Product Description "Wald's book is clearly the first textbook on general relativity with a totally modern point of view; and it succeeds very well where others are only partially successful. The book includes full discussions of many problems of current interest which are not treated in any extant book, and all these matters are considered with perception and understanding."—S. Chandrasekhar "A tour de force: lucid, straightforward, mathematically rigorous, exacting in the analysis of the theory in its physical aspect."—L. P. Hughston, Times Higher Education Supplement "Truly excellent. . . . A sophisticated text of manageable size that will probably be read by every student of relativity, astrophysics, and field theory for years to come."—James W. York, Physics Today

本书主要讲述广义相对论的原理和应用。全书分为五个部分：第一篇绪论，扼要介绍广义相对论的三个来源——非欧几何、牛顿引力理论和相对论性原理的历史，并简明地总结了作为广义相对论基础的狭义相对论的内容。第二、三篇系统讲述广义相对论的基本原理；在应用方面，除了三大经典验证外，还包括后牛顿天体力学、雷达回波延迟、轨道陀螺的进动、引力波、天体的平衡和坍缩（中子星、黑洞）等近年来发展的新课题。第四篇介绍为进一步掌握广义相对论近代文献所需的物理和数学知识，包括最小作用原理和最大对称空间。第五篇系统介绍观测宇宙学，特别是河外天体谱线红移、计数、微波背景辐射、氦丰度等。最后介绍了宇宙学的新进展，作者较着重于当前学界公认的“大爆炸”模型，也介绍了稳恒态模型及引力常量可变的模型。 本书的特点是内容新颖，注重物理概念，特别是在讲述观测资料的获得和分析方面颇具特色。本书可供从事引力理论和相对论、天体物理和天文学的科研人员、大专院校师生阅读。