Underwhelming and dissapointing

This book was literally too hard to listen to. The content is clearly there (its Einstein of course so there would obviously be content) but then the narration is just unfortunate sadly.

For a science lover the theory of relativity is a fascinating concept and you saw aspects of this by listening to this book. The concepts can be somewhat difficult to grasp here, especially when formulas are being tooted left, right and center at a rather rapid pace. In a book form this would have been rather easy to follow IF you have knowledge of Physics and Mathematics prior to getting a hold of this book. This is not a book that would resonate with your average reader or even an average Science lover. It would take some prerequisite knowledge of Classical Mechanics and Laws of Physics at the very least prior to getting a hold of this title.

The narration.... wasn't horrible... It was just horrible for this book... The pace was too rapid (seeing that I was on a PC I couldn't change the playback speed and honestly I am not too much of altering the playback speed at all). Too many statistically formulas were thrown in the audio without the chance to prove them (and for anyone who does science one does not just hear formulas and take them, you like to somewhat prove them a bit through practical work). The narrator did attempt to sound animated but it still came off as drawling....

In the end the book just struck me as being disappointing.... I lost track of the book at times and were I not the 'push through type' I would have stopped listening within the first 10 minutes.

One more important.... this book took me a week to finish.... It was 3 hours long.... I listened to a 10 hour book in less than a day.... THAT was how hard it was for me to listen...

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12 people found this helpful

Good book, needs better narator!

This is a good book, for an easy introduction to two challenging portions of physics, special and general relativity. Written by the former of the theories, Albert Einstein. The narrator of this book does a poor job trying to convey the information in this book, especially the equations and the scientific notation in the book. He calls k' "k to the first" rather than "k prime" as it should be. Someone familiar with physics or at least science should narrate this book.

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This book needs to be re-recorded.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not until it's re-recorded (see below). I would definitely recommend the Kindle or paper version, or perhaps Learning Ally has a better recording for their subscribers.

What didn’t you like about Jason McCoy’s performance?

This narrator does not use the correct words for the mathematical notation. For instance, he says, "k to the first" instead of "k prime." It's not an exponent. He also mispronounces even common words like "continuum" and "analogous." There are other instances of both types of error. This book should be re-recorded by someone familiar with mathematical notation and with better reading skills. In my opinion, based on my experience recording books long ago, a book for sale should be recorded in the presence of someone who listens and checks and re-records when mistakes are made. For this book, the checker also needs a minimum level of scientific or mathematical, and language arts, background in order for the book to be successful.

Did Relativity of Einstein inspire you to do anything?

I am inspired to go back and spend more time understanding the details. I will need to see the equations, as it was tough to visualize them the way they were read.

Any additional comments?

After listening, I am not convinced that Jason McCoy understood what he read. I have never had that impression of an audible narrator before. I am disappointed. May I have a credit back on my account? The content is good, but the reading is not of sufficient quality to charge money for it.

You don't have to post this, but I do hope you take it to heart.

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Whoa

After listening to this book, I realize that I will not be able to give an accurate review until I listen to it a thousand more times and even then I still may not understand this completely. A very complex listen.

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Dry. Very dry.

While I love science and would like to know more about relativity, this is not really a book for a layman like me.

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Too wooden

The information was interesting, but the narration was choppy, monotone, and boring.

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Relativity of Einstein

This is not a good listening book. It is not only to wordy, it gets very dry and boring if the reader doesn't have a good science background, despite the claim by the book, to be designed just for such people. Waste if money, and a excellent example of why so many people hate science.

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