Jeffrey Forshaw

Nice read. I did not know that its not exactly "energy" that is equal to mass times the speed of light squared. However, Brian Cox tends to be very scatter brained while discussing the issues of relativity and space-time curvature. He will sometimes wander from topic to topic while discussing something in-depth and it took a bit for me to keep track of where he was. I would have also liked to have seen more math. Cox spends several paragraphs each chapter apologizing to the layman about the two to three equations he presents in the succeeding sentences and then presents an equivalent to the Pythagorean theorem. I get it Brian, you are excited to share physics with the lay man, but you don't need to assume that no one has ever had calculus or, indeed, even algebra. Give us some credit and explain things with equations. If you want to pander, give the equation and explain in detail what it means so we can chew over it.… (más)

Einstein’s theory of special relativity for dummies. Which, in this case, is probably most of us.
It will be hard for someone to come up with a simpler way to explain Einstein’s work - if you’re well versed on maths or physics, you will probably find this annoying or maybe too dumbed down. But this isn’t for you - it’s for all people that are curious about Einstein and our universe, can follow a logical discussion, but are not technical enough to follow a more detailed explanation. Not that this isn’t detailed, but Cox and Forshaw go to great lengths to hold your hand along the way and explain it all, using analogies and not a lot of maths to make their point.
And it works. You might feel a bit lost at times, but things will fall into place. And hopefully you will also be able to appreciate the beauty of Einstein’s ideas.… (más)

First, a disclaimer. I have a degree in Physics so have studied Quantum Mechanics (QM) at degree level. Therefore I didn't read this as a lay person (it's intended target audience), so YMMV.

I was hoping that if anyone could make QM accessible to the layman it would be Prof. Brain Cox. Sadly, in my opinion, this isn't the case.

The book starts with a brief history of the beginning of the subject (which I found interesting), but when the author starts to describe the actual theory things start to unravel. In what I assume is an attempt to reduce the amount of maths in the book, he uses a 'clock system' to try and explain the theory. To my mind trying to explain it this way made no sense - if you don't have a solid understanding of the basics of the subject then you stand no chance of understanding the harder stuff once you reach it, and to truly understand the basics you need to understand the maths.

Approximately half way through the clock system is retired and maths starts to assert itself. I could almost hear the author think 'hmmm, this clock thing isn't really working, I'm going to have to start using maths'. However by then I think it's too little too late.

It wasn't all bad though; I enjoyed the last chapter on the death of stars. However overall this book reinforced my opinion that it's not possible to understand QM without a suitable high level understanding of maths (despite how elitist that may sound!).

… (más)