BOOKS
MTH 437/537
Required Textbook:
-
Ray d'Inverno,
Introducing Einstein's relativity,
Oxford University Press, 1991.
Books on Reserve:
The above text, as well as the items below, are currently
on reserve
at the library.
A number of
books on special relativity are also
on reserve.
-
Bernard F. Schutz,
A first course in general relativity,
Cambridge University Press, 1985.
A good, easy introduction to the basics of both tensors and general
relativity.
-
Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler,
Gravitation,
Freeman, San Fransisco, 1973.
The physicist's bible of general relativity. Exhaustively complete.
-
Robert M. Wald,
General relativity,
University of Chicago Press, 1984.
The best available introduction to general relativity for advanced
students, but uses sophisticated notation (which has become the standard
for researchers in the field).
-
Rainer K. Sachs,
General relativity for mathematicians,
Springer, New York, 1977.
A very pure mathematical treatment of general relativity.
Requires a strong background in differential geometry.
(Historical footnote: Sachs was my major professor.)
-
Richard L. Bishop & Samuel I. Goldberg
Tensor Analysis on Manifolds,
Macmillan, New York, 1968; Dover, New York, 1980.
A good reference for tensors.
Other Books:
A description of some books on differential forms and differential geometry
can be found here.