I’m home with The Pip today, so no extended typing for me, but I pre[ared for this by typing something up ahead of time, and getting John Scalzi to post it for me, as part of his Big Idea series:
In a way, a book about Einstein’s theory of relativity is uniquely suited to a series about Big Ideas. Relativity, at its heart, is a theory built on a single Big Idea:
The laws of physics do not depend on how you’re moving.
For all its fearsome reputation, everything stems from that single,simple idea. Whether you’re moving or standing still, floating in space or on the surface of a planet, you will see the laws of physics work in exactly the same way.
There’s a bunch more, but you can read it over at John’s blog. And if you’re sold on that, well, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is released today, so you can get it immediately.