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I am interesting in teaching myself General Relativity, since I only learned Special Relativity during my bachelor in Physics. Now, I have turned into math, but nevertheless I remember enjoying theoretical physics and in particular relativity, I know that G.R. is a beautiful mathematical construction. I know the basis of Differential Geometry (Riemannian, Pseudo-Riemannian, Banach manifolds and Lie groups). I ordered General Relativity by Robert M. Wand. But honestly, I found the notation to be very cumbersome.

I know physicists find it more useful to deal with tensors in general in terms of a coordinate system, but I myself feel more comfortable with the abstract definition knowing a priori how such tensor should transform (from chart to chart). Also, Einstein summation convention does not do too much for me, I often forget whether or not I was summing. So, is there a good book you could recommend me to learn the general theory of relativity? I am more interested in the foundations and fundamental principles than in the applied stuff (Black holes, gravitational lenses, etc.).

Qmechanic
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Victor Gustavo May
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2 Answers2

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I am also an undergrad who is trying to learn GR. I am reading A First Course in General Relativity by Bernard F Schutz and I am really enjoying it. I believe its the perfect book to grasp the main ideas behind the GR, with minimal tensor calculus. You should definitly check it.

If you find it too easy then you can try, Introducing Einstein's relativity by D'Inverno, Ray. I never read it personally but I heard the name when I was listening an online GR lecture. Or you can try Leonard Susskind's Lecture

So my suggestion is either go with (Schutz + Leonard Susskind Lectures) or (D'Inverno + GR lecture series)

seVenVo1d
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Three commonly cited "bibles" are "Gravitation" by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler (presenting both the more modern coordinate-free and more dated coordinate-dependent viewpoints), "Gravitation and Cosmology" by Weinberg (this one seems to be mostly coordinate-dependent) and "The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time" by Hawking and Ellis.

Rindler98
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