Good Beginner's General Relativity Books?

[BadgerBadger92]

I want to learn General Relativity so I am looking for a good beginners book with low amounts of math and clear explanations. Any suggestions?

 

[dextercioby]

GR is typically a last-level education in university standard physics, so we can only ask what your background in physical theories and mathematics is.
Until I know something, try some popularization books by the late Stephen Hawking.

 

[martinbn]

Geroch - "Relativity from A to B"

 

[PeroK]

I want to learn General Relativity so I am looking for a good beginners book with low amounts of math and clear explanations. Any suggestions?

I suggest you need to focus on SR and first try to understand the basic ideas of spacetime. There's no point in looking at GR until you have to some extent mastered SR.

You can, of course, read popular science books on GR and they will give you a flavour of the subject, but they can never give an understanding of the subject. In particular, without mathematics you cannot get more than a flavour of the physics.

For SR you could try Morin, the first chapter of which is free:

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/david-morin/files/relativity_chap_1.pdf

 

[madscientist_93]

Flat and Curved Space-Times ( Second edition ) - GFR Ellis and Ruth Williams.
A short course in General Relativity ( Third edition ) - James Foster and David Nightingale.

These can be readable only if you are familiar with Special relativity as others advised.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You have a few threads on "I'd likento learn advanced physics, only without the foundations or math". This is unlikely to work.

 

[Daverz]

John Wheeler, A Journey into Gravity and Spacetime

 

[Demystifier]

Collier, A Most Incomprehensible Thing: Notes Towards a Very Gentle Introduction to the Mathematics of Relativity
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JRJ1VK/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[vanhees71]

I like Landau&Lifshitz vol. 2. It provides the minimal necessary math (Ricci calculus using holonomous bases for given coordinates) and uses without much ado Hamilton's principle.

A bit more detailed an written for undergrads is

R. J. Adler, General Relativity and Cosmology: A First Encounter, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham (2021),
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61574-1

 

[Demystifier]

R. J. Adler, General Relativity and Cosmology: A First Encounter, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham (2021)

Not the same Adler as in Adler Bazin Schiffer. Just sayin'.

 

[vanhees71]

Interesting. How do you know? Both authors' first name is Ronald... BTW this older book is also very good, but definitely more at the graduate level:

R. Adler, M. Bazin and M. Schiffer, Introduction to general
relativity, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 2 edn. (1975).

 

[Demystifier]

Interesting. How do you know? Both authors' first name is Ronald... BTW this older book is also very good, but definitely more at the graduate level:

R. Adler, M. Bazin and M. Schiffer, Introduction to general
relativity, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 2 edn. (1975).

Actually, I was wrong. It's the same Adler. The Amazon page of the new book says "...He is the co-author of a classic textbook on general relativity and has devoted over half a century to teaching physics students at a number of universities. ..."

I was misled by "J" and by a big time gap.

 

[Anachronist]

I want to learn General Relativity so I am looking for a good beginners book with low amounts of math and clear explanations. Any suggestions?

I agree with others that you should get an understanding of Special Relativity first, and then move on to General Relativity.

For Special Relativity, try this "for dummies" article: https://www.dummies.com/article/aca...e/physics/einsteins-special-relativity-193336
I don't konw why the "for dummies" publisher doesn't expand this topic into a book.