Introducing Relativity: A Graphic Guide Paperback – February 5, 2009

My reading interests have always been wide and varied. Science and philosophy books are two of the many subjects I have loved throughout my life. I just finished reading (Introducing Relativity: A graphic guide by Bruce Bassett and Ralph Edney) an interesting and informative basic guide to relativity. Of fairly recent times there has been an enormous increase in the popularity of these graphic guides. The combination of a clear narrative along with the illustrations has made learning about numerous subjects a pure joy. I have read many of these graphic guides lately and intend to read more in the future. This book goes into great detail on this topic.This 176 page soft cover book explains in surprising depth Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Even though I have read numerous books on the subject, including the one written by Albert Einstein himself, this graphic guide really made the subject come alive. This book points out in the beginning Immanuel Kant, the philosopher (1724-1804) and author of “The Critique of Pure Reason” provided some basic ideas on space and time. Later, the famous and one of the greatest scientists, Newton came up with some of the principle laws of physics. This wonderful book explains with the help of illustrations how these laws apply to a wide variety of situations and how the entire universe is governed by these scientific laws. Albert Einstein’s brilliant mind came up with his “Theory of relativity” in combination with his expertise in mathematics and physics.The mystery of gravity, black holes and other physic related issues is also explored in this volume. If you are interested in relativity and desire a clear basic over view of this topic you should check out this book. I found it an interesting and very informative read.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective combative systems).

Great introduction to relativity. It was easy to follow and understand. I really like this book and I highly recommend it.

decent book . good quick read. easily broken down chapters to read and put down for later. i would recommend if this is an interest for you.

I am a huge fan of the INTRODUCING series, all the way back to before they were subtitled "A GRAPHIC GUIDE." Normally the format and content of the books in this series are written in an easy-to-read style that explains complicated topics in a down-to-earth way. "Relativity" however, is not the best book in this series. It starts out fine enough for the first third of the book, but then it detours away from the "neat" things about relativity and gets bogged down with measuring triangles on curved surfaces, talking about tensors, and far more math than a introductory book on relativity needs to have. For example, much to-do is made about the equations C-ijk and g-ij without explaining why the letters mean what they mean or why we should care. For better books on this topic in the "Graphic Guides" series, read the "TIME" and "QUANTUM THEORY" and "STEPHEN HAWKING" guides.

Those who know don't talk much and those who do not know talk too much... This book is by no means a treatise in advanced physics but the authors knew the topic and delivered a good to excellent review on the matter. I would strongly recommend this book for a person with an acceptable educational background but without the ambition to become a physicist. It contains some math but not so overwhelmly advanced. I enjoy reading this book very much.

Rather than explain it tends to present axioms and then self reference them. It tends to self reference them as proofs without fully explaining the underlying arguments. The graphics don't really extend the tex. That said it is thought provoking.

Great little book on Einstein's Relativity. I liked it because it's written so that the concepts are understandable to a layperson like myself.

I definately agree with the reviewers who say it's difficult, but this was the first and only introducing book I have ready perhaps 8 times. Each time, I walk away with a little bit more. Now I feel ready to actually tackle the real deal and research relatively from the horse's mouth. I highly recommend this book, but if you do read it, be prepared to read it several times before it all sinks in.

This book is an excellent starting point for those who want to get an in-depth history and overview of the subject of general relativity. The author did an excellent job with the use of graphical illustrations to show and compare the thinking of the various scientists who contributed to the development of the subject, and the issues that arise because of the theories proposed. The mathematics required was minimally introduced, enough to ensure that the reader can follow. I would recommend this book to new entrants to general relativity as a precursor to more mathematical intensive work on the subject.

A useful introduction to key features got across in easy to understand visuals. If this is your first lok at this topic then this book is a good place to start.

The book covers a lot of ground and does take persistence in order to digest it! Made very difficult to read as the "speech bubbles" and captions in the cartoons are far too small and feint to read easily on a Kindle; it's a pain to have to keep adjusting text size, so I still had to put 1.5x reading glasses on - and still struggled. I think a printed version might be OK, but the ebook obviously wasn't produced with Kindle Paperwhite in mind.

Quite a good and complex book even though it is graphic.

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