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INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING
Class. Quantum Grav. 21 (2004) 5675
Book review
A Relativist’s Toolkit
The Mathematics of Black-Hole Mechanics
E Poisson
2004 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
250 pp
ISBN 0-521-83091-5 (hardback) £35.00
This new textbook is intended for students familiar
with general relativity at the introductory level
of Bernard Schutz’s book A First Course in
General Relativity (1985 Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press) and not yet accomplished at the
advanced level of Robert Wald’s book General
Relativity (1984 Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press), upon which it nevertheless draws
rather heavily. What is distinctively new in this
book is that it is a real toolkit, and yet it is not
short of detailed applications. As such, it is a
helpful book to recommend to students making the
transition for which it is intended.
The idea of a new textbook on general
relativity usually delights me, as the field is still
changing rapidly. New perspectives find new
ways to present old things to new students. They
also have totally new things to present to us all,
based on the interests of the current research from
which they have grown. This new book presents
a wealth of useful tools to students in just five,
well integrated chapters, starting with a quick
review of the fundamentals and ending with an
extensive application of general relativity to black
hole spacetimes.
In his own words, Eric Poisson has
striven to present interesting topics and common
techniques not adequately covered in readily
available existing texts. This has certainly been
accomplished, in a synthesis extracted from many
sources. Congruences of geodesics, a staple
analytical tool, occupy a whole chapter, and
in greater depth and clarity than can be found
elsewhere. A thorough, and lengthy, presentation
on hypersurfaces, including a careful treatment
of the null case, carries the author’s unique
perspective. This treatment of hypersurfaces is
0264-9381/04/235675+01$30.00 © 2004 IOP Publishing Ltd
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM GRAVITY
www.iop.org/Journals/cq
put to practical use in the chapter on Lagrangian
and Hamiltonian formulations, which also leans on
recent quasilocal energy discussions and includes
an elegant treatment of the Bondi–Sachs mass in a
unified context.
Many of us have become familiar with the
careful, well thought out, pedagogical style of
the author, and this book certainly lives up to
that reputation. It has developed from a course
originating from Poisson, but now already given a
number of times by several different instructors, so
it is well battle-tested. Since Poisson has worked
extensively in many of the areas he covers, the book
also carries a personal touch, with an emphasis on
clarity. As intended, the influence of Werner Israel,
to whom the book is dedicated, shows through,
implicit in many places, and at times explicit as
well.
Probably my strongest quibble with the
content is the absence of a comprehensive
discussion of isolated and dynamical horizons,
which Ashtekar and coworkers have done so
much to develop recently. Students equipped
with the skills Poisson intends to impart would
do well to be prepared in this one particular
complementary area too. The potential reader
should also be cautioned that there is no treatment
of black hole perturbations. Though their role
in gravitational wave discussions is becoming
increasingly significant, their absence from this
book is justified on the grounds of space and
compatibility with the techniques presented.
Typographically, the book uses a clear,
adequately sized font, an essentially uniform
notation, and includes 40 line drawings which
helpfully illustrate the text. It is exceptionally well
proofread, as one might expect from the publisher
concerned. I believe it will give a thorough,
advanced preparation to any suitably prepared
student using it, and I will definitely recommend
it for students matching its intended audience.
B F Whiting
University of Florida, USA
Printed in the UK 5675