Product Description: Amusing, irreverent, sophisticated and highly accessible, Einstein for Beginners is the perfect introduction to Einstein's life and thought.
Reaching back as far as Babylon (for the origins of mathematics) and the Etruscans (who thought they could handle lightning), this book takes us through the revolutions in electrical communications and technology that made the theory of relativity possible. In the process, we meet scientific luminaries and personalities of imperial Germany, as well as Galileo, Faraday, and Newton; learn why moving clocks run slower than stationary ones, why nothing can go faster than the speed of light; and follow Albert's thought as he works his way toward E = mc2, the most famous equation of the twentieth century.
Amazon.com Review: One of the first in the series of For Beginners documentary comic books, Einstein for Beginners still holds up as a perfect introduction to the life and work of Albert Einstein. It has been said that only a small percentage of people really understand Einstein's theories, but this book goes a long way towards making them accessible to everyone.
A very helpful book if you have an interest in or need to know the basics of relativity There is no question that the Einstein theories of relativity are difficult concepts to grasp. They are so counterintuitive to what we experience at the speeds with which we travel that at the beginning they seem impossible to comprehend. Yet, much of the structure of the theories is comprehensible to a non-physicist, as long as it is presented in the right way. That is what is done in this book. The authors use cartoons, captions and the occasional and necessary mathematical formulas to create an understandable and complete overview of Einstein's theories of relativity. While the title includes the word "beginners", some fundamental knowledge of mathematics, specifically algebra, is needed. If you can overcome this hurdle, then you will find it very helpful if you have an interest in or need to know the basics of relativity.
Introduction to electrodynamics but is really a mathematical walkthrough of special relativity Einstein for beginners (aka Introducing Einstein), is a brief history of the early life of Albert Einstein incorporated into a history of electrodynamics but is focused on Einstein's discovery of special relativity (SR) which is explained with a thoroughly detailed mathematical walkthrough in this book.
Introducing Einstein is not a complete biography of the life and times of Albert Einstein. If you want a complete biography of Einstein, go elsewhere. If you want a graphical explanation of Einstein's special relativity or a brief history of electrodynamics then this book does just that. Introducing Einstein does not cover general relativity.
In terms of actually being able to sit down and go through the calculations, Introducing Einstein will help anyone get through the stages of each proof for special relativity. After 100 pages of the history of electrodynamics the reader gets 70 pages of SR. This means that unless you are willing to sit down and actually work through 70 pages of mathematics (really the pages are filled with illustrations and commentary so we can condense it down to about 10-20 pages of solid mathematics) you are only going to get the benefit of 100 pages of the history of electrodynamics and a short burst on the history of mathematics. These 100 pages are actually quite good and fit in well with other science books from the Introduction series, such as Introducing Newton and classical physics, Introducing Quantum Physics but especially Introducing Relativity. Introducing Relativity explains special relativity and general relativity but not in the detail that Introducing Einstein does for SR. There does not appear to be any Introducing book that covers the mathematics of general relativity like Introducing Einstein covers SR. If you are in for this book then you are in for Introducing Relativity, but that is how the Introducing series works.
Einstein became a household name with his formula E=MC2 meaning energy is mass. As a consequence he established that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light because the energy required to accelerate mass to this speed would be infinite because acceleration also produces an increase in mass.
Einstein understood Newton. Newton showed with his laws of motion how matter moves with and without force and established gravitational effects while Maxwell unified magnetism and electricity by showing that shifts in either electricity or magnetism produces a shift in the other. Newton however also implied that there was no absolute standard of rest because everything is moving. There was no such thing as absolute position or space in his mind. Newton did not believe that time was part of space but separate and could be measured with a good enough clock.
Reality without time is actually like saying that everything is flat and we now know this is an error. This flatness can be imagined by saying that when all questions about matter (sun, moon, planets and forces) was connected through Newton's mechanics of explaining nature it was explained `linked' in a flat sort of way.
Einstein discovered because of the properties of observing light that these `links' have an underlying nature that would change the Newtonian model with his SR.
In SR Einstein showed time dilation at near light speeds. A simple theoretical model for this is a train with a light that goes off inside the train cart that strikes the front and back door at the same time. An observer standing in the cart will see both doors open at the same time. An observer watching the train go by will see the last door going past open before first door going past. This proves time dilatation.
Newton's flat model was not in agreement with SR. Time could change relative to the observer. Only the speed of light remained constant and the law that it could not be broken.
Ultimately Einstein for beginners aka Introducing Einstein, is a prelude to buying a complete biography of Einstein and is a partial guide to Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. If you collect the books mentioned in this review then you are well on your way to thinking and working out something very important about how the universe works in the same way Albert Einstein did.
(Note: This book does contain proactive references to Socialism by Einstein himself.)
A long slog - but you get there in the end! I read this book some years ago when I was a young left-wing pinko liberal and found it fascinating!
I am now an old left-wing pinko liberal and found it a bit harder going this time. I know it's great to have historical context etc. but I wish there was more on the theories...
Anyway, an excellant read and just the thing to get young minds thinking outside the square. It's wonderful to see how quickly they can visualise the concepts, especially the moving train etc.
excellent introduction to Einstein! This book is a very engaging tool for acquainting young people with Einstein and his work. My son enjoyed the cartoons and appreciated the fact that the author included personal biographical information as well as professional history. The book is most appropriate for middle schoolers on up.
OK This is an OK outline of the special theory described within its historical (physics) context. As expected with the "...For Beginners" series, diagrams are used well. The general theory is not covered. Note: Dollops of the authors' crackpot Marxism are found throughout.
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