Understanding Einstein: The Special Theory of Relativity

A Stanford University Online Course

Larry Randles Lagerstrom, Instructor

Suggested Readings

The following list contains books that might be of interest to students who want to continue to learn
about Einstein and/or relativity. There are hundreds of books on Einstein, so note that many good books
on him and/or relativity do not appear. Some of the books below focus on the special theory, while
others are on related aspects or take a broader view.

Calaprice, Alice, ed. 2011. The Ultimate Quotable Einstein. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cushing, James T. 1998. Philosophical Concepts in Physics: The Historical Relation between Philosophy
and Scientific Theories. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. [Has several chapters on
special and general relativity, including a chapter on the Kaufmann experiment.]
Einstein, Albert. 1979. Autobiographical Notes. Translated and edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp. La Salle,
Ill.: Open Court Publishing. [Originally published 1949.]
Einstein, Albert. 1985. Ideas and Opinions. [A collection of many of Einstein’s writings on a variety of
topics. First published 1954.]
Einstein, Albert. 2005. The Meaning of Relativity. Princeton: Princeton Science Library. [Originally
published 1922.]
Everett, Allen and Thomas Roman. 2012. Time Travel and Warp Drives: A Scientific Guide to Shortcuts
through Time and Space. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Covers the twin paradox and much
more. For the general reader, with math and derivations mainly confined to the appendixes.]
French, A.P. 1968. Special Relativity. New York: W.W. Norton. [A classic textbook on special relativity. It
assumes a basic knowledge of physics and mathematics at the level of college freshmen and
sophomores.]
Galison, Peter. 2003. Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: Empires of Time. New York: W.W. Norton. [A
prominent historian of physics reveals some of the connections between the 19th-century
technology of timekeeping and the ideas of Einstein and Henri Poincaré.]
Galison, Peter L., Gerald Holton, and Silvan S. Schweber, eds. 2008. Einstein for the 21st Century: His
Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [A collection of
articles by leading Einstein scholars.]
Isaacson, Walter. 2007. Albert Einstein: His Life and Universe. New York: Simon and Schuster. [A recent
very good biography of Einstein.]
Mermin, N. David. 2005. It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. [Based on a course by a well-known physicist at Cornell University. Designed for
non-science majors, though basic equations and algebraic manipulations are used.]
Miller, Arthur I. 1998. Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity: Emergence (1905) and Early
Interpretation (1905-1911). [A detailed history of the background and development of the special
theory of relativity.]
Miller, Arthur I. 2001. Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc. New York: Basic
Books. [Draws connections between the history of science and the history of art, focusing on
Einstein and Picasso as contemporaries of each other.]
More, Thomas A. 1995. A Traveler’s Guide to Spacetime: An Introduction to the Special Theory of
 Relativity. New York: McGraw-Hill. [A good introduction that goes a little farther than our course in
some of the details.]
Orzel, Chad. 2012. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog. New York: Basic Books. [A very readable
introduction to relativity, both special and general. Mainly qualitative, with a few equations here
and there. A good book to reinforce the concepts of our course.]
Pais, Abraham. 1982. ‘Subtle is the Lord’: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. [The best science-oriented biography of Einstein, written by a physicist who knew
him.]
Resnick, Robert. 1968. Introduction to Special Relativity. New York: John Wiley and Sons. [Like French’s
book listed above, another classic textbook on special relativity. It assumes a basic knowledge of
physics and mathematics at the level of college freshmen and sophomores.]
Rigden, John S. 2005. Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press. [A nice presentation of Einstein’s scientific work during the miracle year.]
Smolin, Lee. 2007. The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What
Comes Next. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. [A well-written tour and critique of string theory and related
matters for the general reader by a leading theoretical physicist. Chapters 13 and 14 discuss the
possibility of the theory of special relativity being wrong under certain circumstances and introduce
the idea of “doubly special relativity.”]
Stachel, John. 2005. Einstein’s Miraculous Year: Five Papers that Changed the Face of Physics. Centenary
ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Reprints of the original papers, in English translation, plus
commentary by a leading Einstein scholar.]
Styer, Daniel F. 2011. Relativity for the Questioning Mind. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. [Another
recent good book that covers much of what our course covers.]
Takeuchi, Tatsu. 2010. An Illustrated Guide to Relativity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [An
introduction to special relativity that relies primarily on spacetime diagrams.]
Taylor, Edwin F. and John Archibald Wheeler. 1992. Spacetime Physics: Introduction to Special Relativity.
Second ed. New York: W.H. Freeman. [A classic text. Does some things differently than our course,
but also goes much farther. A good book for those who want to take the next step in their
understanding of relativity.]
Taylor, Edwin F. and John Archibald Wheeler. 2000. Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General
Relativity. [Sequel to their Spacetime Physics book. Requires an elementary knowledge of calculus
and special relativity.]
Thorne, Kip S. 1994. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy. New York: W.W.
Norton. [A very interesting journey through the history and science of black holes, written by one of
the pioneers in the field.]