Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition

By: Richard Wolfson, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Richard Wolfson

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

"It doesn't take an Einstein to understand modern physics," says Professor Wolfson at the outset of these twenty-four lectures on what may be the most important subjects in the universe: relativity and quantum physics. Both have reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind them are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. These dynamic and illuminating lectures begin with a brief overview of theories of physical reality starting with Aristotle and culminating in Newtonian or "classical" physics. After that, you'll follow along as Professor Wolfson outlines the logic that led to Einstein's profound theory of special relativity and the simple yet far-reaching insight on which it rests. With that insight in mind, you'll move on to consider Einstein's theory of general relativity and its interpretation of gravitation in terms of the curvature of space and time.

From there, you'll embark on a dazzling exploration of how inquiry into matter at the atomic and subatomic scales led to quandaries that are resolved-or at least clarified-by quantum mechanics, a vision of physical reality so profound and so at odds with our experience that it nearly defies language.

By bringing relativity and quantum mechanics into the same picture, you'll chart the development of fascinating hypotheses about the origin, development, and possible futures of the entire universe, as well as the possibility that physics can produce a "theory of everything" to account for all aspects of the physical world. But the goal throughout these lectures remains the same: to present the key ideas of modern physics in a way that makes them clear to the interested layperson.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

wow

general overview of all of physics, from classical physics through relativity and into String theory. Absolutely loved the teacher -- a very smart, eloquent educator!

Made it easy for me!

These lectures were so easy to follow along with because the teacher explained things in a language I could understand. There were times I wish I was watching a video demonstration but the majority of the time I could follow along in my minds eye. Well done, recommend to anyone I know.

Interesting info

While not even coming close to understanding the overall subject matter, I feel like there are pieces of this subject that I can understand better than before this course.

Great content but too many references to visuals.

The content in this audio book was very well developed and interesting. I would have given 5 stars but there were far too many references to visuals for an audio book. All and all great though.

Loved it

Where does Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

it's pretty good. Not the best ever but it was highly entertaining and it gave a great overview over the various topics

Have you listened to any of Professor Richard Wolfson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

this was the first from this author. He did absolutely great. Great enthusiasm, lot's of simple explanations on rather complicated topics.

Any additional comments?

One slight point; it seems a little outdated. Not easy to judge for me (I am absolutely not an expert in this field) but many references in the audiobook make me think it was recorded in the late 90's, perhaps early 2000 or so and several big inventions that were recently made are predicted in the book but not elaborated upon (eg Bigs Hosno particle, CERN, gravitational waves). Time for a version no. 3?

reasonably understandable

worth a shot if you have interest in learning about the theory of relativity and other physics topics.

so much more I have to learn.

kept me going from start to finish, really awesome way to spend time on the road

I can't wait for the next edition!

Dr Wolfson has an amazing ability to explain complex ideas in simple ways. Even without the images he referred to in his lectures, he allowed me to understand clearly. I eagerly await a new edition that will bring this up to present

Oldie But Goodie

It pains me to think of something from the 90s as old, but with the ever advancing knowledge of science, information gets dated pretty quickly, and as such, some of this material is no longer accurate.

With that said, I finished the whole thing in 48 hours. This is the simplest, most concise survey of physics (and really science itself) history that I've come across. I'm no scientist (far from it, thanks to my math allergy), but I felt like many concepts that I've learned, but never really grasped, are here presented in an entertaining and understandable way. The first 10 or so lectures on classical physics were my favorite. Maybe that's just me being a bear of little brain, but I could follow and understand. The explanations of special and general relativity, and the dive into quantum mechanics were fascinating and well presented (given "old" data), but it was a little harder for me because I have to take so much of it on faith.

This was a book that I bought thinking maybe I'd learn something, and I feel like instead I learned many orders of magnitude of somethings. I'm going to keep this one on hand and listen to it again next year to perhaps understand even a little deeper.

Finally, I give this book perhaps the greatest compliment a non fiction book can get: Now I'm hungry to learn more!

Perfect for the non-scientist!

So informative, from Relativity to QM, I learned so much. A must-have for anyone interested in astronomy.