Einstein's Relativity: The Special Theory and the General Theory - Chapter 8

Einstein's Relativity - The Best Introduction to the Theory of Relativity! - Chapter 8: The Concept of Time in Physics

- Written by Einstein himself for the popular audience!

- A completely new and modern translation, 2025!

- Fully annotated!

Note: This short booklet includes only one chapter of the book, Chapter 8, along with the translator's comments and other annotations.

This book was originally written in German, by Einstein, in 1916, and it was first published in 1917 in Germany. After WWI, thanks to the growing recognition of the work of Einstein, and of Einstein himself, it was finally translated into English in 1920. It became instant bestsellers in multiple languages. After over 100 years, for anyone who wants to learn relativity, at a conceptual level, this book still remains the best introduction to the theory of relativity.

Unfortunately, for the English-speaking readers, the original translation was somewhat archaic, and it made Einstein's original intent unnecessarily harder to understand. If you ever tried to read this book, and you were disappointed due to the opaque language, then this new edition is for you. If you ever wanted to learn relativity as a non-physicist, and couldn't find a good introductory book, then this book is for you. You will learn relativity in a completely new way, as if Einstein himself is talking to you.

It is still not an easy book to read. Relativity is not an easy subject. There are even some "equations" in the book, unlike the vast majority of the "popular science books". To make the book more accessible, to a wider audience, we are publishing a series of single chapter edition booklets, with all new English translation (2025). We hope that some readers will find these short novella-style booklets easier to digest than more traditional single book formats.

You will also realize that a good translation makes a huge difference. Compare this new translation with the public-domain books of the original English translation, which is now over 100 years old.