Illuminated Geometry: Sidelights on Relativity (Unabridged‪)‬

As C.P. Snow lamented in his now famous essay, "Two Cultures", education is too often arbitrarily divided between the sciences and the humanities, as if each were acrimoniously divorced parents who wished never to speak again to each other. What do physics and psychology have in common, some may ask. Or, what does chemistry have to do with sociology? Having taught for nearly four decades at various colleges and universities, I have long noticed that many students have a resistance to learning about science primarily believing (wrongly I may add) that it will not help them in their education since they are majoring in English or Communications. This why I have championed Edward O. Wilson's "consilience" (a reconciliation, so to say) between the hard and soft sciences, since both illuminate the other in very unexpected ways. For this reason the MSAC Philosophy Group has published a number of small and quite accessible books from famous scientists, including Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Gregor Mendel. We are pleased to add Albert Einstein to our growing list. This particular book provides a glimpse into the geometric understanding behind Einstein theory of relativity. Although penned nearly a century ago, it still makes for fascinating and valuable listening.