#22) Einstein's Book Changed My Life

Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham.

Today we're going to be talking about Einstein and his book on Relativity. Yay! It's one of my favorite books -- one of my prized possessions, and let me tell you the story.

Duke Talent Identification Program

It starts in 7th grade. You may have heard of the Duke Talent Identification Program. This is a program where Duke University searches out children who are excelling at school, and gives them recognition and reinforcement.

Now, when I was in 7th grade, they had us take the SAT, and I scored high enough to get my name in the paper along with a few of my friends. And I also scored high enough to win one of the math awards.

And so when I went to the ceremony, and they did the math awards, I got to walk up there, and the guy handed me this book -- this exact book right here. It's -- you can see how old it is, with all the yellow pages in there.

I felt like I had achieved something. It was cool. It's something that I can show others. "Look! I can do math! Yay!"

And at first I couldn't really understand what was in that book. I mean, I was just a 7th-grader. But still, there were some aspects I was able to pick up right away. Like the speed of light, relative viewpoints, but I have to be honest. I did not agree with Einstein. Everything that Relativity is about seems to go against our everyday life experiences. And I was like, "You know what? I'm going to become this really good scientist, and prove Einstein wrong, and figure out what's really going on."

Book Memories

But, one of my favorite memories is that -- that very same year, 7th grade, the summer that followed, I went to Camp Mikell. It's an Episcopalian church camp, and while I was there, I would tell all the counselors all about what I was learning in this Einstein book.

And there was this girl, as we were hiking. I guess she kind-of latched on to me because I just kept talking on and on about Einstein. And she latched on to me, and we became a thing. That was fun. My first long-distance relationship.

And then around 9th or 10th grade, I broke my arm, and while I was in there, the doctor was setting my bones. Then I started telling him about simultaneity. 

So, it works like this ...

Imagine riding on a very long train, and lightning strikes both ends at the exact same time.

Person A is riding in the exact middle, so the light and the sound reach him at the same time. So, he concludes that the strikes are simultaneous.

But what about Person B who's sitting very close to front? The signals from the front reach her before the ones from the back do -- so she concludes the front lightning bolt struck first.

Yeah -- I bet you can imagine what was going on in his head as I was telling him these things. I think he thought I was in shock from the pain.

But as I got older, the fun did not stop there. As I started my first jobs, I made sure to include this book on my bookshelves as part of my Smart Book collection. Those are books that you put up there to make people think you're smart. And sure enough -- people think I'm smart. Hahahahah.

Inside the Book

So going -- let's dive into the book now. 

First I want to show you the subtitle. "A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand." That may sound funny coming from Einstein. I'm sure that anything that's simple to him is confusing and complex to most people. But I think if you have enough willingness, and enough effort, you could learn something from this book. He does -- sometimes he uses big words, but it does do a good job at explaining the general concepts. He strips out the high advanced math that goes over all of our heads -- and -- well, just give it a try.

The first part is about Special Relativity.

Let's say Person A and Person B -- they're moving through space, and they pass close to each other.

And Person A may think he's stationary, because in space you can't really tell if you're moving or not. And he may see Person B, and think that he's the one moving. 

And the same with Person B -- she may think she's stationary and that it's really Person A who's moving. 

So, which person is right? Under Einstein's Relativity, they're both right.

And then consider this. Now, we are on Earth. The Earth is moving around the Sun. The Sun is moving around the galaxy. And the galaxy is moving -- I think it's moving towards the Andromeda Galaxy, and that group of galaxies is moving -- um -- I think you get the picture. We're moving this way, and this way, and that way, and this way, and that way in space.

And, so scientists thought at first -- well -- what is our absolute motion? We should be able to shine a beam of light in different directions and pick up on our universal drift. And so, they did that. They tested the speed of light in all directions, and it all came out the same. There was absolutely no drift, and there was absolutely no explanation for it. 

And Einstein and others before him, like Maxwell -- well, they thought about it, and there's really only one explanation that they could come up with. It's that space and time are malleable. You can squish them, you can stretch them, you can slow down clocks, you can speed up clocks. And what Einstein was able to do was -- he was able to work out the math to show that it explains everything -- everything that we see in experiments. 

And then he talks all about that. It takes hundreds of pages. 

And then the second part is about General Relativity. That's where he adds in acceleration and gravity. And the biggest takeaway from that section is: acceleration is where you're speeding up -- you start off slow and then you get faster. He points out that there is no difference between accelerating and gravity. They both feel the same.

And well -- I'll let you learn more about the book if you want to pick it up and learn about Einstein's Relativity.

Applications in Real Life

Believe it or not, what I learned from this book actually had real applications in my life. It's kind of strange.

Like, for example, when I learned how to drive, the person teaching me -- he said, "Okay. We need to get on the highway. You need to accelerate." I had no problem with that because I understood Relativity. Because, if I sped up fast enough to get up to 60 mph, then I would be matching the 60 mph that the cars were going. So, relative to me, those cars would only be moving -- what -- 5 mph. So it would be easy for me to maneuver. And so I had no problem merging in.

The problem with other people that don't understand that -- they'll stop right at the end of the acceleration ramp, and now you got cars going 60, 70 mph past you, and you have no chance to get in. You should have built up your speed on the acceleration ramp. 

And people still stop on the acceleration ramps. Come on -- Einstein! Read the book!

Okay, and then a little quick note about morality. You've heard about absolute morality, and you've heard of relative morality. 

I don't really buy into relative morality, but I think even within an absolute morality framework, I've learned that people who do some things that look immoral, may not really be immoral when you consider all of what's going on in that person's life. We as individuals don't know all the parameters that lead up to a person's decision to do something.

Now what's funny is we'll read all these books. These are are books of fiction where the good guy has to do something that looks bad, and he does it to save the world. And he gets all this condemnation, but we, the reader, know what's happening to the protagonist. Now because -- well -- he's a hero that nobody understands.

And the funny thing is: is we'll see somebody in real life doing the exact same thing, and we're quick to condemn that person. We're quick to show how he's immoral, and we refuse to look at the big picture. It's like we'll accept the fiction, but when it happens in reality, we'd rather just judge and move on with our life.

But -- well, we'll talk about that much later. That's a whole can of worms that'll be fun. I can devote a whole video on that.

Lastly, one thing I like to point out is Newton -- he made us insignificant with his Laws of Motion. We are just one planet around one sun around one galaxy out of hundreds of thousands and millions of galaxies. We just don't matter. 

But then Einstein comes around and he says, "Hey!" Now, he puts us right back in the middle of the universe, because we have our own frame of reference. Of a sudden, we're special again.

Now think about when you're riding in a car, and you look outside, and you see everything going past you. Now, are you passing those cows and the buildings and the trees? Or, are you stationary and the whole world is going by you outside of the car?

With Einstein, there is no difference.

Personal Challenge

So, I'd like you to, over this next week, try to see the world in a different light. Try to see your own importance. And also, try to understand what other people are doing. And see if you can understand their importance, and their frame of reference, and see if you can understand why they are doing the things that they are doing.

Announcements and Closing

So okay -- if you made it this far, before I close up -- a quick announcement ...

Over the summer. I'm going to slow down on producing these videos. And I just want to enjoy more time with my family. So, you'll get about two videos a month, and then starting in September, I'll go back to one video a week. My goal is to finish up 36 videos by the end of the year.

Okay -- I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Thank you for watching, and remember, we can "Always Be Better."