The Special Theory of Relativity (Routledge Classics) 1st Edition by David Bohm (PDF)

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In these inspiring lectures David Bohm explores Albert Einstein‘s celebrated Theory of Relativity that transformed forever the way we think about time and space. Yet for Bohm the implications of the theory were far more revolutionary both in scope and impact even than this. Stepping back from dense theoretical and scientific detail in this eye

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐If fractional stars could be awarded I would give this book 4.5 stars. I liked it but in my opinion was not quite a 5 star book. Being unable to give it 4.5 stars I am giving it the benefit of the doubt and going with 5 stars, but with some reservations, discussed below.I really liked the first three-quarters of the book. Professor Bohm writes with clarity, giving more than just derivations of basic equations (which he does with some rigor), but also provides a very clear exposition of why things are what the theory says they are. He provides not only the standard treatment of relativity, but also provides details about the ether theory, Lorentz’ attempt to save it in the face of contradictory experimental evidence and the behavior of charged particles in electromagnetic fields – the last item a subject that is generally not covered in a basic treatment of relativity theory. In terms of difficulty, I would rate the book as being much more difficult than Gardner’s “Relativity Simply Explained” or Wolfson’s “Simply Einstein”, but less difficult than an intermediate college text. It is suitable for someone wishing to learn the subject on their own, but only if they have some physics background and are willing to deal with some basic algebra and a little first year college math. It is also very useful for someone studying this subject in college, as Professor Bohm’s explanations of the nature of relativity theory are very good, making this an excellent adjunct to a standard college text.Unfortunately, I found the last quarter of the text a bit less clear than the first three-quarters. This latter quarter deals with the Minkowski Diagram, K calculus and applications of these subjects. Many basic books cover Minkowski’s space-time approach, but few cover K calculus, for good reason. I found these discussions rushed and far from clear. Also, the text covering several of the figures contain reference to letter denoted items that are not on the figure, making it very difficult to follow what Bohm is trying to get across. As noted by other reviewers, there were some typographical errors (mostly leaving out prime superscripts and alike) that needlessly confused things. I had the feeling that if another 50 pages had been allotted to the latter half of the book it would have been greatly improved.There is a 60-page appendix that discusses Physics and Perception. Professor Bohm obviously was greatly influenced by the work of Piaget and other physiologists and used this to try to explain how we learn to interpret the world, how this defines our concept of it, and why this makes the basic concepts of Special Relativity are so difficult to accept. While very useful and informative, this is an area where I think that less would have definitely been more. A brief 10-page summary would been, for me, clearer, more focused, and would therefore have had more impact.All in all, I liked this book and would recommend it to someone who is really interested in Relativity Theory, but if all you want is a basic primer on what the subject is about, without somewhat rigorous mathematical derivations, then this would not be the best choice for you.

⭐This book is a thorough and well written introduction to the “Special Theory of Relativity”. In addition to the basics of special relativity it covers the history of Special Relativity and it includes 60-pages of Lorentz Electrodynamics. The book also discusses Minkowski Diagrams, the Twin Paradox, relativistic Doppler effects, K-Calculus, and philosophy related to relativity. The book does not discuss General Relativity.Bohm does not derive many formulas for electrodynamics, optics, quantum physics, thermodynamics, etc, and therefore this book does not resemble a text book. Bohm’s focus is on a deeper understanding of the special theory of relativity itself, and on time and space. He discusses perception of reality and includes discussions on child development, psychology and neurology related to perception, the meaning of the relational concepts in relativity, the structure of scientific revolutions (T.S. Kuhn), our perceptions of time and space, philosophy, and other related topics that cannot be classified as physics.In K Calculus you draw the world lines of light pulses sent at constant intervals between different observers. Then you calculate what is essentially the Doppler factor K and uses it to explain what is going in relativity. In contrast the Lorentz transform is concerned with the space-time coordinates that you measure after taking into account that light have to travel a certain distance and that this takes time. Basically, the “actual time and space coordinates”. K Calculus on the other hand is including both relativistic effects and the distance and time it takes for light to travel. K Calculus is thus not what you “measure” but what you “observe”. K Calculus makes it very easy to explain special relativity to an audience that is not strong in math and it also adds a new understanding to the special theory of relativity. However, I see an inherent risk with K-Calculus in that it can end up fooling the student into believing that he understands relativity, for example, if a student incorrectly comes to believe that time dilation is some form of Doppler Effect.Except for the fact that some of the mathematical derivations were unnecessarily complex I thought this book presented relativity lucidly, the philosophical discussions were insightful, and it added to my understanding of the topic. It should probably not be your first book on Special Relativity but it is a very good second book. I highly recommend it for those who want to think through the concepts of relativity a little deeper.

⭐It helped me understand several aspects of relativity clearly

⭐with interesting review of Lorentz ether theory

⭐IT WAS ADVERTISED AS BEING LEAN ON MATHEMATICS BUT IT IS NEARLY ALL MATHEMATICS. I AM FAMILIAR WITH THE THEORY AND HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS BUT THIS BOOK ADDED NOTHING TO MY KNOWLEDGE.

⭐Bohm’s book on Special Relativity is a classic. It’s highly recommended for two reasons.Firstly, Bohm explains Special Relativity (SR) thoroughly and historically. He explains why physicists in the 19th century were so sure the ether existed and how they ‘almost’ derived the main results of SR. He then explains Einstein’s great leap forward with his constancy of light postulate and principle of relativity. Bohm goes on to derive all the main results in SR and all the main Lorentz transformations of coordinates, velocity, mass, Energy, momentum, forces, electromagnetism etc. He also gives a lot of examples.The second reason the book is so good is that Bohm knew Einstein. He had many conversations with him on the subject and can write from this perspective.On the negative side there are a few typos in the book – even in the latest edition. But they are minor and for some reason nearly always just a mislaid index on a velocity. It’s good fun to correct the formula when a mistake comes up. (There aren’t that many.)Overall it’s an excellent book and a great companion to more recent interpretations. In fact I’d go as far as to say that it’s hard to really appreciate what is so significant about Einstein’s achievement in SR without reading a book like this one.In terms of the maths- most is understandable with a decent A level maths or physics.

⭐This masterly account of special relativity is superior to most in explaining just what makes the theory different. Other theories had, after all, already come up with exactly the same equations relating to measuring rods and clocks on the move. But readers are not left to wonder why Einstein gets all the credit for some transforms that Lorentz had previously proposed; Bohm shows the workings from two very different starting points. Lorentz was looking for a kludge to explain why we can’t use light beams to measure our speed relative to a stationary ether; Einstein ruled out any such stationary frame of reference from the start – ether or no ether – and saw that all physical laws should remain invariant for all (unaccelerated) observers.It is explained that Lorentz’s equations did the trick, but his theory was otherwise unverifiable. We see how Einstein’s theory could have predicted that Michelson and Morley would get the shocking results that they did and saved everyone, including Lorentz, the trouble of cooking up excuses. Einstein’s is an eminently falsifiable theory – still awaiting falsification because all its predictions have invariably come out spot on.The book employs the usual scenarios of people on trains and stations with lanterns and stopwatches, but we then go on to a deeper exploration using Minkowski diagrams and the K calculus to make things clearer – surprisingly clear it all becomes, too. Even the “twins” paradox makes more sense from this standpoint.There is a long final chapter which considers our appreciation (or lack of it) of anything but Galilean relativity by virtue of normal development of our senses. I didn’t take as much from this as from the bulk of the book. There is a short chapter on how theories come to be falsified as progress is made. It makes reference to Sir Karl Popper’s philosophical work but seems to miss the point about falsifiability in the very first sentence. (The author would have been working from an earlier account of this work which was perhaps presented differently at that time.)The one truly bad aspect of this publication is the atrocious number of misprints – unforgivable given the number of earlier editions. Symbols transmute: from u to v, from + to -, from subscript to index; numerators and denominators switch back and forth; figures are wrongly numbered, points on diagrams are labelled with letters differing from those in the text . . . It all ensures that you work through the equations properly and so get a thorough understanding. But it can be infuriating and unnecessarily tedious. That is why it gets only 4 stars.If you still need some mental stimulus, try working out some of the missing steps which the author describes as: “with a little algebra we get”. That can be rewarding and fun, and is a nice (typically professorial) touch.

⭐I’ve tried a couple of times to get into this and failed. LOTS of text and a few equations. Perhaps I need to persevere since, as I write this, I’ve thumbed through the book again and it looks OK…

⭐It was important to me that I had this book in order to prove from relativity theorythat messages cannot be sent backwards in time.The book came in good time for me to use itThanks

⭐An very interesting book. Well written and detailed account of the subject. I found it frustrating because I couldn’t follow all the maths. But that’s not the authors fault. Appendix is particularly good.

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