Best (or at least good) GR and SR textbook for a 15-year-old highschool student

[Kolmo]

I learned General Relativity from Schutz "A First Course in General Relativity" when I was younger and I know several who did similar. The first edition in particular is a nice compact volume that reviews special relativity, gives a nice "physicst's" view of tensors, motivates the field equations and handles the "fun" early parts of general relativity like Mercury's orbit and black holes and it has good exercises.

 

[romsofia]

A good SR book at your age would be: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1466510471/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Demystifier]

Hawking and Ellis.

Since he is a beginner who does not know yet all needed mathematics, perhaps you would also recommend to first study N. Bourbaki, Elements of Mathematics, 11 books. And just to be sure that he understands foundations properly, e.g. why 1+1=2, before Bourbaki perhaps you would also recommend to study Principia Mathematica by Whitehead and Russell (3 books). After Principia, then Bourbaki, then Hawking and Ellis, perhaps he will be ready to study the recommendations by others.

 

[martinbn]

Since he is a beginner who does not know yet all needed mathematics, perhaps you would also recommend to first study N. Bourbaki, Elements of Mathematics, 11 books. And just to be sure that he understands foundations properly, e.g. why 1+1=2, before Bourbaki perhaps you would also recommend to study Principia Mathematica by Whitehead and Russell (3 books). After Principia, then Bourbaki, then Hawking and Ellis, perhaps he will be ready to study the recommendations by others.

If someone asks about maths books the same way the first post was written, then yes, I will be equally sarcastic and recommend Bourbaki.

 

[Frabjous]

If someone asks about maths books the same way the first post was written, then yes, I will be equally sarcastic and recommend Bourbaki.

My concern with that line of thought is that other people will take recommendations from this thread based on its title.

 

[PhDeezNutz]

Thank you for your advice. It may well be that I overestimate what I understand.

It’s always refreshing to see high schoolers come to terms with their potential limitations so that they may grow. When I was that age I was delusional to say the least.

My personal opinion is that French is long winded. But I would not consider myself competent at SR by a long shot so my opinion may be worthless. That said I did pick up a copy of Morin’s text and it looks promising especially with the multitude of solved examples.

 

[AdvaitDhingra]

Update: I got The Theoretical Minimum on Classical Mechanics by Leonard Susskind and I find it challenging enough to enjoy it. I am now aware that I have quite a long way to go :D

 

[neilparker62]

Update: I got The Theoretical Minimum on Classical Mechanics by Leonard Susskind and I find it challenging enough to enjoy it. I am now aware that I have quite a long way to go :D

All the best - your request has certainly created an interesting thread!