View Full Version : GR Textbooks


funkstar
08-12-05, 09:32 AM
What are some good textbooks on the general theory of relativity?

Math is no deterrent, as I have a degree in that...

Aer
08-12-05, 10:43 AM
Wikipedia has a list of introductory and advanced textbooks on general relativity: General Relativity Resources (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity_resources)

funkstar
08-12-05, 11:08 AM
Thanks, but I was more on the lookout for what people here have had personal experience with.

I seem to recall "Gravitation" being mentioned, but I'm not sure it was here.

QuarkHead
08-12-05, 02:43 PM
Thanks, but I was more on the lookout for what people here have had personal experience with.

I seem to recall "Gravitation" being mentioned, but I'm not sure it was here.Yeah,"Gravitation" is by Taylor and Wheeler, authors whom I trust, although they are inclined to be Mickey Mouse at times.

I strongly suggest Hawking's "On the Shoulders of Giants", which contains a facsimile of Einstein's 1916 synopsis of the subject. If arithmetic doesn't scare you, I would definitely look at that.

Or this is a "book", it's 128 pdf pages, and excellent..........

http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/Stefan_Waner/diff_geom/tc.html

(Or you could ask here, see what you learn!!)

EDIT: Having made that rather offensive throw-away comment, let me say this. I have struggled with this subject for a few months now, and I am willing to share my new-found knowledge.
If you want to start a new thread, I'd be happy to join you; but it would be a long haul. It will involve vector spaces, topological spaces, manifolds and tensor calculus as a minimum. Not for the faint of heart!

On the other hand, those who have recently struggled to understand a subject often are best able to explain it to those who are still struggling.

Hmm...Friday night, I've had a couple of beers, sorry.

funkstar
08-12-05, 07:33 PM
Thanks, QuarkHead.

It's not that the math scares me (the only thing I don't know is tensor calculus), it's just that I'm mainly doing this for my own sake. I'm quite satisfied that others have done it properly; I just want a quantitative understanding as well.

James R
08-13-05, 03:08 AM
Gravitation by Misner, Wheeler and Thorne is a kind of bible for general relativity. Everything you want to know is pretty much in there, often in much more detail than you need. I'd buy a copy, but it's too expensive for me to justify right now.

I've used Schutz A first course in general relativity, and it isn't bad.

QuarkHead
08-13-05, 08:36 AM
Sorry, James R is right about "Gravitation". I was muddling with "Spacetime Physics"