Here is a book on the general relativity written by a very ordinary man with hardly any academic achievement. Why should I write a book on such a tough subject when there are any number of books written on it by very eminent persons? While all the books so far are written by experts, they are also meant for those who want to be experts too! So there was a need, which I had felt as a student, for a book meant for ordinary people like me. When I wanted to attend a course on the GR, there was this comment what will he understand the GR? it is highly mathematical involving such exotic mathematical objects like tensors! My aim, therefore, was to write a book which could be read by any serious person with minimum knowledge of mathematics - calculus, and vectors of pre degree class. However, I cannot forget the publishers of my book. When I approached them I was told that they had so far not published a book on a science subject, but could publish my books because of my long standing association with them as a customer of Sterling Book House, the mother institution, of over 40 years standing. I am happy because Mr. Amin Shroff himself is an admirer of Einstein and the book will be in good shape when it is published.
About the Author
Prof. R. P. Shenoy was born in 1934 at Karkala (South Kanara Dist., Karnataka State). After schooling, he went to Madras (presently Chennai) and completed his graduation in Physics from the Presidency College. Later, he moved on to Bombay (presently Mumbai)and did his Master's degree in Physics from the University of Mumbai. He had the good fortune of studying under stalwarts like Prof. V. M. Palekar and Prof. Madhu Dandavate and later on working with them at Siddharth College, Mumbai. Prof Shenoy had a long and brilliant career as a teacher of Physics and Theory of Relativity in Siddharth College, Mumbai. Before joining Siddharth College, he had worked for short periods at IIT - Bombay, K. C. College, Mumbai and Ismail Yusuf College, Mumbai. As he was interested in Einstein's General Relativity, he had closely worked with the scientists of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group of TIFR, Mumbai and IUCAA, Pune.
