Book on General Relativity -- especially on Black Holes and Graviational Waves

[kent davidge]

Hi. (I'm sorry for my poor English.)
I'm looking for a good book on General Relativity, specially on Black Holes and Graviational Waves. I got Schultz book once ago, but it has a fuzzy notation and does not deal with the math as I suppose to. I know the basics of Differential Geometry, Topology, Rimmanian Manifolds, and of course, Special Relativity. So what a graduated book would you recommend me?

 

[jedishrfu]

Some folks like Zee (advanced graduate level):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/069114558X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

and others like Wald (undergraduate level):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226870332/?tag=pfamazon01-20

For black holes Kip Thorne's books are really good at explaining things:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393351378/?tag=pfamazon01-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393312763/?tag=pfamazon01-20

He also did a book with Wheeler that was the definitive standard for General Relatiity but lacks some of the more recent research:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0716703440/?tag=pfamazon01-20

There's a couple of free ebooks here by Benjamin Crowell that are pretty good for the undergraduate/graduate level:

www.lightandmatter.com

We also have a thread on it that's a couple of years old:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/a-good-book-on-general-special-relativity.512125/

Lastly, here's a list of other titles to consider:

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/363/getting-started-self-studying-general-relativity

 

[kent davidge]

Some folks like Zee (advanced graduate level):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/069114558X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

and others like Wald (undergraduate level):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226870332/?tag=pfamazon01-20

For black holes Kip Thorne's books are really good at explaining things:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393351378/?tag=pfamazon01-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393312763/?tag=pfamazon01-20

He also did a book with Wheeler that was the definitive standard for General Relatiity but lacks some of the more recent research:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0716703440/?tag=pfamazon01-20

There's a couple of free ebooks here by Benjamin Crowell that are pretty good for the undergraduate/graduate level:

www.lightandmatter.com

We also have a thread on it that's a couple of years old:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/a-good-book-on-general-special-relativity.512125/

Lastly, here's a list of other titles to consider:

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/363/getting-started-self-studying-general-relativity

Thank you ! I will try to check out these books

 

[snatchingthepi]

Weinberg's book specifically covers these topics.

 

[kent davidge]

Weinberg's book specifically covers these topics.

I got this book after tht a couple days ago, and I like it!

 

[Electron Spin]

Oh no, snap...

! I just ordered some books and did not check here first!

Ohhhh!

Next time, I will conquer the world!

 

[Dragon27]

and others like Wald (undergraduate level):

I thought Wald's General Relativity (judging by the reviews and the preface of the book itself) was a graduate level textbook.

 

[jedishrfu]

I thought Wald's General Relativity (judging by the reviews and the preface of the book itself) was a graduate level textbook.

Wald wrote a resource letter on teaching GR to grads and undergrads:

https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0511073

He doesn't explicitly say what books he uses. At the end of the letter, in the bibliography he categorizes his book as a graduate book so you are right.

In my undergraduate days, I took an independent study under one physics prof who used Wheeler's Gravitation book provided as a preprint which is at the same level as Wald so I can believe that there are some undergrads who are using Wald's book to understand GR.

In this article they hint at using Wald as well as several other books as a basis for an undergraduate course in GR:

http://people.carleton.edu/~nchriste/pto000041.pdf

 

[The Bill]

In my undergraduate days, I took an independent study under one physics prof who used Wheeler's Gravitation book provided as a preprint which is at the same level as Wald so I can believe that there are some undergrads who are using Wald's book to understand GR.

MTW's Gravitation gets to the same level as Wald's General Relativity on topics they have in common, so they're on the same level in that sense. However, Gravitation has a slower paced, more conversational style and starts at an easier level.

 

[ibkev]

Also consider Sergei Winitzki's Advanced Topics in General Relativity which is also free.
His writing style is incredibly clear and concise and his book contains practical topics like the tradeoffs between coordinates and coordinate-free approaches.

https://sites.google.com/site/winitzki/index/topics-in-general-relativity