Gen Relativ Gravit (2009) 41:449–450 DOI 10.1007/s10714-008-0729-y BOOK REVIEW Giorgio Ferrarese, Donato Bini: Introduction to relativistic continuum mechanics Lecture Notes in Physics, vol. 727, Springer, Berlin–Heidelberg, 2008, 340p., e74.85, ISBN: 978-3-540-73166-5 Tekin Dereli Received: 5 July 2008 / Accepted: 18 July 2008 / Published online: 25 December 2008 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 The study of dynamics of a three-dimensional continuum of matter is at least as old as Newtonian mechanics itself. On the other hand any study of a system that involves the interaction of matter and radiation with gravity within the context of Einstein’s theory of general relativity requires the knowledge of a relativistic treatment of a material continuum. Many textbooks on cosmology and astrophysics deal with such problems through a symmetric stress-energy-momentum tensor of matter given by T = (ρ + p)U ⊗ U + pg where g is the Lorentzian space–time metric, U the time-like unit tangent vector field associated with a comoving observer, together with the density of mass ρ and pressure p of a matter distribution modeled after an ideal fluid. Thermodynamical aspects are usually included in these treatments in a phenomenological way guided by physical intuition based on classical thermodynamics. The present book is an attempt at a comprehensive treatment of relativistic contin- uum mechanics. It will be appreciated by readers who wish to go beyond the above limited approach. Chapter 1 contains an axiomatic presentation of classical physics, namely of Newtonian point particle mechanics and Maxwell’s classical field theory of electromagnetism. Here the concepts of absolute space and absolute time are intro- duced. Inertial observer frames and their Galilean group of isometries are defined. These concepts are then merged consistently into the concept of a four-dimensional Minkowski space-time in Chapter 2. Test particle dynamics and a number of relevant physical examples are given in Chapters 3 and 4. The main thrust of the book comes after this condensed but insightful review. The relativistic kinematics and dynamics of T. Dereli (B ) Department of Physics, Koç University, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: tdereli@ku.edu.tr 123