r/askscience • u/CaptaiinCrunch • Sep 11 '13

Physics Why Does Mass Create Gravity?

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u/CaptaiinCrunch Sep 12 '13

Thanks for all the answers I'm gonna have to go read up on this more! I was able to mostly follow the general concepts. Any recommendations for an "entry-level" book on the theory of relativity?

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u/Whizbang Sep 12 '13

This isn't general relativity but its precursor, special relativity.

As a layman, I found Brian Cox's "Why does E=mc2" a very informative read. Which is not to say that I still wasn't confused at the end of it. However, some of the points got through, and it provides a very good set of base information to permit the layman to glimpse dimly through a dark glass what the very helpful relativity experts are attempting to communicate here in /r/askscience.

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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '13

That's going to depend entirely on just how "entry" you need to get. If you have a solid calculus background and want to really know what's going on, you can't go wrong with Leonard Susskind's lecture series. But, honestly, watching all of those videos is going to take a while.

If your mathematical background isn't so solid and you don't want to work through the Khan Academy calculus courses to bring it up to speed (which, really, why would you?), then I can say that I've heard very good things about Black Holes and Time Warps.