Gravitation
by Charles W. Misner · first published 1973
55% recommend45% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Authoritative general relativity textbook that doubles as a math primer, with a dual-track structure and plenty of visual explanation; suits serious learners with calculus and linear algebra.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
physics
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Map Projections: A Reference Manual - John P. Snyder Gravitation - Misner, Wheeler, Thorne Already mentioned: (it's a goody) Linear Representations of Finite Groups - Serre
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗Reddit's r/AskScience recommended MTW's Gravitation[1], Wald's General Relativity[2], and, to begin, Sean Carroll's GR lecture notes[3]. Shameless affiliate links: [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0716703440/ref=as_li_qf_sp_... [2] http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=sdbo07-20&o=1&p=8&l...…
on “Einstein for Everyone ” ↗…in a separate room in the basement. > Textbook-level treatment of a subject is usually very shallow Maybe the ones you read are. The ones Caltech uses aren't, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Gravitation-Charles-W-Misner/dp/06911...
on “The Catherine Project: A new experiment in liberal education” ↗I had no idea Kip Thorne was a producer for this. For non-physicists, Thorne is one of the authors of _the_ general relativity book for graduates, _Gravitation_ [1]. It's this huge telephone book sized tome that was published in 1973, and while it has fallen behind the times with respect to experimental data included in it, it is still unparallelled in scope…
on “On the Science of Interstellar” ↗Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler The Road to Reality by Penrose The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli "For a long time, we have tried to understand the world in terms of some primary substance. Perhaps…
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗Gravitation, by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald
on “Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?” ↗When I first started asking friends about SR/GR, they pointed me to 'Gravitation' by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler. I really appreciated the "dual track" nature of the book, and for a long time it acted as my "What do I need to learn next, to understand the concept I was trying to read…
on “What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists” ↗When I first started asking friends about SR/GR, they pointed me to 'Gravitation' by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler. I really appreciated the "dual track" nature of the book, and for a long time it acted as my "What do I need to learn next, to understand the concept I was trying to read…
on “What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists” ↗I can't recommend the book, 'Prime Obsession' by John Derbyshire enough. 'Gravity' by Hartle is invaluable and quite accessible. If you have a strong background in calculus, you can also check out 'Gravitation' by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.
on “So You Want to Learn Physics” ↗Feynman's PhD advisor, John Wheeler, together with Charles Misner and Kip Thorns, wrote a textbook on general relativity called Gravitation. It's gigantic, 1200 pages, and its tone is similar to the Feynman lectures. And it is at least partially a math textbook, as it includes a fairly complete introduction to Riemannian geometry.
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗…can see how distances change along the way. The problem is that we run very quickly out of "real estate" to show the curvature. If you are a highly visual person I could recommend you to get a copy of Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, Wheeler. It is a masterpiece and comes with huge amounts of visual intuition.
on “Gravity Is Not Like the Other Forces” ↗…in General Relativity itself is still elusive. I'll largely stick with the theory, which I guess is what you are interested in.[1] The topic is in Part VIII (Chapter 35) of Misner, Thorne & Wheeler's Gravitation ("MTW"), which is the gold standard reference/textbook for General Relativity. I will later try to briefly summarize the section. Instead, first, at the root of my answer is the non-linear nature of…
on “Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?” ↗…such, play golf with old programs in new and differently powerful languages. Also, read more. You'd be amazed at how many great SF novels you can read in a year, or how quickly you can devour Misner's Gravitation at a few pages a day. I think the overwhelming point of all this advice is to have fun. Do things that induce flow.
on “HN: How can I make my brain/mind sharp again?” ↗‘Gravitation’ by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler. It is still a tremendous resource for all of the science and math of Special and General Relativity. A bit off topic, but I’d add the complete collections of Calvin &…
on “Ask HN: Coffee table books” ↗…are some resources. Intro To SR: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-20-introduction-to-spe... Intro to GR: http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/lectures/genrel_201... Further reading on GR: Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, Wheeler. Intro to QED: http://sophia.dtp.fmph.uniba.sk/~peterp/QED_A.pdf http://hepwww.rl.ac.uk/hepsummerschool/Evans%2008%20Intro%20... https://www-thphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/people/FrancescoHautmann...…
on “Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology” ↗