Customer Reviews
THE book for GR - By: Guido, 08 Dec 2007 
This is not a book of general relativity, it is the book of relativity! It is clear, really stimulating & all comprehensive.
It is writtenin a very peculiar & colourful style, perhaps it is not the best choicein order to learn quickly the subject nor for quick reference. If you want to really understand & appreciate general relativity, well then here you come.
The most beautiful textbook to come out of the 1970s - By: Gavin Wilson, 25 Mar 2004 I used to drool over this bookin the university bookshop. It was, by far, the best laid-out textbook I had ever seen. It was expensive, even by the standards of 1980, the year I eventually bought it.
This probably disqualifies me as an Amazon reviewer, but I have to admit that I've never read it. I was a mathematician by degree, & am now a writer on marketing matters. Whenever I need inspiration on how to lay out & explain a complex concept which needs both words & diagrams, this is the book I return to.
The handbook of General Relativity - By: Javier A. Vizoso, 20 May 2001 I recognise "Gravitation" is not the best mathematical exposition of General Relativity, it is also 27 years old. Nevertheless, it is the best reference book if it goes with other more elementary texts, like B.Schutz, or with other approach, like Weinberg. "Gravitation" is huge, great, comprehensive, practically complete & has glossy paper. It must bein every theoretical physicist assortment. I recommend it not for beginners, but for those who have learnt at least a little about Relativity & Differential Geometry. It treats with:
- Review of Special Relativity - Flat elementary Differential Geometry. - Electromagnetism & Differential forms. - The Stress-Energy tensor. - Newtonian gravity. - Differential & Riemannian Geometry (a special approach for physicists). - Equivalence principle & field equation. - Variational principles. - Classical Physicsin curved spacetimes. - Relativistic stars. - Cosmology - Schwarzschild solution & black holes. - Global techniques & singularities (a little, for this I recommend Wald's book). - Gravitational waves. - Experimental tests. - Mathematical frontiers.
do not buy it!!! - By: joelgarcia1977@yahoo.com, 26 Apr 2001 
The mathematical background is all along set upin an unconsistent manner. Experimental data do not fit with modern experimental science ( cosmologyin particular). I would rather recommend to read "Introduction to gravitation" by Doctor J.Keats or to start with the "First introduction to general relativity" by Papa Shutz.
Amazing! - By: , 28 Jul 1998 The world would be less beautiful if this book didn't exist. What a remarkable feat! The sequence that leads from the very basic concept of spacetime to the computation of the components of Riemann tensor by using forms & the Cartan equations is unparalleled. A lot of mathematical formulas follow from simple reasoning & ... drawings! The introduction of Schild's ladder to motivate the axioms for a (torsionless) connection is very clever. The introduction of curvature by means of geodesic deviation is very intuitive. The derivation of the expression for the geodesic deviation (and, consequently, of the expression for the Riemann tensor) is, again, completely intuitive. The chapter on spinors is very beautiful & useful. Still, I would never recommend this book for a beginner. For it is absolutely non-linear. I have been told that this corresponds to the ideas of Wheeler's concerning learning. Sometimes an argument at chapter 4 (say) depends on something that is intr! oducedin chapter 8. Also, the three tracks (first, second & boxes)interfere all the time, requiring much discipline from the reader. If, however, you already learned the basics (for instance,in Landau, Lifshitz), so that you know what you are looking for, "Gravitation" is unbeatable, of a class apart. I've seen mathematicians adopting the language introduced by them to explain tensors: a slot for each argument of the multilinear machine! Last, not the least, the Index & the References are of the highest quality. This shows respect for the readers. Drs. Misner, Thorne & Wheeler are to be congratulated.
