READING LIST FOR GENERAL RELATIVITY
Because only five weeks of the semester are devoted to general relativity, and suitable textbooks are not inexpensive, no one text has been designated as required. Instead, the following nine books are being placed on two-hour reserve in the Physics Library:
1. Weinberg, Steven: "Gravitation and Cosmology"; QC6 W471.Generally excellent and at a level not too impossibly high for many students in this class. Weinberg is a Nobel laureate, a former member of the faculty at UCB, and the author of "The First Three Minutes".
2. Taylor and Wheeler: "Spacetime Physics"; QC6 1 3 5. At a lower level than our course generally, but has an interesting style and treats many problems clearly. John Wheeler is a distinguished American theoretical physicist who collaborated with Neils Bohr on fission theory before World War 11. He is a past president of the American Physical Society.
3. Tolman, Richard C.: "Relativity, Thermodynamics, and Cosmology"; QC6 T59. An older text (the 1930's) by one of the country's most distinguished relativists of his day, a longtime member of the faculty of the California Institute of Technology, and a leader of American scientific effort during World War 11. Exceptionally detailed clear descriptions of many topics.
4. Adler, Bazin, and Schiffer:: "Introduction to General Relativity"; QC6 A42 (1965) and QC173.6 A341 (1975). A solid textbook.
5. Mould, R. A.: "Basic Relativity"; QC173.55 M68 (may have to be sought in the: Astronomy-Mathematics Library). Used as a textbook in this course in an earlier year by a previous instructor.
6. Ohanian, H.: "Gravitation and Spacetime"; QC178 035. Considered as a textbook in this course in an earlier year by another instructor. There is another edition by Ohanian and Ruffini.
7. Rosser, W. G. V.: "Introduction to the Theory of Relativity"; QC6 R67.
8. Rindler, W.: "Essential Relativity"; QC173.55 R561.
Also see "Introduction to Special Relativity" by Wolfgang Rindler 2nd edition
Oxford University Press paper back which was used as the text book
by the previous instructor.
9. Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler: "Gravitation"; QC178 M57. A physically large and heavy and intellectually huge volume covering the field exhaustively. Requires detailed study of its mathematical foundations, beyond that covered in this course.
10. George Ellis: "Flat and Curved Spacetimes" Oxford University Press in paperback. This book focuses on the geometrical aspects.
Each student should sample some of these texts to determine which provide information at the level and in the style he finds most comfortable. The lectures are intended to be self-contained so that nothing from these books is required.