Beginner resources for Special Relativity
My humble compilation of a vastly overlooked topic...
“Overlooked topic?”
Yes.
By those who are still new to the world of physics.
Most people tend to treat SR as a stepping stone to GR, and in the process they tend to overlook the nitty-gritties, as well as the fantastical aspects of it such as the Rindler Horizon.
In reality, there are still lots of aspects for SR that have yet to be resolved (such as extended bodies), lots of misconceptions held by students (objects don’t look “squished”), and new developments are still being made every day.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive in any manner; it is to serve as a go-to list for those who are new to it. I plan on updating this list periodically.
Without further delay, here it is:
Books and courses:
Special Relativity for Beginners by Jurgen Freund- I could not recommend this book more highly. It does an absolutely fantastic job for an introduction and covers much more than your usual recommendations, irrespective of your starting level.
Special Relativity by T.M. Helliwell- Similar to Freund’s book. Lucid, covers material well and some more (such as optical effects and Twin paradox with communication).
Classical electromagnetism via relativity by William Rosser- Fantastic for its treatment of EM through SR. Material is explained simply and clearly.
Relativity by eigencris- A brilliant YT lecture series that covers four-vectors and accelerating frames in SR with rigour, and is easy to follow.
Special Relativity for the Enthusiastic Beginner by David Morin- Only for its exercises. The problems in this book are second to none. A must for anyone who really wants to learn about SR.
Special Relativity for the Enthusiast by Thomas Strohm- Approaches SR from a very different angle by providing experimental setups that have been used to determine and verify the different aspects of this theory.
Understanding Relativity by Leo Sartori- The Minkowski diagrams come in useful when dealing with the paradoxes.
Spacetime Physics by John Wheeler- Old classic. Lots of material and approachable for beginners.
Relativity and common sense by Hermann Bondi- A different (and easier) approach to SR via k-calculus.Unusually Special Relativity by Andrzej Dragan- Not rigourous, but provides a pretty different approach to various concepts.
Special Relativity by Brian Greene, World Science U- Aimed at complete beginners, but is a comprehensive interactive course with lots of demonstrations.
Articles and resources:
Articles by John Baez on Special Relativity
Paper on the Geometrical Appearance of Large Objects Moving at Relativistic Speeds
Paper on Wigner rotations (relatively comprehensible compared to all others)
Magnetism as an electrodynamic effect
Lastly, browsing through StackExchange and approaching others for help is always useful.