical overview of modern discussions of the direction of time, which is just that, and excellent.

   The second is Unruh's discusssion of the new role of time in general relativity and quantum mechanics. Unruh begins by by saying the Newton "tells us that it is unnecessary to define time, but then proceeds to do just that". Unruh misunderstands Newton, who indeed leaves time undefined; what Unruh thinks is a definition is a warning not to confuse physical time, which needs no substrate, with common concepts of time based on recurrent phenomena in concrete objects. It's when Unruh talks about relativistic time that he really comes into his own. He explains that gravitation is an inherent consequence, an epiphenomenon, of the concept of spacetime. Few of his colleagues try to explain what gravity is, one of the really basic questions; they delude themselves into thinking they have done so when they have really only described anew how is behaves quantitatively. He also has a section on time in quantum mechanics which can serve as an ultrashort introduction to some of the basic concepts of that entire subject.

   The second of Sklar's articles here is mainly a critique of attempts to explain perceived time in terms of entropy. Most of his objections can be countered by replacing the concept of entropy in systems external to the person by that of neurochemical systems which are inherently asymmetrical under physiological constraints, but his discussion is deep and enlightening.

   Barrett and Sober point out that entropy, the most popular word in modern explanations of time, "is well-defined [only] for chambers of gases", and proceed to construct an abstract mathematical concept of entropy which will also be useful in discussions of time.

   In addition to everything else, most of the articles in this book, including these four, are beautifully literate, written by and for educated people. Anybody with an interest in time, or metaphysics generally, will profit from and enjoy reading it. Only elemantary mathematics, if any, is really necessary

No comments about The Dominium Sequencing antimatter and gravity effects: Big Bang to black hole; and implications for a manmade near-future doomsday: 2nd Edition.

No comments about Gravitational Experiments in the Laboratory.