Publisher's Synopsis
Victor Weisskopf once said of Einstein's Theory of Relativity that it reminded him of the peasant who asks the engineer how the steam engine works. The engineer explains how the steam goes through the engine, driving the piston up and down and turning the wheels, then the peasant says 'Yes I understand all that, but where's the horse? "Einstein's Beetle" is a unique, enthralling history of our cosmos wrapped in a funny and intriguing fictional adventure story. It is unique because, for the first time, Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravity, Einstein's Theory of Relativity and E = mc2 are comprehensively explained for Relativity and E = mc2 are comprehensively explained for a lay audience. It succeeds where so many popular explanations have failed because the best person to explain something to a peasant is another peasant who understands. Mark Southworth has no qualifications in physics other than an abiding fear of mathematics and a passionate joy at the wonder of understanding it all. Over the past 20 years he has read every popular science book he could find on Einstein and the origins of our universe, and gradually has come to understand the subject from the true perspective of the layperson. He knows the problems most people face in trying to get to grips with everything, particularly the mathematics. He knows all the 'stupid' and not so stupid questions they want to ask because he's asked them all. Most importantly, he knows the approach that is needed to fully explain this incredible story. Having won a 'Find Yourself' holiday to the Grand Canyon, Graeme Grimble's luck runs out when his hire car is stolen and he is left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Eventually rescued by a mysterious old man - who bears more than a passing resemblance to the 20th century's greatest physicist, Albert Einstein - Grimble joins Bert's Universal Tour and Expedition in his extraordinary Volkswagen Beetle and he begins to discover that reality is not as it appears.
