Gravitation and Inertia

• Publisher:   Princeton University Press
• Number Of Pages:   576
• Publication Date:   1995-07-24
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0691033234
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780691033235

Einstein's standard and battle-tested geometric theory of gravity--spacetime tells mass how to move and mass tells spacetime how to curve--is expounded in this book by Ignazio Ciufolini and John Wheeler. They give special attention to the theory's observational checks and to two of its consequences: the predicted existence of gravitomagnetism and the origin of inertia (local inertial frames) in Einstein's general relativity: inertia here arises from mass there.

The authors explain the modern understanding of the link between gravitation and inertia in Einstein's theory, from the origin of inertia in some cosmological models of the universe, to the interpretation of the initial value formulation of Einstein's standard geometrodynamics; and from the devices and the methods used to determine the local inertial frames of reference, to the experiments used to detect and measure the "dragging of inertial frames of reference." In this book, Ciufolini and Wheeler emphasize present, past, and proposed tests of gravitational interaction, metric theories, and general relativity. They describe the numerous confirmations of the foundations of geometrodynamics and some proposed experiments, including space missions, to test some of its fundamental predictions--in particular gravitomagnetic field or "dragging of inertial frames" and gravitational waves.

John Archibald Wheeler does not need any introduction,neither by me, nor by anybody else:he is simply the greatest living authority on General Relativity!This book, written together with Ignazio Ciufolini,is as interesting as all his other books,and is well worth the price,despite what our friend Johngorno says!!
However,Johngorno is right in one respect:when the authors say ,in the Preface(page ix),that the "book may be used as an introduction to general relativity..." ,they are misleading the prospective reader!As a matter of fact ,if you have not had at least an introductory course in GR ,such as "A first course in General Relativity" by B.F. Schutz,don't even think about reading this book.Even the Mathematical Appendix at the end is not enough for someone not familiar with tensor calculus.The unaware reader who reaches page 21 ,for example,is hit on the head with the expression giving the Christoffel symbols as a function of the metric components: how is he or she supposed to guess that the comma represents a partial derivative,that sigma is a dummy index ,and therefore that there is a sum involved in this expression?He or she might turn to the mathematical index ,which will direct him or her to the Appendix,page 427,but this won't help much:the summation convention is not explained there,but at page 425,and in a very inconspicuous fashion!
So,albeit a great book on gravitation theory and experiment, this is definitely not an introduction to Einstein's theory of gravitation.It is rather aimed at the real "cognoscenti" in the field.
But if the book's contents are outstanding, the same cannot be said with regards the form:the pictures are quite poor for a book priced at more than $90, and the paper is not that good either.Too bad!

I purchased my copy used (20$) and (after my initial delight at the bargain) was disappointed. I had hoped for a more technical intermediate-level expansion of Wheeler's intriguing but vague "Journey into Gravity and Spacetime." This book is instead largely a hodge-podge of specialty articles of interest only to advanced professionals in the field. Unless you have money to burn, invest it in another text, like "Gravitation," by Thorne, Wheeler, etc., which isn't great but is useful.

This book tought me a lot about the physics of gravitation and inerti

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