Einstein For Dummies
by Carlos I. Calle
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carlos I. CalleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-10
ISBN: 0764583484
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: For Dummies
Book Reviews of Einstein For Dummies
Book Review: A very good basic and elementary treatment - 4.5 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
This book describes the highlights of Einstein's life and physics in a very basic and elementary manner. The book was written for an average high school student or for anyone who wants to learn a bit about Einstein, but is satisfied with a very elementary treatment. The first third of the book provides a very elementary treatment of the basics of mechanics and electromagnetism, as background for Einstein's work. This was a very nice feature that is missing in many other treatments (at least to the extent that it is covered in this book). In addition to the usual discussions of relativity and Einstein's contributions to the foundations of the idea of quantized energy, the book also covers his work on Brownian motion and the idea of atoms. Everything is presented clearly without the use of any mathematics, which may be applauded by its target audience, but I think that this can be a drawback.
While I am very familiar with this material, having read many Einstein biographies and books that detail his physics in much more detail than that presented here, and I found out a lot of new things. For instance, while Ole Romer made the measurements required to determine the speed of light, I did not know that it was Christian Huygens who actually made the calculation and using Romer's data and calculated a value that was 24% below the modern value. Most books leave out Huygens' contribution and give a value that is based on Romer's method, but using modern measurements, making it much closer to the correct value. The book also does a good job with the historical aspects of Einstein's life. There is an excellent summary of the letters Einstein wrote concerning the need to develop an atomic bomb before the Germans could. This is a subject that is often confused in many books, as there were several letters, not just one. The discussion of the historical development of many concepts was also excellent, particularly the development of the idea of black holes. This is the first elementary book that explained how Schwarzchild's solution for a black hole was conceptually different from that of Mitchell (made in the 18th century), even though both were numerically the same. The author explains that gravity does not slow down a photon as Mitchell assumed, but rather stretches out its wavelength to infinity or alternatively dilates time to infinity, effectively freezing the photon in place. The author also implies that Laplace may not have independently discovered the black hole (actually, at the time, called a dark star) as is stated in all the books that I have previously read, but may have been merely restating, without attribution, Mitchell's idea. I found the discussion of cosmology to be more complete than that of more advanced books and I particularly liked the discussion of the use of Cepheids and type 1a supernovas as "standard candles" and how this enabled the discovery that the universe was expanding. The discussion of dark matter and dark energy is also very good.
I liked this book, but it is not without flaws. While the author did an excellent job of explaining complex ideas, but I think that this task would have been made much easier if a little math was used. Special relativity requires little more than the Theorem of Pythagoras and a little algebra. Electing to do without any mathematics resulted in statements being made that the reader has to take on faith. My second problem were the errors that were introduced because of the need to simplify the presentation of these complex ideas. For instance, it was stated that Michelson-Morley experiment measured the speed of light, which it did not. It measured the relative speed of light for perpendicular directions. There are other such "simplification errors" but I do not think that they are serious, or would be very detrimental for the intended audience. I had a bigger problem with the fact that while the book contains an index, it does not contain any references or even a bibliography, which are necessary to allow the reader to continue their education via new sources. The simplification errors, the lack of references or a bibliography, as well as the lack of any math made it difficult for me to give this book five stars. However, I think that on balance it is better than four-stars, so I am giving it a reluctant five-stars. If fractional stars were allowed, I would rate this book as 4.5 stars.
Summary of Einstein For Dummies
Genius demystified, the Dummies way!In 1905, Albert Einstein revolutionized modern physics with his theory of relativity. He went on to become a twentieth-century icon-a man whose name and face are synonymous with "genius." Now, at last, ordinary readers can explore Einstein's life and work in this new For Dummies guide. Physicist Carlos Calle chronicles Einstein's career and explains his work-including the theories of special and general relativity-in language that anyone can understand. He shows how Einstein's discoveries affected everything from the development of the atom bomb to the theory of quantum mechanics. He sheds light on Einstein's personal life and beliefs, including his views on religion and politics. And he shows how Einstein's work continues to affect our world today, from nuclear power to space travel to artificial intelligence.
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