News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:What Is a Manifold? by omnicognate on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @12:46PM (#45813751)
That's good to know about Wald. I bought a copy to finally get my head round General Relativity, but its brief explanation of Special Relativity right at the start made it clear that I hadn't properly understood that, which led to me getting Gourgoulhon's book. I should be better placed to tackle it now.
Re:What Is a Manifold? by codethief on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @01:56PM (#45814616)
Weinberg ≠ Wald. Wald's book is great! (For GR, of course, not SR.)
Re:What Is a Manifold? by omnicognate on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @02:12PM (#45814783)
Indeed! I meant that it's good to know Wald is mathematically modern and not encrusted with coordinates. Saves me buying another book :-D

(The comment I replied to mentioned both.)

Re:What Is a Manifold? by senderista on Tuesday November 04, 2025 @06:50PM (#45817287)
I think it does a very good job of explaining the abstract index notation, which is superficially similar to coordinate notation but conceptually quite different.