Concepts of Space: The History of Theories of Space in Physics: Third, Enlarged Edition

This book is an excellent introduction to the development and the importance of the concept of space in physics. The earlier chapters were especially good for the non-mathematician as it used natural language explanations. The last chapter was a bit beyond me because of the mathematical notation, but I did manage to muddle through. I think those with a more physics and mathematical bent, would approve of this book.

This is a survey of ideas about physical space. Four disciplines that impinge on what space is are physics (what do we operationally mean by space?), metaphysics (what is the ontology of space?), mathematics (what mathematical objects match our intuitions for what space is?), and psychology (do we have innate ways of modeling space, how do children perceive space?). This book by Jammer is the only broad survey I have found on space, and it sticks as closely as it can to physics. Unlike so many books from recent decades, it is not a book merely for a specialized scholar or hollow buzz words for the popular reader, and there is room in the literature for a new book like this. Some problems with this book are the large quotes in French, German and Latin and the tensor calculus that is used at the end of the book. (For heavy mathematics, either give an impressionistic explanation or show all the details so that a patient reader could actually understand without having already learned differential geometry.)One thing I learned in this book is the Jewish idea of thinking of space as a property of God. Jammer quotes from the Midrash Rabbah, "the Lord is the dwelling-place of His world but His world is not His dwelling-place". He also cites the Zohar as stating that God is the space of Himself. He traces the influence of kabbalistic ideas on Tommaso Campanella. Another thing I learned was the Neoplatonic idea of the identity of light and space. Jammer shows the influence of kabbalah and Neoplatonism on the 17th century English philosopher Henry More. He quotes More's "Antidote against atheism", in which More asserts that if matter is removed from the world then there is something left that is incorporeal, and this is God.Classical ideas about space: Concepts of Space in Greek Thought (Philosophia Antiqua). Medieval ideas about space: Much Ado about Nothing: Theories of Space and Vacuum from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution. Psychology: Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are, The Natural and the Normative: Theories of Spatial Perception from Kant to Helmholtz, Spatial Representation: Problems in Philosophy and Psychology, The Child's Conception of Space (Norton Library, No. 408)

when I first picked up this series when I first started reading physics books it seemed really complex but a year later when I tried to pick it up again I realized this jokster took very very simple ideas and tried to overcomplicate them with extra words to seem a lot more intelligent and grandoise than it needs to be. I recommend trying other physics books first and not reading this at all because by the time the book seems less scary, its a bit of a laugh.

Il testo è molto chiaro, mi ha molto aiutato a comprendere i concetti sui quali si basa la teoria della relatività, specie quelli relativi alla curvatura dello spazio. Lo consiglierei agli studenti di filosofia e a quelli di fisica.