Easy Lessons in Einstein

Slosson’s Easy Lessons in Einstein is one of the first popularizations of Einstein’s theory of relativity. This book is meant to convey to the general reader the ideas of relativity in non-mathematical terms, by the use of thought experiements and pop-cultural references of the day. This edition also includes a short article by Einstein on Time, Space and Gravitation.

By : Edwin E. Slosson (1865 - 1929)

01 - A Prefatorial Dialogue, A New View of Gravitation 02 - Contradictory Experiments, The Conundrum of the Ages 03 - Paradoxes of Relativity, Are You Sure of Your Shape? 04 - Introducing the Fourth Dimension, Time as the Fouth Dimension 05 - A Worm's-Eye View of the World, Turning Time Backward, the Metaphysics of the Movies 06 - The Egocentric Theory of the Universe 07 - Non-Euclidean Geometry, Some Simple Examples 08 - The Eclipse Observations 09 - Who is Einstein? How to Lose Weight, A Substitute for Gravity 10 - The Weight of Light, Mutable Theories and Stable Facts, Scientific Versus Legal Laws 11 - Time, Space, and Gravitation, by Dr Albert Einstein

A Prefatorial Dialogue

( The Purpose of which is to Prevent the Prospective Reader from buying the Book under False Pretenses)

Scene : A street car in uniform movement of tran-lation in any direction

Time : The present.

The Reader (looking over the top of a morning paper): Here's something queer--a whole page taken with a new discovery in physics--" Eclipse Observations Con-firm Einstein's Theory of Relativity."

The Author: Yes. Here's a cartoon on it by Mc-Cutcheon

The Reader: Must be something to it then. Mc-Cutcheon always knows what's news. (Reads on with audible fragments) "Most sensational discovery in the his-tory of science"--"Greatest achieve-ment of the human intellect "--" Upsets Galileo, Newton, and Euclid "--Revo-Iution in philosophy and theology." It looks as though I ought to know some-thing about this, doesn't it?

The Author: I think you will have to sometime. And you might as well do it now and get it over with.

The Reader: (running down the column and hitting the hight spots) : " Parallel lines meet "--" a man moving with the speed of light never grows old "--" gravitation due to a warp in space "--"length of a measuring stick depends upon direc-tion of its motion "--" mass is latent energy "--" time as a fourth dimen- sion "--why, the man is crazy, isn't he?

The Author: Well, definitions of insanity are so un-certain that it is not safe to say who is crazy. But it seems there's method in his madness--otherwise how could he have hit upon the exact extent of the sun's attraction on light?

The Reader: (Picks up his paper and reads aloud with concentrated attention) "Postu-late I. Every law of nature which holds good with respect to a coordi-nate system K must also hold good for any other system K', provided that K and K' are in uniform movement of traslation." Say, do you know any-thing about this business?

The Author: Well, yes, a little. I have followed the controversy--at a safe distance--for a number of years.

The Reader: Can you tell me in plain language what it is  all about?

The Author: Yes. Just that. I can tell you what it is about, though I can't tell you what it is. Einstein says that there are only twelve men in the world capable of understanding his latest paper.

The Reader: Are you one  of the twelve?

The Author: No, nor the thirteenth. But without plunging into the mathematics of it, we might talk over some of the intersting aspects of the theory of relativity and in the end I could put you on track of the twelve so you could read up on the subject if you liked.

The Reader: All right. That's fair. This is a slow car anyhow. Go ahead.

The Author: ...---