General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum

Book info: General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum (Kindle, 400 pages) – Basic Books, 2025. Language: English.

The latest volume in the New York Times–bestselling physics series explains Einstein’s masterpiece: the general theory of relativity  He taught us classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and special relativity. Now, physicist Leonard Susskind, assisted by a new collaborator, mathematician André Cabannes, returns to tackle Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Starting from the equivalence principle and covering the necessary mathematics of Riemannian spaces and tensor calculus, Susskind and Cabannes explain the link between gravity and geometry. They delve into black holes, establish Einstein field equations, and solve them to describe gravity waves. The authors provide vivid explanations that, to borrow a phrase from Einstein himself, are as simple as possible (but no simpler).   An approachable yet rigorous introduction to one of the most important topics in physics, General Relativity is a must-read for anyone who wants a deeper knowledge of the universe’s real structure.