On Oct 16, 2024, at 17:57, W0LEV via groups.io <davearea51a@...> wrote:

 I have the *Gravitation* book by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler (publisher:
Princeton University Press, ISBN: 978-0-691-17779-3) . Even the first
chapter without math gives a good rendition of what's in store with
Einsten's General Theory. Yes, it's a difficult read for all the higher
math, but well worth it. I seriously doubt I'll finish it in "digested
manner" by the time I push up daisies.

In the first chapter on page 5 I especially like the quote:

"Space acts on matter, telling it how to move. In turn, matter reacts back
on space, telling it how to curve."

He uses an ant attempting to navigate the surface of an apple as an example
of the ultimate outcome of General Relativity with the stem as matter and
the surface of the apple as the curved (but straight) geodesic. It's a
masterful analogy but will bend one's mind even without all the math.

WARNING: If one decides to purchase this wonderful mind-bending book and
expects to "digest" it, one better right off the bat on opening the cover
get used to a 4- dimensioned coordinate system used ONLY to locate and
describe an event. Further, coordinates generally do not measure distance
in curved space/time. Nor are events described by some far off "reference
plane". Thought you knew plane and solid geometry. Better think
twice......

FURTHER WARNING: It rapidly becomes far deeper than that.

Dave - WØLEV


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Dave - WØLEV