[BunnyGo]

blackshoe, on 2011-July-04, 18:33, said:

I have Rubens' book. I started reading it, and while I don't admit this very often, it was a bit - perhaps quite a bit - over my head, so I put it aside. I'll pick it up again in a while, and see how it goes. Eventually, I'll get through it.

In fact, my first impression of this book reminded me of my experience with Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler's Gravitation. I never did get through that one.

Actually, any physicists out there that can recommend a good text on General Relativity? Gravitation was a good one, at least for the "geometric" approach, or so I understood when I bought it back in the 70's, shortly after it was published. I was a graduate student in Nuclear Engineering, though, not theoretical physics, so perhaps I didn't push it as hard as I might have. I no longer have the book, unfortunately. IAC, it seems likely, or at least possible, that better texts have been written in the past 40 years.

BTW, I have a BS in physics, and as I recall I had no trouble with Special Relativity, at least as taught at the undergraduate level. I probably remember most of it, once I get back into it, too.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

Einstein's "Relativity" was a really good read. Dense, but very well written (and short).

[blackshoe]

Hm. I read that, or parts of it, back in the day. Maybe my long term memory is in worse shape than I thought.

[whereagles]

Try Weinberg's book:

http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/0471925675

[Mbodell]

inquiry, on 2011-July-04, 14:56, said:

Actually, there seems to be two reviews on amazon, one gives it five stars out of five, the other four out of five. I have both this one and Ruben's Expert Bridge Simplified. Let me say that Jeff Ruben's book is by far superior. Bridge, Probability & Information has some interesting ways to approach certain problems, and some different ways to explain a priori verus a posteriori calculations as it relates to a bridge hand, it was difficult for me to follow, and of course, bridge issues that should get in the way of the statistical calculations are either ignored or glossed over frequently. This does not greatly distract from the enjoyment of working out the problems even if you sometimes or frequently disagree. However, I would guide anyone serious about this topic to Ruben's book first.

I think different people learn differently so some people might well find BP&I much easier to follow and learn from than EBS. I enjoyed both books (I bought these and the updated Love at the same national and enjoyed greatly all 3).

[blackshoe]

Thanks, Whereagles, I'll add it to my wish list.

[nige1]

inquiry, on 2011-July-04, 14:56, said:

Actually, there seems to be two reviews on amazon, one gives it five stars out of five, the other four out of five. I have both this one and Ruben's Expert Bridge Simplified. Let me say that Jeff Ruben's book is by far superior. Bridge, Probability & Information has some interesting ways to approach certain problems, and some different ways to explain a priori versus a posteriori calculations as it relates to a bridge hand, it was difficult for me to follow, and of course, bridge issues that should get in the way of the statistical calculations are either ignored or glossed over frequently. This does not greatly distract from the enjoyment of working out the problems even if you sometimes or frequently disagree. However, I would guide anyone serious about this topic to Ruben's book first.

Amazon UK has a single review and that awards only one star to the book

[matmat]

nige1, on 2011-July-06, 07:03, said:

Amazon UK has a single review and that awards only one star to the book

I put the MacKinnon book down after ten pages or so. The writing style is not something I enjoy. Given some of the comments in this thread I may try to pick it up again and slog through a little more to see if I can get something useful out of it.