Russell Stannard
Author of Relativity: A Very Short Introduction
About the Author
Russell Stannard looks at the biggest questions of science-physics at or beyond the Big Bang; quantum mechanics; consciousness-to weigh up whether they might one day be solved. A celebration of science-but one tempered with humility.
Series
Works by Russell Stannard
The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins in Paperback (1999) — Author — 200 copies
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Stannard, Russell
- Birthdate
- 1931-12-24
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Berkeley, California, USA - Education
- University College London (PhD|Physics|1956)
University College London (BSc|Physics|1953) - Occupations
- physicist
university professor emeritus
broadcaster - Organizations
- Open University
Institute of Physics
John Templeton Foundation - Awards and honors
- OBE, 1998
Bragg Medal and Prize, 1999
Fellow, University College London, 2000
Members
Reviews
This would have been four stars, except that dispite having key vocabulary in bold type ... it dosen't have a goddam glossary ( ! ) Also, no ' further reading ' or bibliography. Should be titled ' edge ' not ' end '
At the beginning of the book Uncle Albert sent Gedankin into a thought bubble to learn what everything is made of. In the thought bubble Gedankin met The White Rabbit. The White Rabbit's job is to sort all the 92 kinds of atoms into their places. Also Cheshire Cat starts throwing electrons at them. At the end Gedankin showed Uncle Albert a game of what everything is made of. I liked the book. I liked when Gedankin saved The White Rabbit from an electron. I learned that everything is made of molecules.… (more)
This book builds on a very interesting idea, an academy where children are taught science that may not be quite correct. The first chapters are promising, with some entertaining misconceptions and in parallel the correct explanations. After this, the plot kind of slows down and loses a bit of focus. For me, the ending was not as strong as it could have been. It is still a good book, certainly worth reading, but the balance between explaining science and telling an entertaining story is tricky...
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Statistics
- Works
- 47
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 1,370
- Popularity
- #18,773
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 17
- ISBNs
- 130
- Languages
- 15
The book begins with an interesting premise - that it will challenge some of the most fundamental ideas regarding space, time and matter the reader likely grew up with. For example: that time passes equally quickly for everyone, that two events occur either simultaneously or one after the other and that the angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees.
The first part focuses on Einstein's special relativity, particularly on the concepts of time dilation, space contraction and event simultaneity. It often resorts to diagram-supported use case of an astronaut traveling through space in a spacecraft, being observed by a mission controller on ground to illustrate these concepts.
The second part adds gravity and acceleration to the mix, introducing Einstein's theory of general relativity, thus inviting the reader to contemplate time "running" faster in lower gravity (that's right, time runs faster upstairs!), possibility of existence of multiple universes, the curvature of space-time and the formation and effects of black holes.
Due to the book's shortness, some interesting ideas are merely glossed over or tackled very superficially, but at the end there is a suggested further reading list. Contains a little bit of math and equations, but with the exception of one chapter that can safely be skipped, nothing out of the reach of basic college physics.… (more)