(1) Einstein's Theory of Relativity (2) Space and Time: an Experimental Physicist's Conception of these Ideas and of their Alteration (3) The Theory of Relativity

Abstract

IT is nearly twenty years since Einstein wrote his epoch-making paper on the electrodynamics of moving bodies, in which the fundamental principles of the theory of relativity were first clearly enunciated, and apparently the theory is now approaching the completion of the stage of formal development on one hand and of popular exposition on the other. Writers are beginning to turn their attention to work of a more critical character on the roots of the theory — its logical bases and fundamental concepts — and to the detailed investigation of its outlying branches, spreading far into distant regions — the quantum theory, cosmological theories, and so forth. The three books under review are typical of this process in some respects, and each is well worthy of the reader's attention.

(1) Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

By Prof. Max Born. Translated by Henry L. Brose. Pp. xi + 293. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1924.) 12s. net.

(2) Space and Time: an Experimental Physicist's Conception of these Ideas and of their Alteration.

By Prof. Carl Benedicks. Pp. xiv + 98. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1924.) 4s. net.

(3) The Theory of Relativity.

By Dr. L. Silberstein. Second edition, enlarged. Pp. x + 563. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1924.) 25s. net.