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General Relativity for the Gifted Amateur

General Relativity for the Gifted Amateur

By Tom Lancaster and Stephen J Blundell

Forthcoming in January 2025, from Oxford University Press

Outline

General relativity is one of the most profound statements in science. It is a theory of gravity that allows us to model the large-scale structure of the Universe; to understand and explain the motions and workings of stars; to reveal how gravity interacts with light waves and even how it hosts its own, gravitational, waves. It is central to our notions of where the Universe comes from and what its eventual fate might be. For those wishing to learn physics, general relativity enjoys a dubious distinction. It is frequently viewed as a difficult theory, whose mastery is a rite of passage into the world of advanced physics and is described in an array of unforgiving, weighty textbooks aimed firmly at aspiring professionals. This book is designed to be different. It is written by experimental physicists and aimed to provide the interested amateur with a bridge from undergraduate physics to general relativity. The imagined reader is a gifted amateur possessing a curious and adaptable mind looking to be told an entertaining and intellectually stimulating story, but who will not feel patronised if a few mathematical niceties are spelled out in detail. Using numerous worked examples, diagrams and careful physically motivated explanations this book will smooth the path towards understanding the radically different and revolutionary view of the physical world that general relativity provides and which all physicists should have the opportunity to experience.

Authors

Prof Tom Lancaster is Professor of Physics at Durham University

Prof Stephen J Blundell is Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford

Also by the same authors: Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur

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Contents

The contents of the book can be found here

Errata

Please report errors to tom.lancaster_at_durham.ac.uk