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Re: Hello!

An attempt was made to send this message to phys-l yesterday, but
somehow the "Reply to" address was set to PHYSLRNR. It was intended to
be phys-l. -- Hugh Logan

hake@ix.netcom.com wrote:

Sorry again! This version includes the complete Taylor reference.

In his 7/2/98 post of the above title, Merlin writes:

"I happen to have an obsession/affliction with physics and cosmology and
am just now beginning to study them in any real sense so bear with me.
Any recomendations for reading or study will be welcome."

I recommend taking a look at E.F. Taylor, "The Boundaries of Nature:
Special and general relativity and quantum mechanics a second course in
physics," Am. J. Phys. 66, 369 (1998).

My belated introduction to general relativity came from the course
described by Edwin Taylor in the above AJP article. I also took the
quantum mechanics course. Both the relativity and quantum mechanics
courses are available on the Internet through the National Teachers
Enhancement Network (NTEN)at http://btc.montana.edu/nten/. The Special
Relativity course uses _Spacetime Physics_ by Taylor and Wheeler. The
General Relativity course uses _Scouting Black Holes_, a sequel to
_Spacetime Physics_ along with readings from _Black Holes and Time
Warps_ by Kip Thorne. _Scouting Black Holes_ may be purchased directly
from Dr. Edwin F. Taylor at http://www.artsaxis.com/eftaylor/. Click on
"General Relativity." (The NTEN and Edwin F. Taylor URL's have changed
from those listed in the AJP article). Neither of these courses require
mathematics beyond basic calculus - only differential calculus for
Special Relativity. These courses are particularly good for those who
like discussions much in the style of phys-l, except that
there are separate folders for each topic.

For those wanting a more mathematical treatment with tensors, but not
able to handle the mathematical level of _Gravitation_ by Misner,
Thorne, and Wheeler, there is _A first course in general relativity_ by
Bernard F. Schutz, Cambridge University Press, 1990. There is an
excellent set of notes keyed to this text by Dr. Peter Dunsby at
http://vishnu.mth.uct.ac.za/omei/gr/. The notes may be downloaded in
postscript or dvi format for $10.00. This is recommended, since some of
the bars over symbols didn't seem to come through in the translation to
html.

As mentioned previously, I have found _General Relativity, A First
Course for Physicists_ by J. L. Martin, Prentice Hall, though very
brief, a useful overview of the subject. None of the books mentioned so
far cover quantum gravity.

Another excellent relativity website is that of Sean M. Carroll at
http://itp.ucsb.edu/~carroll/notes/. There is a set of lecture notes
originally used at M.I.T., an annotated bibliography containing comments
on books at all levels, and links to other sets of notes on GR. In
particular there is a link to _General Relativity Tutorial_ by John
Baez.

Hugh Logan