Relativity: A Very Short Introduction makes the theory of relativity understandable and accessible. 100 years ago, Einstein's theory of relativity shattered the world of physics. Our comforting Newtonian ideas of space and time were replaced by bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions: if you move at high speed, time slows down, space squashes up and you get heavier; travel fast enough and you could weigh as much as a jumbo jet, be squashed thinner than a CD without feeling a thing - and live forever. And that was just the special theory. With the general theory came even stranger ideas of curved space-time, which changed our understanding of gravity and the cosmos.