2 comments about The Curvature of Spacetime.

1. In general, I am not particularly fond of books that explain physical concepts in this format. Through coversations with Newton, Einstein, and a fictional physicist named Haller we are given the priviledge of learning the basics of newtonian gravity, the special and general relativity, the standard model, and cosmology.
   
   Once I started reading the book I could not put it down. The real gems are found in passages that explain the concepts of the metric and spacetime cuvature. I also found the chapter on the origin of mass particularly interesting.
   
   I rate this material five stars because the conversational style of Dr. Fritzsch's book worked eceptionally well in this case. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.



2. Although this book is a general public level presentation in the fields of special and general relativity, it reads like a novel, presents many historically accurate facts about the lives of two famous individuals - Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton - and presents the material in an extraordinarily understandable manner.
   A good comparison would be the popular work of Stephen Hawking, albeit with a little more math than most of Hawking's.
   All in all, an enjoyable read and an easy way to increase one's comprehension of several difficult concepts.
   John Brady

3 comments about Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology.

1. To the publisher I would appreciate it if the publisher could produce an audio adaptation of this book. I would love to listen to this while I drive to work and to let my 16 month old son listen to it as a bedtime story. Arnold D Veness



2. This classic book should be on the shelf of every physicist interested in relativity. The exposition is very clear and can be used to fix some ideas. My comments do not include the thermodynamics part, which I'm not competent to review. The cosmological applications are, evidently, severaly outdated, but can be very useful for those interested in the history of the development of observational cosmology.



3. Originally published in 1934, this Dover reprint covers the early development of cosmology in a rigorous mathematical format. You need to know math through tensor equations (as you would for any rigorous treatment of cosmology), and this probably should not be anyone's first foray into cosmology. For that, see Peebles. Having said that, this gives sidelights present nowhere else, and a fine treatment of some by-passed cosmological models.

3 comments about The Physical Basis of The Direction of Time (The Frontiers Collection).

1. A lot has been written about the arrow of time, a large amount of which leaves out the details (such as Huw Price's recent book). For those details, this is THE place to look. Those discussing the arrow of time, whether they agree or disagree with his conclusions, generally start with what has been written down here.

   In this slim volume, Zeh gives a wonderfully concise and broad coverage to all physical aspects of the arrow of time. Furthermore, while his approach is rigorous, he makes a point of drawing out what the mathematical conclusions mean, and he does so quite lucidly. As a bonus he has a wonderful section on the quanticization of time. The only problem with this book is the rather high price tag, which will probably stop most of the casual readers interested in the topic from picking up a copy.




2. Make no mistake, this is a great book!
   
   It thoroughly discusses the six arrows of time and their law like vs. fact like nature. It discusses pretty much every other serious work that's been done respecting time and its physical descriptions (including those of Hu Price and Julian Barbour as well as the more conventional accounts by Stephen Hawking).
   
   And also, it has some fascinating speculations on how the universal expansion itself might be the master arrow of time.
   
   However, it IS an expensive book and since Zeh will be having his Fifth Edition out in June 2007, you might want to wait until it's out to purchase his thoughts on this significant and important area of research.
   
   That said, whether you choose to purchase the June 2007 version or this one, you won't be disappointed.



3. Being a professional engineer, although retired, I have lots of time to pursue my interest in astrophysics and associated topics. Time, to me, is an extremely interesting topic -- one which we think we all know, but probably know very little about.
   
   Anyway, I had hoped this book would provide a greater understanding of time, and I'm sure it does .. but not for me. All of the material in this book relies HEAVILY on advanced mathematics for understanding -- calculus, differential equations, etc. Unless you are extremely versed and current in advanced math, you will not be able to realize the potential of this book.
   
   I couldn't actually rate the book, as I'm no longer instantly conversant with the advanced math in the book. If one were, then I feel quite sure that this book could be four or five stars. But for a layman, or even one with a history of advanced math which hasn't been used recently, it is virtually not understandable. Too bad.

4 comments about The Direction of Time (Dover Books on Physics).

1. If you didn't know, this book is hard. I am a first year engineering student, and I felt lost through most of it. I gather it was intended for full-fledged physicists, but I was intrigued to read it anyway because of a philosophical thread running through the work. But beware--get ready for some Immanuel Kant and Einstein in only the introduction. This book is as much about the physics of time as the philosophy concerning subjectivity of time. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the probability or almost any of the quantum mechanics math, I still got some pleasure out of some of the more bizzare conclusions of the book. Did you know that for an isolated system (one not interacting with any others), time can't be said to have any direction? Furthermore, time as we know it is just a statistic. Another interesting fact is that on the quantum mechanical level, there is no such thing as time! If these things intrigue you (and you know what a double Riemann sum is) go for this book. Otherwise, be very afraid...



2. It is a beautiful but exterememly difficult book. It covers the concept of time and direction of time from the beginning up to current thinking. Author, being one of the founding fathers of philosophical quantum theory first introduces a good understanding of Thermodaynamics and Statiastical Physics and defines the order of events to lead into statistical definition of arrow of time. A lot of difficult concepts from Classsical Statistical Physics, Probability Theory, Relativity and Mathematical Logic as well as a good understanding of Quantum Physics is assumed to be in the bag of the reader, after all this book is not a Popular Science book. Although the author claims that knowledge of derivations of the formulas used are not critical to understand this study yet time to time the language and logic becames exteremely difficult. This is a must read book in this subject, may be many times or time and time over after increasing the understanding in other subjects that only tools in this book.



3. H.Reichenbach is undoubtly one of the most remarkable scientists that the world has ever witnessed. The interested mind is to be very strongly urged to read the book 'The direction of time' by him. Time is an essential concept to every physics student, as without it nature would be meaningless, and therefore the study of nature would be an empty pursuit. Whenever we wish to understand why we are in the 'world', say rather than in the planet MARS we have to understand thoroughly what actually happenned in the past, beginning from The Big Bang, that is, from the beginning of time. The book gives us a clear understanding into this inquiry ('TIME') developing both classical and quantum mechanical content of the concept of time starting from the first principles. The book carefully clarifies many confusing conceptions about time. For instance, the author clearly explains the contradictions lying in the famous Zeno's paradox which attemts to prove that time does not exist, in such a way that the physics student is now much more confident with such essential concepts as displacement and velocity. Also in the book, another essential concept of statistical physics ENTROPY is developed in a very systematic way and through this concept the direction of time is decisively established. Moreover, the issue of DETERMINACY or INDETERMINACY , an issue which is simply ignored in the text books or mentioned briefly in a few sentences as if it is self-evident and therefore does not need further elaboration, is discussed in depth, so both theoretical and experimental physicists have now a strong ground in arguing their proposals. I, as a physicist of 18 years of university lecturing experience, strongly recommend it to every single physics student or actually every single mind (student or not) who cares about the future, and who needs a decisive explanation (justification) for their potential steps to save (before being too late) our home THE WORLD WHICH WE NOW LIVE IN, only home only home and only home for us and for our childeren including of course our organic bodies, the animals and the plants. The direction of time and equally of The ENTROPY are the key concepts to understand what technology actually is, and to understand why it is inevitable to face more and more polluted environment as technology advances.



4. I can't believe that everyone didn't rate this with 5 stars!
   I had to write this because this was one of those really great books that changed my understanding of something that seems so basic, so obvious, time.
   Well well worth the 5 bucks.

5 comments about Making Things Work: Solving Complex Problems in a Complex World.

1. "Making Things Work" provides a great background into the study of complex systems (something that I knew very little about beforehand) and then continues on to apply those concepts and models to real world examples. The examples are easy to follow and all make perfect sense. This book certainly provides many useful problem-solving lifestyle changes



2. In "Making Things Work" Yaneer provides the reader with an excellent, non-technical discussion of some of the more important concepts in Complexity science. Like other successful popularizers of science such as Carl Sagan, Yaneer has a gift for explaining difficult subjects in a way that everyone can understand. He then shows how these concepts can (and should) be used to address real-world problems such as the health-care crisis and education. It should be required reading for policy-makers and business leaders.
   For a more technical treatment, I'd recommend Yaneer's earlier book or better yet, take a course at NECSI.



3. This book is bound to please anyone who wants to grapple with the complexity of today's world and organizations, and is interested in the truly big picture and issues.
   
   Part I explains concepts central to complex systems, such as: parts, wholes and relationships; patterns; networks and collective memory; possibilities; and evolution. The second and major part of the book focuses on how we can apply complex systems ideas to help solve such major real-world challenges as: military warfare and conflict; health care (the system and errors); learning and the educational system; international development; enlightened evolutionary engineering; and global control, ethnic violence and terrorism. The first hurdle is to comprehend these problems using our knowledge of complex systems and then begin to address them using a complex systems framework.
   
   The book is intellectually refreshing and bold. Its content is expansive, enlightening, and mind-stimulating.



4. This is a wonderful book, essential in the complex world we live in. It explains how to apply insight from one of the newest branches of science, complexity, to every day problems. Very illuminating.
   
   Nevertheless, its final part on ethnic violence, terrorism and global conflicts is nothing but disappointing. Bar-Yam fails to look at one of the world's most complex and urgent problems with the same cold intelligence he applies to engineering design. Maybe still under the 9/11 trauma, he seems to see it as a problem of Muslims against Christians and only suggests that maybe we should maintain frontiers between "them" and "us". The solution has to be transparency and replicating the best traits of every culture. For instance, community values from Islam, for instance, respect to human rights from Western culture. But, if in a "war against terrorism" we agree to forget about human rights, what is left?



5. If you want to understand how the world around you is functioning, you only need to read this book. It will provide you foundation/concepts which are universal i.e. apply to everything.

5 comments about Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes.

1. An interesting read, but this book lacks focus. Sometimes it is a biography of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar with a little physics background; sometimes it's a history of thinking in the astrophysics community with a little biographical background; and sometimes it feels like a who's who of astronomers and physicist from the 30's to the 80's. As an extra-added bonus, we get a random collection of information about the Manhattan Project and nuclear weapons design.



2. If you like books described by the title above, you'll enjoy Empire of the Stars. The core of the book is a straightforward biography of Chandrasekhar, but that story is well wrapped in a social history of the international scientific community of the 20th Century. Author Arthur Miller does not convince all readers of his bold thesis that the clash between Chandra and Eddington impeded scientific progress by decades, but the interest of the book does not hinge on that dramatic device.



3. This biography of the astrophysicist and mathematical prodigy Subramanyan Chandrasekhar is a very good survey of the twentieth-century flowering of astrophysics. Physics, chemistry, and astronomy were beginning to feed into each other and reach critical mass, which would result in the supernova of celestial discovery that marked the rest of the century. In this telling, Chandra had a brilliant insight which, although it would prove to be the key to most future theorizing about black holes, was at the time unsupported by anything except a seemingly airtight set of mathematical calculations. These were rejected by Sir Arthur Eddington, the foremost astrophysicist of the day, in a most public and humiliating way. As is the way of science at its best, time and the accretion of aggregate research finally proved Chandra correct and Eddington wrong.
   
   The public hiding Eddington gave Chandra rankled the young Indian for the rest of his life. Even winning the Nobel prize didn't make bygones be bygones. Chandra is depicted as being alternately resentful and ostentatiously collegial with Eddington, a sign of his conflicted feelings. Eddington isn't around to stick up for himself, and as the author notes, there is very little in the way of biographical information about him. The author goes on about class, racism, and even closeted homosexuality in an effort to explain Eddington's refusal to accept Chandra's insight. Those qualities were indeed extant in 1930s England, but the author comes very close to unfairly tarring Eddington by implication. There's no proof, so he should have let the mystery stand as is.
   
   That said, the story of Chandra is a great starting point for telling the story of astrophysics over the last 80 years. As such, it is warmly recommended.
   
   Some fair use quotations:
   
   "On next Monday I am 21! I am almost ashamed to confess it. Years run apace, but nothing done! I wish I had been more concentrated, directed and disciplined in my work.
   -- Subrahmanyan Chadrasekhar, letter to his father, 1932, in Arthur I. Miller, Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"
   
   "Technical journals are filled with elaborate papers on conditions in the interiors of model gaseous spheres, but these discussions have, for the most part, the character of exercises in mathematical physics rather than astronomical investigations, and it is difficult to judge the degree of resemblance between the models and actual stars. Differential equations are like servants in livery: it is honourable to be able to command them, but they are "yes" men, loyally giving support and amplification to the ideas entrusted to them by their master. -- Paul W. Merrill, The Nature of Variable Stars, 1938, quoted in Arthur I. Miller Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"
   
   "In my entire scientific life, extending over forty-five years, the most shattering experience has been the realisation that [New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr's] exact solution of Einstein's equations of general relativity provides the *absolutely exact representation* of untold numbers of massive black holes that populate the universe. This "shuddering before the beautiful," this incredible fact that a discovery motivated by a search after the beautiful in mathematics should find its exact replica in Nature, persuades me to say that beauty is that to which the human mind responds at its deepest and most profound.
   -- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 1975, quoted in Arthur I. Miller,
   Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest
   for Black Holes, 2005"
   
   "You may think I have used a hammer to crack eggs, but I have cracked eggs!
   -- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, on his habitual use of zillions of equations in his papers, quoted in Arthur I. Miller Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"



4. This is really a book on the history of astrophysics - the science of stars. However, in developing this exposition, the author has chosen to focus on two of the main contributors to the field: Eddington and Chandrasekhar. Both were geniuses of the highest order - one (Eddington), feared for his venomous attacks (in scientific fora) on those who disagreed with his theories but who, otherwise, was a truly likeable gentleman; the other (Chandrasekhar), a more complex individual "confident in his own brilliance, yet permanently bitter at never having received the recognition he thought was his due" (p. 297). The writing style is clear, engaging and free of unnecessary technical jargon, thus making the book accessible to a wider audience. Various theories on how it was thought that stars shine and eventually die are presented, culminating with modern day theories. This excellent book will likely be most appreciated by science buffs.



5. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. It is a highly entertaining, informative, and well-researched book. If you've read Wali's bio "Chandra", you should read this book, which gives a somewhat darker view of Chandrasekhar the man. I particularly liked the detailed endnotes, which give many historical insights.
   
   The villain in this story is Eddington, who did excellent work in his early career, but simply lost the power of rational argument in his old age. Like Linus Pauling, Eddington suffered from "great old man disease". (It only strikes males, perhaps because testosterone levels are involved.) The course of this disease is: tremendously successful early career causing self-confidence to morph into hubris, followed by the belief that one's intuition is so powerful that it cannot be wrong. In late stages, the disease causes the victim to attempt to alter experimental evidence to match beliefs.
   
   I think the author exaggerates the importance of the Chandra-Eddington "debate" in 20th century physics, but that does not detract from the book's value.
   
   Unfortunately, this book is marred many technical errors. Clearly, the author is not a scientist and the book was never edited by someone with a technical background. I list a few statements, some of which are wrong, and others are, as Pauli would say, "are not even wrong".
   
   p.45 Referring to Sirius A, the brightest star in the sky: "The fact that it can be observed with a telescope shows how extraordinarily bright it is."
   p.48,49. Explaining that Eddington incorrectly assumed that a star has a chemical composition similar to Earth's (rather than 3/4 H, 1/4 He) and so "Eddingtion adopted a mean molecular weight of 2.1." At first I assumed this was a typo, but the mistake is repeated throughout the text.
   p.54. "Another mystery that Eddington wanted to crack was how a white dwarf could be so small yet so dense." Throughout, the author makes puzzling statements about density.
   p.69. "... the electrical charge of the electron, which is 10^-10 in terms of size (measured in centimeters);...;the Planck constant, as measure of scale in the atomic world and smaller still, 10^-27; ..."
   p.157 Referring to a teaspoonful of stellar matter: "The same tiny amount of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tons, probably enough to take it plunging through Earth." Probably.
   p.160. Kapitza is referred to as "a discoverer of superconductivity" (confusing superfluidity with superconductivity)
   p.165 "Another question was whether fusion could be initiated by thermonuclear reactions." fusion is a thermonuclear reaction
   
   Throughout, the author uses the word "dim" and it is never clear whether he intends the word to mean intrinsic luminosity, apparent brightness, surface brightness or what. This leads to very odd statements such as p.180 referring to a white dwarf, "It has burned up nearly all of its fuel, making it dim, but has undergone extreme contraction... making it hot." or p.221 "If Cygnus A were closer ... it would have a "luminosity" 10 million times that of the entire Milky Way."
   The author reports all stellar distances in miles, never light-years: p.221 Cygnus A is "4500 million trillion miles away"
   p.225. Referring to Chandra's calculations of a supermassive stellar remnant in a quasar "it would have to collapse completely and would therefore cease to exist."
   p.227 "its spin is the number of times it rotates per second"
   p.225 Author explains that the Large Hadron Collider will be able to produce photons with a wavelength equal to the Planck length. I wish!
   p.269, Referring to neutrinos: "They interact so weakly that they can fly through space for 3 trillion miles unhampered." (As Dave Barry would say, I'm not making this up.)

5 comments about Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity.

1. I used this book in a class taught by its author. That makes it hard to disentangle the experience of taking the class from the book itself. However, I found this far more readable that Misner, Thorne, & Wheeler's ponderous tome. As enjoyable as I found Taylor & Wheeler's Spacetime Physics (written in a similar style), MTW is leaden in contrast to Weinberg's text. I had no problem with the notation: the rules for manipulating indices are quite straightforward and easy to apply. Furthermore, this is the notation used in a variety of other applications of tensors, from electrodynamics to mechanics (stress and moment of inertia tensors), so get used to it. As other reviewers have observed, one cannot help but think that MTW could have been edited down considerably; Weinberg's book is much tighter.



2. There was a time when this book was probably very authoritative and useful (though I can't see myself preferring it over Hawking and Ellis, even then). Put it out of your mind: that time is gone. There are a slew of much better, much more modern books out there. Furthermore, this book is written from a perspective that attempts to filter a huge chunk of the geometry out of G.R., sullying a lot of the beauty of Einstein's central idea. If you are interested in cosmology, you can do a lot better looking at Hawking and Ellis, or one of the more recent books that will, due to their newness, emphasize the numerous advances in cosmology since the 70s. If you are interested in Relativity, PLEASE look at Schutze (beginner) or at Wald (graduate). Don't waste time and energy on this book.
   
   That being said, there are some interesting advanced topics here, and a few things that I haven't seen elsewhere. This can be a useful reference for a researching relativist.



3. This is the best book written on general relativity, and I have read or at least looked at nearly every one of them. It is better than Wald's book because Steven Weinberg is a better physicist than Robert Wald. The only people who will not be pleased with it are those mathematicians who are looking to physics for elegant mathematics and not for physical insight.
   
   A virtue of this book is that so far as I can see Weinberg has thought through general relativity for himself, and he has worked through all of the derivations himself - certainly the ones that I have checked - rather than quoting others.
   This is not always the case for books in physics. Weinberg is careful, and I have yet to find an error in the book.



4. Flashback to 1979.I Purchased Weinberg's Gravitation book and
   Misner,Thorne, Wheeler's Gravitation book, simultaneously. Back then it took four weeks to get hold of a book by mail. The waiting made it all the more special when the books finally arrived. I still have those same two worn copies. Still re-read each. Sure, they are different viewpoints of General Relativity.
   But, how greatly they both enrich the world. Together, those two
   books started a pedagogic revolution. Weinberg has no
   equal,cherish this book. Cherish MTW, also.



5. The beauty of general relativity (GR) lies in the connection it provides between geometry and physics. Weinberg's algebraic approach completely obscures this connection. Instead Weinberg teaches how to crank through complex calculations without any insight or geometric intuition. It is a fairly good book when compared to Misner-Thorne-Wheeler (another ancient text). However, by modern standards, Weinberg's book leaves much to be desired. Having been published in 1972, the book lacks modern examples in cosmology and quantum gravity. It also lacks a proper introduction to differential geometry and makes no mention of topology or other mathematical ideas prevalent in current GR research. In the 35 years since its publication, it has been surpassed by many much better books. For an excellent introduction to GR, read Carroll's book. For a more rigorous study of GR read Wald's book. For an easy introduction to GR, read Schutz's book.

4 comments about Old Physics for New: a worldview alternative to Einstein's relativity theory.

1. For those who are interested in views contrary to Einstein's theories of relativity, this book is a "MUST-HAVE." Phipps is without a doubt the most entertaining writer who disagrees with Einstein and his followers. Phipps appears to be someone who really and truly understands what he is talking about.
   
   If your special interest is the topic of "time," you simply must read this book.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   If you are a die-hard Einsteinian, why not read the book and then post your critical review here for people like me? I would love to see what the official response is to ideas like these.



2. Phipps has the good fortune to actually have been a practicing Phd physicist. Having been forced into the mold of lock step physics, he has, upon retirement, let loose pent up frustrations that must have festered over time.
   
   Fortunately for us, he is a master at the use of the language and this artifice allows a rather uncharacteristic eloquence to his verbage that would attract any reader in search of english written in a form that is all but dormant. The book would be a pleasurable read from this point alone were it not for the pressing need to have things put aright by the author in the areas of physics not so deeply trodden in our modern age.
   
   Phipps doesn't attack relativity directly, as so many do in a rabid fashion of late, but does us the honor of showing how much of its "bed rock", Maxwellian electrodynamics, was allowed to lead physics off track. This bed rock did not get fully corrected by the time Einstein did his work. Phipps gives us a much needed history lesson which is so often overlooked in modern science. He shows errors in many works, and later attempted corrections that ultimately went begging or that complicated, needlessly, issues that might have been handled in a wiser, more direct fashion.
   
   He does not let words alone speak for physics, but involves us in the mathematics to a level that only those deeply involved might follow to full advantge. Yet as an electrical engineer, I perservered and gained real insights to work that normally is left to higher level physicists.
   
   Phipps takes a delightful relish in pointing out issues that are just not right on the path to modern accepted relativistic physics. The reader will love his powerful use of the language in finger pointing and following up on faux pas on the part of his fellow physicists.
   
   The book is a must read for those willing to think a bit deeper and allow a physicist to reveal that the veil of physics is a bit tattered and shop worn and, to its detriment,loaded with all manner of operable but poorly conceived patchwork attempts.
   
   A real eye opener, regardless of your thoughts on the matter in the end.
   
   Intellectually stimulating, eloquent, humorous in places, and very thought provoking.



3. Phipps has done great work here. Set aside, for a moment, what you may think of consensus science
   versus 'fringe' work. Set aside, too, your beliefs about the verities of Relativity, Maxwell's
   equations, and the like. This book is important because it's written as a conversation between the
   reader and a very bright and passionate man, a man who knows physics well, mathematics well, and
   history very well. I learned things here that were never even hinted at in 4 years of education in
   physics. Even the revealed history here is worth the price of admission.
   
   OK, pick up your beliefs about consensus science and relativity now. Worst case: you buy this
   book, find fault with it, and use it in your classroom to exercise the students' minds. It will
   certainly do that, regardless of the stance of the author!.
   
   I recommend this book enthusiastically for teachers, science historians, science buffs, and very,
   very especially, current physics students (sophomore level, who have taken at least a year of
   statics/dynamics, a year of EM, a year of quantum, and a semester or two of relativity theory.)



4. Although Einstein said his theory could be overthrown by a single experiment, his current followers heed him not.
   As but one of numerous delightfully interesting discussions, Phipps shows how the GPS system is exactly that experiment, in that it establishes that the Now is NOT relative, as Einstein asserted to be the inevitable conseqence of his time-rate symmetry. This symmetry, and its attendant Twin Paradox, was necessary to justify the biggest Procrustean bed of all, Lorentzian SpaceTime, which spatializes time through the Lie of Universal Covariance. Phipps' book proves there is no SpaceTime, only Space and clocks. The central distinction between Einstein's relativity and this, correct one by Phipps is Einstein's denial of a Common Now throughout the Cosmos. GPS couldn't possibly work if that were so, but Einstein is both the Prophet and the Pope of the Church of Physics, and heretics will not be tolerated.
   Phipps brilliantly explains the root error behind Einstein's folly, the partial derivatives in the standard exposition (by Heaviside) of Maxwell's Equations are in truth total derivatives. They were only made partial by, in a most Procrustean manner, excluding Faraday's experiments that generated voltage when a wire loop changes shape. Only a total derivative can handle that.
   This is a wonderful book, well worth many times its price, but bring some calculus with you.

5 comments about Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics (Aristotelian Society Monographs).

1. It's no coincidence that those writing the clearest books in the philosophy of physics are also those doing the best work in the field. Maudlin's book is a perfect example of this. It is also remarkably self-sufficient, providing a review of special relativity, and a brief and lucid presentation of the foundations of quantum mechanics in the appendix. As a result, it should be readable by anyone with a high school education. Those already familiar with the physics and/or the issues may want to skip parts, though I should note that I found a couple hidden gems regarding things I was unfamiliar with or mistaken about even in the introductory sections.

   The bulk of the book examines whether and to what extent quantum mechanics entails four superluminal phenomena often taken to be ruled out by relativity: superluminal matter transport, superluminal signaling, superluminal causation and superluminal information transfer. Maudlin convincingly argues that only the latter two of these are entailed by quantum phenomena. The book ends with an critical examination of the various theories put forward to circumvent these difficulties, and provides a brief discussion of how these issues hold up when we move to General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory.




2. There are many books which discuss the issue of quantum non-locality and discuss its connections to relativity theory. The vast majority of them, however, are either un-serious popular pap, or serious tomes written by professional philosophers who are at least as confused as the authors of the pap.
   
   Maudlin's book stands out like a beacon of light in this fog of confusion and muddle-headedness. It is accessible to anyone with a basic high-school education in math and physics, yet surpasses the vast majority of technical papers on this subject in depth, clarity, and (most importantly) correctness. If you want to understand the issue of non-locality that makes some people worry so much about quantum theory and its consistency with relativity, read this book -- study this book -- and this holds whether you are a Joe Schmoe off the street or a famous Professor from (say) Boston University.



3. In this delightful read, Maudlin goes through an array of topics revolving around non-locality, relativity, and the mathematics involved. However, although I didn't find any "new" ideas in the text, I was amazed at how quickly & clearly he explained the said topics. Without exaggerating, in 80 pages of this book I attained what had taken me an entire stack of now useless books on quantum physics (particularly Bell's theorem), relativity, linear algebra, and philosophy(don't read Philosophy of Physics by Lange, you'll get it all out of this)
   
   Anyone who has a prior introduction to Quantum theory will love this. I'd suggest Quantum Reality by Herbert, But there are lots of good ones out there.



4. This is a great book - captivating, a bit technical in places (but you can easily avoid the technical details and still understand the theses), and ultimately somewhat disturbing in the best sense of that word (it will knock away a lot of your presuppositions). Quantum non-locality (QNL) has been experimentally verified and there is no question that it exists. Particles too far apart to "communicate" at speeds less than the speed of light nonetheless do somehow "communicate". Lorentz invariance, a cornerstone of relativity, has also been well verified experimentally. Yet Einstein's philosophical underpinning of special relativity, the democracy of all reference frames, seem to be radically called into question by QNL. The author goes through every theory put forward so far to reconcile special relativity (with its philosophical underpinning intact) with QNL, and shows that none can cut the mustard. Trying to reconcile QNL with general relativity leads to even worse conundrums. Science is in a deep quandary! This book will blow your mind if you let it.



5. This contains the clearest presentation of the evidence for non-locality that I've seen. The other chapters on the implications of this are a little more challenging but worth it.

3 comments about Six Ideas That Shaped Physics: Unit R - Laws of Physics are Frame-Independent.

1. After finishing the first half of an advanced first year physics class, I was hopelessly confused with the subject of relativity as it had been presented by my teacher and by my text book. A few months later, I borrowed this book from my father and read it in about a week. When I was done with the book, I was amazed that I had ever been confused with such a simple and beautiful subject as relativity.
   The author skillfully anticipates many possible misconceptions and clearly explains the correct principles. The book at times can be tedious, but only when reinforcement of fundamental ideas is necessary.
   I've never read a physics book as good as this one.



2. This is a very good intro to special relativity. The author uses spacetime diagrams very skillfuly and explains even confusing topics very clearly. Overall, a very good book.



3. I had to buy this book for a modern physics course, it explains most of the basics for special relativity in a simple to understand and very graphic manner. However i did feel that the book was kind of basic, and that could have elaborated a bit more on the subject of general relativity. This book is probably better suited for a highschool AP course than a college course. But then again I'm probably too strict when judging course materials...