from Cavendish Press Ann Arbor

For whom this book is intended

• a person of any age or occupation,
  
  
• who is not (at least yet) by profession a physicist,
  
  
• who doesn't want to pass up the chance to know about relativity,
  
  
• doesn't have time to plough through dense and copious mathematical arguments, but
  
  
• isn't satisfied with a popular book that sacrifices thoroughness and depth in order to avoid math,
  
  
• wants to see and be able to do the problems that show how relativity applies to real examples,
  
  
• would enjoy the true adventure story of one of the most intriguing science mystery tales,
  
  
• is willing to invest some time and thought, but appreciates the gradual increase in difficulty that permits him or her to choose how far to go, at least for now, along the road from the beginning to spacetime.

Richard Schlegel, a physicist, wrote, "We study the liberal arts because we are trying to answer certain haunting, fundamental questions... [I suggest] that physics is the most important of the liberal arts."

With a modest investment of time and effort, any liberal arts student can develop an understanding of relativity – not merely an acquaintance with it – just as he or she develops insight into the history of the French Revolution and the religious thought of Far Eastern Civilizations.

The physicists who, in 1948, started the journal Physics Today likewise believed that, as the founding editor, David Katcher, put it, "... there is a vast body of educated citizenry walled off from an understanding of physics by its terminology and its disciplines. They are aware of its impact and would like to peer into its depths, be it for curiosity, a feeling that it may have an 'answer' of some sort, or simply because it makes them uncomfortable to have something important go rumbling on outside their ken."

If you'd like to "peer into the depths" for a bit, this book is intended to give you the chance.

How much math will I need to know? The Lillian Lieber doctrine
What is unique about "A serious but not ponderous book about Relativity?"
confidential to physiscs teachers and professors

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