Very Special Relativity: An Illustrated Guide

Science News,  Feb 2, 2008  

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VERY SPECIAL RELATIVITY: An Illustrated Guide SANDER BAIS

Einstein's theory of special relativity charmed some physicists immediately, and the general public soon after. More than a century later, guides to the topic are still in demand. This attractive little book mirrors Einstein's theory in simplicity and design. Like a user manual for nonexperts seeking to understand the counterintuitive predictions of relativity, every page of concise text is paired with a space-time diagram. Bais, a theoretical physicist at the University of Amsterdam, chose a geometric approach intentionally, as it was the theories of relativity that drove physics back into the arena of geometry in the early 20th century. Visual learners will appreciate the pictorial language and lack of algebraic equations--mathematical formulas that Bais calls "dense and easily forgotten." After summarizing the basic principles of relativity, the book presents odd examples of relativity, the notions of momentum and energy, and, finally, the dramatic applications of the equivalence of mass and energy, E=[mc.sup.2]. Harvard Univ. Press, 2007, 120 p., color illus., hardcover, $20.95.

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