Tim Maudlin's broad historical overview examines Aristotelian and
Newtonian accounts of space and time, and traces how Galileo's
conceptions of relativity and space-time led to Einstein's special and
general theories of relativity. Maudlin explains special relativity
using a geometrical approach, emphasizing intrinsic space-time structure
rather than coordinate systems or reference frames. He gives readers
enough detail about special relativity to solve concrete physical
problems while presenting general relativity in a more qualitative way,
with an informative discussion of the geometrization of gravity, the
bending of light, and black holes. Additional topics include the Twins
Paradox, the physical aspects of the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction, the
constancy of the speed of light, time travel, the direction of time,
and more.
In this concise book, Tim Maudlin, introduces nonphysicists to the core philosophical
issues surrounding the nature and structure of space and time, and is
also an ideal resource for physicists interested in the conceptual
foundations of space-time theory.
