Space, Time and Einstein: An Introduction

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Preface and acknowledgements......Page 10
Part I. Einstein's revolution......Page 12
1. From Aristotle to Hiroshima......Page 14
2. Einstein in a nutshell......Page 18
3. The twin paradox......Page 42
4. How to build an atomic bomb......Page 51
5. The four-dimensional universe......Page 61
6. Time travel is possible......Page 77
7. Can the mind understand the world?......Page 82
Part II. Philosophical progress......Page 86
8. Who invented space?......Page 88
9. Zeno's paradoxes: is motion impossible?......Page 103
10. Philosophers at war: Newton vs. Leibniz......Page 115
11. The philosophy of left and right......Page 137
12. The unreality of time......Page 144
13. General relativity: is space curved?......Page 150
14. The fall of geometry: is mathematics certain?......Page 160
15. The resurrection of absolutes......Page 170
16. The resilience of space......Page 183
Part III. Frontiers......Page 186
17. Faster than light: was Einstein wrong?......Page 188
18. The Big Bang: how did the universe begin?......Page 196
19. Black holes: trapdoors to nowhere......Page 199
20. Why haven't aliens come visiting?......Page 204
21. The inflationary and accelerating universe......Page 208
22. Should we believe the physicists?......Page 213
Appendix A. Spacetime diagrams......Page 218
Appendix B. Symmetry and Lorentz's minority interpretation......Page 233
Appendix C. Simple formulas for special relativity......Page 236
Appendix D. Websites......Page 238
Appendix E. Guide to further reading......Page 240
Index......Page 250