In It's About Time, N. David Mermin asserts that relativity ought to
be an important part of everyone's education--after all, it is largely
about time, a subject with which all are familiar. The book reveals that
some of our most intuitive notions about time are shockingly wrong, and
that the real nature of time discovered by Einstein can be rigorously
explained without advanced mathematics. This readable exposition of the
nature of time as addressed in Einstein's theory of relativity is
accessible to anyone who remembers a little high school algebra and
elementary plane geometry.
The book evolved as Mermin taught the subject to diverse groups of
undergraduates at Cornell University, none of them science majors, over
three and a half decades. Mermin's approach is imaginative, yet accurate
and complete. Clear, lively, and informal, the book will appeal to
intellectually curious readers of all kinds, including even professional
physicists, who will be intrigued by its highly original approach.