Which book is the best for an introductory level approach to GR?

[UnderLaplacian]

Which book among Bernard Schutz , Stephani and d'Inverno is the best for an introductory level approach to GR ? I have read some tensor analysis from d'Inverno and have not found its treatment rigorous enough .

 

[Orodruin]

If you are looking for rigor on the tensor analysis part, I suggest picking up a separate textbook in tensor analysis. In general, GR textbooks - at least at an introductory level - will tend to give you a short crash course on tensor analysis sufficient to get you through the basics but not much more.

 

[smodak]

? I have read some tensor analysis from d'Inverno and have not found its treatment rigorous enough .

Could you explain this statement a bit more? I am not sure what you mean by 'not rigorous enough.'

Are you looking for something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226870332/?tag=pfamazon01-20, O'Neill, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521537800/?tag=pfamazon01-20 (or https://www.amazon.com/dp/1107032865/?tag=pfamazon01-20), https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199230722/?tag=pfamazon01-20 (or https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199666466/?tag=pfamazon01-20?)

 

[Student100]

I like Schutz, but what you may like could be vastly different. You should check out these texts from the library and see which fits your preferred style of textbook.

If you want to a "rigorous" treatment of tensor analysis you're going to have to look elsewhere like Orodruin said.

 

[vanhees71]

I don't know what you mean by "rigorous" either. Maybe you mean a more modern exposition of tensor analysis? Then perhaps the book by Straumann is good

N. Straumann, General Relativity, Springer (2013) (2nd edition)

 

[UnderLaplacian]

Sorry for the vague wording of my question . Thanks for all your suggestions though . A prof. in the high energy physics dept. of my university gave me the same advice that Orodruin did .

 

[vanhees71]

For a free resource, see the lecture notes by Matthias Blau

http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/newlecturesGR.pdf