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iceeckos12's review
2.0
This falls closer to a 2.5/5, but I'm rounding down for reasons I'll explain below.
I want to preface this by saying that I'm currently in Calc II, and I've read a few surface-level astrophysics books, the kind of which was described in the intro by Carroll. That is to say that I'd like to think I'm not completely ignorant to this particular subject, and was in fact very excited by the concept of this book.
However the reason I gave a 2.5 and rounded down was because I believe that this book failed to deliver on its whole premise, which was again outlined in the intro.
Like I said, I'm currently in Calc II and have taken basic physics before. In the intro, Carroll stated that you didn't need more than basic high school algebra to understand this book - which in my opinion was just flat-out untrue (or I'm more of a blockhead when it comes to math than I realized). Despite reading and rereading passages, I found myself bewildered for the majority of this book. Carroll would outline some complicated mathematical concept, and then go "so OBVIOUSLY based on /this/ we can make /that/ assumption - " when, no! It really isn't that obvious! (I STILL have no idea what a metric tensor is.)
I really wanted to like this book, but I simply couldn't get into it. I learned a lot of interesting terms, and the final few sections about black holes were absolutely fascinating, but I can already tell that none of the more complicated underlying concepts are going to stick.
I guess the bottom line is - Carroll assumed too much of his reader's ability to understand his technical jargon.
I want to preface this by saying that I'm currently in Calc II, and I've read a few surface-level astrophysics books, the kind of which was described in the intro by Carroll. That is to say that I'd like to think I'm not completely ignorant to this particular subject, and was in fact very excited by the concept of this book.
However the reason I gave a 2.5 and rounded down was because I believe that this book failed to deliver on its whole premise, which was again outlined in the intro.
Like I said, I'm currently in Calc II and have taken basic physics before. In the intro, Carroll stated that you didn't need more than basic high school algebra to understand this book - which in my opinion was just flat-out untrue (or I'm more of a blockhead when it comes to math than I realized). Despite reading and rereading passages, I found myself bewildered for the majority of this book. Carroll would outline some complicated mathematical concept, and then go "so OBVIOUSLY based on /this/ we can make /that/ assumption - " when, no! It really isn't that obvious! (I STILL have no idea what a metric tensor is.)
I really wanted to like this book, but I simply couldn't get into it. I learned a lot of interesting terms, and the final few sections about black holes were absolutely fascinating, but I can already tell that none of the more complicated underlying concepts are going to stick.
I guess the bottom line is - Carroll assumed too much of his reader's ability to understand his technical jargon.
nerdy_scholar's review
5.0
One of the best science books I have read in a long time. This innovative book mixes mathematics with plain language in a perfect mixture for the lay reader with a curious mind. Guaranteed it won't make one a physicist, but you would come away with a lot more knowledge than you started with.
david_agranoff's review
3.0
I don't have a ton to say about this book. I love Carrol's podcast, I really enjoyed his book the big picture. I wanted to really enjoy this. I enjoyed his earlier books I found this difficult to get through. I think the problem is Carrol already did a just fine job in his earlier books explaining time, space and motion. This time it feels clunky and I found the whole not engaging. That said I love the Big Picture. in general I am a fan of Carrol. Sorry, that is not much to say.
miguelf's review
A bit disappointed in this one since I have enjoyed prior Carroll audiobooks and subscribe to his podcast (although I almost enjoy his social commentary above the scientific guests oddly enough). This one for me felt too much like being in class - but this might be exactly what other readers / listeners are searching for.
birthday_cake's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
This was a fascinating read. Having read almost all of Sean's books, I was a bit disappointed that this is only Part 1 of 3 - I figured it will be stuff that I know already. And while the general ideas were known, he used math and science to show how we got there, which was fascinating. Things that nobody cared to explain before ("why is gravity proportional to the square of the distance?") now became clear. Calculus, tensors, manifolds and more!
Highly recommended and can't wait for parts 2 and 3. I just hope I'll be able to keep up with the math.
Highly recommended and can't wait for parts 2 and 3. I just hope I'll be able to keep up with the math.
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