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klacebo's review against another edition
4.0
If I were completely subjective, as I am coming from an engineering background, and I'm already familiar with everything mentioned in the book, I would rate it much lower. But the fact is, it has no difficult mathematics, and the tone of the book should be understandable to people coming from non-scientific backgrounds, and as such, it is an excellent starting point.
A fun fact, the book was published in 2011, before the announcement by CERN in 2012 of the experimental discovery of the Higgs boson. Thus some of the parts of what you read in this book are confirmed, and you will also understand what the big deal was with said announcement.
A fun fact, the book was published in 2011, before the announcement by CERN in 2012 of the experimental discovery of the Higgs boson. Thus some of the parts of what you read in this book are confirmed, and you will also understand what the big deal was with said announcement.
bored_chloe's review against another edition
5.0
An interesting dive into physics, simple to understand as the explanations are fairly simple. I'm not sure how easy to understand it would be for someone less interested in physics but I suppose most people reading this book would have some interest in the subject. It was also written well and in an engaging way and would recommend to anyone wanting to learn a little more about physics as its a lot less intimidating than trying to sign up for university classes or reading convoluted articles on the internet with too many fancy words.
melanija's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
jacobmorrall's review against another edition
3.0
I want to clarify that this is a brilliant science book and explains special relativity well. My qualm with it, is that it is written without assuming any mathematical knowledge and this means that there are sections that could be far more concise than they are by using equations. This is a hard balance to strike and I don't think it was quite right for this topic. While I understand that the point was to teach people, who aren't overly scientific, about a hard physics theory I think it could've been helped by a more mathematical style.
reasonpassion's review against another edition
5.0
Completely amazing in elucidating a point of physics that is at once dauntingly difficult and also horribly misunderstood and misused by a great many spiritualists. Cox, with his British wit and charm and frequent reminders of chalk-covered professors, brings without much math this most elegant and incredible of equations to life beginning with the simplest of notions and proceeding to rock the phenomenological world off its hinges. None of this is to say the book is simple, there are concepts here not for the faint of intellectual heart, but as a conceptualization, Cox brings both special and general relativity to a plane that is accessible and mind-expanding.
stephriggs25's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
marriott's review against another edition
5.0
Suddenly, all the bits I remember from my A-levels (years ago) came flying together in an eye opening, perspective enlarging, big bang of clarity!