Theory of Relativity for the Rest of Us but not for Dummies: Theory of Relativity Simplified by James Thomas

James Thomas attempts to describe one of the twentieth century’s most fundamental concepts in physics in accessible terminology. The text captures the main concepts of relativity and does indeed do so without too much brain teasing. In that sense the book is a success useful to those, like me, interested in general understanding and to you who really need to understand this topic. Since college I have taken a issue with teachers who point out that what they are teaching is an overt simplification and Thomas fell into this trap in my opinion. The is clearly a decent primer for a difficult topic and does not need to belabor the point that there is much left unsaid. It would have added depth and flavor to the work if it had pointed out where relativity has improved our lives. Such as understanding why GPS gets more accurate when relativity is taken into account or why gold is gold, or many of the small and large advances that arose from a little paper written by a then obscure German.