How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog Paperback – February 28, 2012

Chad Orzel's How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is a terrific book for anyone wanting to learn more about the elementary physics from the basics of the tehroy of relativity to the speed of light to more complex notions associated with blackholes, the curvature of the universe, and particle science. We also learn what is happening at CERN. Did you know that physicists there have developed conditions to create their own black hole? But to make this physics more fun, Dr. Orzel presents his teaching to his beloved dog, Emmy. Whether her attemping to trick her master into giving her more treats or making backhanded comments about her number one nemesis, the black cat, Nero, she adds a delightful comic relief that keeps the reader entertained. Dr. Orzel's clever introduction of Emmy further allows us to see how physics plays a key role in the everyday life of humans and dogs and even cats alike. This is one book that can make anyone a physics enthusiast, even those previously wary of science. I can definitely see this work as even a supplement to any physics class, as it is one physics book you will not want to put down as it has one of the cutest and furriest teaching assistants you'll ever have.

Given the title of the book and the use of a dog as an interlocutor, one might expect this to be a trivialized, or even a very easy book on the subject of Relativity Theory – it is not. I make this assessment as a retired materials scientist who has prepared a course on Einstein for the senior community in which I live. To do so, I have read a great many of the general treatments of Special and General Relativity, including most that are listed in the suggested reading list at the back of this book. Compared to the rest of the books, I would rate this one as being of intermediate difficulty. It is surly not a comic treatment or a trivial one, but one that deals with aspects of Relativity Theory that are quite complex and that are therefore left out of many other treatments.What is in the book and why I rate this book as being of intermediate difficulty – The book covers both Special and General Relativity and their applications to cosmology and the attempt to unify Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. The book employs some equations (with a typographical error in the fourth of Maxwell’s Equations), but does not do much with them. It also introduces some very complicate aspects of space-time geometry that are wisely left out of many other books written for a general audience. I found the chapters devoted to space-time geometry to be very complex and not at all clear. Fortunately, I had previously read Mermin’s “It’s About Time”, which is referenced in Orzel’s book. Mermin devotes much more of his book to this difficult concept, and I wish that Orzel had done likewise. Mermin’s book is more complete in its treatment, as it derives ideas that are only stated or partially derived in Orzel’s book, but Mermin’s book requires much more effort on the part of the reader to get the most from it. I got the impression that Orzel was attempting to simplify the approach provided by Mermin, which is a good thing for one desiring an understanding of the basics of relativity, as Mermin’s book is in my opinion quite an undertaking for someone without the proper background. However, I found that I needed Mermin’s book to supplement what was covered in Orzel’s book.I found Orzel’s book to be a useful addition to my library on the subject of relativity. It clarified several ideas for me, but I feel that this book is a bit too complex for someone just interested in a “talking dog” overview of relativity, especially since the dog in question was much more acquainted with physics and Relativity Theory than the average prospective reader of the book. I would recommend Wolfson’s “Simply Einstein” for a very good introduction to relativity – one that does not use any math (except in a 4-page appendix) or complex space-time geometry, although it is discussed in a very general manner – much more simply than the discussions in Orzel’s book. I recommend Taylor and Wheeler’s “Space Time Physics” for an introductory treatment that uses simple mathematics, but in a complete fashion and along with solved problems that provide a firmer grasp of the subject. Space Time Physics does a much better job of explaining space-time geometry, clarifying aspects of this subject that I found confusing in Orzel’s book. Mermin’s book is also a good choice for a reader willing to invest the time and effort to get the most from it, but I would rate is as more advanced than Orzel’s book.

The level of this book was just right for me. I am just an interested amateur. It required virtually no mathematics knowledge. It had all of my favorite examples and explanations and much more that I was not familiar with. It was also entertaining.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author did a great job of providing the big picture of relativity without having to resort to very much math. I'm an engineer and so have taken several high school and university-level physics courses; I believe that I (and my fellow students) would have benefited from first reading this book, before the big picture was, if not lost, then obscured by the oft times difficult math associated with relativity. Teaching relativity through conversations with Emmy the dog was very cleaver and effective! I would recommend this book to high school and beginning college students who are about to take physics and anyone who is interested in relativity without wanting to wade through the gory math details.

As a physicist in another field, I thought this was a great conceptual review of the main ideas of relatively. However, I don't think one has to be a physicist to understand! The last chapter was a particularly good summary of the standard model and four forces - all explained in an entertaining, easy to read package.

If you're imagining a physicist taking metaphorical advantage of canine nature to explore the understanding of physics, forget it. The book has nothing to do with dogs' minds, but relies on stereotypical expectations of dog behaviors by way of an anthropomorphic dog character who speaks several languages. The physics is fine, but gosh, it's been explained this way before.

A pretty good introduction to relativity, including special and general relativity. The conversations with the dog are cute at first, but rapidly got annoying and you can just skip past them. The explanations are very clear. Worth reading if you're interested in the gist of Einstein without the math.

The author uses imaginary conversations with his dog to introduce the chapters and main sections. These conversations very nicely bring out the questions that non-scientists would ask about relativity. Then the author explains the concepts in non-technical and understandable language.This book is a fun, informative read!