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Re: A mixture of time dilations and constrictions



On Tue, 1 Jul 2003, Ken Caviness wrote:

[In regard to Taylor and Wheeler's "Spacetime Physics]
It's worth the expense and time spent to study this book, which I
believe is now in the second edition.


It is interesting to see the differences between the first
edition, and the second edition published some thirty years
later. The newer edition removed the mathematical sections on
hyperbolic functions -- personally, I find the hyperbolic forms
most insightful -- but they compensated by tightening up the
definitions and characterizations of several fundamental
concepts.

... indicate "time constrictions" at all.


Yes. Terminology such as that sound the alarm bells and make the
red flags wave all around. Any novice with a serious interest in
learning special relativity will benefit greatly from Taylor and
Wheeler's presentation. For that matter, many established
physicists could also benefit from the care and precision of the
author's formulations. Another excellent non-technical
presentation of relativity is Robert Geroch's "General Relativity
From A to B," _The University of Chicago Press_, 1978/1981.
There is virtually no mathematics in the book, yet the conceptual
development is exquisite.

If only there was a "God of Relativity," I am sure he would
dictate both of these books as required reading _before_ students
object to some aspect of relativity. :)

--
Stephen
speicher@caltech.edu

Ignorance is just a placeholder for knowledge.

Printed using 100% recycled electrons.
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